The world's largest cigar

I have had much difficulty in researching this topic, and having now Guinness 2009 book for my own I am afraid I cannot guarantee an officially accurate result, however, have come up with something just amazing.

First of all, you may guess how long the world's largest cigar is, the length of it of course.

I will now tell you that it was 148 feet and 9 inches long. That's 45.3 metres. Wow.

Of course, it took several men, and six whole laborious days, to complete this task, which was pioneered and overlooked by Cuban Jose Castelar Cairo, who is also known as Cueto. It overshadowed the record held before by a Patricio Pena of Puerto Rico. It was therefore a point of pride and patriotism for Cubans, who are passionate about their cigars, and in turn whose cigars are considered the world's very finest. Indeed, Cuban cigars are stubbornly hard to beat in terms of quality and such.

Personally, if I were to win the national lottery, the first thing I would do would be to buy a very very very long house. I would then have a very very very long and thin ash tray made. Then I would sit down at one and of the house with the Television, and smoke my giant cigar for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Although, it would not smoke well. Cairo (it's maker) said himself that a cigar of such length existed only for novelty purposes, and not to be smoked.

Who was the first smoker?

Tough one, as tribes in the Americas were probably puffing away whilst Europeans had only got as far as smoking kippers and cheese (smoking as in non-inhaling of course!). However, there is one European man credited with being the very first European tobacco smoker.

His name was Rodrigo de Jerez, and he hailed from Ayamonte, Spain. He was lucky enough to be a crewman of Christopher Columbus on his very first voyage to the Americas in 1492. They stopped off in Cuba, looking for the Emperor of China. Aside from the fact that they were over 2000 miles out, they did discover something else.

They recorded the natives making tubes of palm leaves, which were filled with dried tobacco, from which they would 'drink' the smoke out. This was the first cigar known to the West.

So what about Rodrigo? Well, he and Columbus returned triumphant to spain, with details of their new land. ANd whn Rodrigo returned back to Ayamonte, he began smoking the first cigars smoked in Europe. His townfolk thought he was crazy, and felt uneasy seeing him surrounded by clouds and clouds of smoke. He was locked away in prison for being sinful, but in seven years time, smoking had become extremely popular, and he was released.

Cigar Shapes

The Diagram above shows the most popular shapes of Cigar nowadays, the most popular of those being the parejo. Personally, I love the Perfecto shape, it reminds me of cartoon criminals.

How to light a cigar...the proper way.

You can't just shove a £20 cigar in your mouth and light it like it's a B&H silver fag. Cigars have a special way of being lit which DO make a difference to the taste and experience.


For starters, it is not a good idea to just bite the end of a cigar. Cigar cutters are pretty essential: follow the link in the last post for more info. Furthermore, do NOT use a zippo lighter! You should use wooden matches or at very worst a butane lighter to get your cigar going. If you can get hold of Spanish cedar matches then that's brilliant and cannot be beaten at all - if not, just matches will do fine.

A mistake that many people make when lighting a cigar is that they hold the flame onto the end of the cigar and draw in until it's glowing red and hot. This is not a good idea as it will impar the flavour, 'jerk-start' the burning process of the cigar and give a horrible bitterness to the smoke. The golden rule to be followed is "Do NOT let the flame of your match touch the end of the cigar!" Follow this rule and you really cannot go wrong when lighting. Simply get your match going, and slowly rotate the end of the ciger about 1/2 inch above the flame, as if you are trying to warm it rather than ignite. It certainly takes longer, but when then end starts to gently glow, inhale gently through the cigar.

I am sure that the trick with cigar lighting is gentleness. Take your time, and just play nice!

Information on Cigar Humudors and Cutters...

I have recently finished working on my Cigar Accessory Hub. I give it all the basic information about Cigar humidors, cases and cutters that I feel is neccesary for those who are not yet "in the know" about cigars and how to look after them properly.

But I still am positive that humidors and cutters exist for a truly genuine reason: cutting a cigar with your teeth is one of life's more unpleasant experiences which I would like to spare all enthusiasts new to the world of cigar smoking.

I do actually find a correlation between the price of a humidor and the quality of the spanish cedar used to line it. Spanish Cedar really does preserve the cigars in the perfect way and is the only wood used for the job by those in the know. Well worth splashing out on I assure you!

Welcome to the Cigar Lounge

Hello everybody,
My name's Will and I live in London, UK. I fell in love with cigars in my late twenties and they have been a passion and hobby for me ever since then. This blog is therefore there for all who also like cigars and pipes, and who believe smoking should be a luxury rather than a once-every-ten-minute thing. I look forward to expanding this blog and watching it grow.