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Tobacco tasting.....

I am a new cigar smoker and I use ccom as the best learning tool out there. I have two more questions. What is the difference between the tobacco in a cigarette and  in a cigar?  

Comments

  • Jetmech_63Jetmech_63 Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
    Well....theyre both tobacco....and thats where the similarities stop. Cigarette tobacco is chopped up small filler, usually treated with chemicals and has little regard for flavor. It's mass produced tobacco just as say cotton or tomatos are mass produced.

    Cigar tobacco is medium or long filler(leaf runs the length of the cigar). It is more often than not natural, non chemical treated. It is carefully grown, picked, aged(sometimes patiently fro years to achieve the blenders vision) and blended with particular attention to body, flavor, draw and strength. Unlike mass machine made cigarettes which are planted, harvested and made by machines, cigars(unless you get the drugstore type) and blended, bound and rolled all at the hands of an experienced torcedor. The draw and burn can be direct reflections of their skill. Cigar tobacco is also processed, harvested and blended all by hand.
  • j0z3rj0z3r Posts: 9,403 ✭✭
    I'd also add that the emphasis on cigarette tobacco is to homogenize its flavor ( or lack thereof) to make it perfectly consistent from batch to batch....kinda like Folgers coffee compared to, well, I don't know, something good.
  • burchamsburchams Posts: 31
    cigarettes = crack
  • phobicsquirrelphobicsquirrel Posts: 7,347 ✭✭✭
    burchams:
    cigarettes = crack
    +1
  • brsmith21brsmith21 Posts: 207
    burchams:
    cigarettes = crack

    And we all know "Crack is whack!"
    -the artist formerly known as Mrs Bobby Brown
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭

    The typical cigarette contains a blend of heat-cured and air-cured tobaccos, but the tobaccos are not fermented. Tobaccos in cigars are fermented (sometimes more than once) this fermentation lowers nicotine and causes the tobacco to be a bit on the alkaline side. Cigarette tobacco is slightly acidic.

    A finished cigarette contains only 50% tobacco, which is treated with sugar to cover up the bitterness. 30% is made from stems and tobacco from leftovers (bottom of the barrel) . A final 20% consists of expanded tobacco (tobacco product that has been expanded with carbon dioxide) and reclaim (cigarettes that have passed their prime and are sent back to the factory). ....delish!!

    cigars are 100% tobacco.
  • phobicsquirrelphobicsquirrel Posts: 7,347 ✭✭✭
    kuzi, man I am amazed. how can you remember all this stuff? lol. I always wondered why a typical cig smoker wouldn't enjoy a good cigar, I mean the taste is sooooo much better. Is it just because of the loss if nicotine injection?
  • betasynnbetasynn Posts: 1,249
    I think its a combination of factors, probably the lack of nicotine (to a point) and the fact that smoking cigarettes does nothing for the palate.
  • havanaalhavanaal Posts: 155 ✭✭
    Don't forget the biggest factor of all: the purpose of a cigarette is to inhale the smoke. The deeper, the greater the kick. I had smoked cigar for at least 3 years before I tried a cigarette. The act of inhaling the smoke was a new experience, and I immediately realized I was holding a drug. That's why most cigarette smokers don't appreciate a cigar. They try to inhale it, and decide they don't like it.
  • iwsmith2iwsmith2 Posts: 65
    As a daily cigarette smoker, and a daily cigar smoker, I appreciate both for different reasons. Cigarettes feed my addiction... which i am quitting soon. And cigars give me great flavor and i love them.
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    phobicsquirrel:
    kuzi, man I am amazed. how can you remember all this stuff?
    I dont remember that all at once. I have a VERY large "favorites" section on my browser when it comes to tobacco.

    maybe 40-50 sites bookmarked. something like that.
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