Preference for quality smoked cigars is a given and it is no mystery why people would prefer buying cigars as individual sticks rather than in bulk. The bundled or second cigars will still possess the same smoke and tobacco, but for the experts, identifying the difference can be determined in the taste that these cigars would have.

Cigars are usually tagged depending on their point of origin such as Nicaraguan Bundles, or brands such as National, Baitoa and La Floridita. Building brand awareness in the category of cigars takes time, ironically similar to smoking quality cigars which would preferably take 6 to 8 weeks of aging before they are offered for sale to the cigar enthusiasts today.

Last week, the very same Wallace Reyes started work on another cigar, which he hopes will break the previous record. His target is to roll a cigar which is 180 feet in length. USA Today tells us the story behind his goal:

“We gonna show Tampa and the world basically that this is still (the) cigar capital of the world, that we’re still making big things here,” Reyes said.

A 180-foot cigar would shatter the old world record by more than 35-feet. Reyes says it will take him 30 pounds of tobacco and more than 100-hours of work to finish his cigar. He is making his record setting cigar in 10-foot sections at the Ybor City Museum and it will be assembled and displayed on November 21st at the Tampa Cigar Heritage Festival.

Same person, same place, same festival. Would he break his record? Reyes says that they do not have the facilities to create the cigar all in one go. As such, he has to work on one segment at a time. The whole cigar will then be assembled in less than a month. All that work on one cigar! I bet that when he breaks the record, it will be all worth it!

Photo courtesy of USA Today

Will Sluetal, on the other hand, has been at it for quite some time. He is from Grand Haven, Michigan, and claims that he can make an excellent musical instrument given four hours and a whole lot of passion and talent. I must say, his work supports his claim.

Sluetal’s day job is the chief mechanic of the Grand Haven Department of Public Works. The skills that are integral to his day job are carried over to his passion, the creation of a wide variety of musical instruments from guitar boxes. Guitars, ukeleles, madolins, drums, and other “unnamed” instruments – these are only some of Sluetal’s works of art. Oh, and everything he creates is electric.

So does this mean that he is an avid cigar smoker? Well, he does smoke but he does not have to spend a fortune in cigars to obtain all the boxes that he needs and wants. He does have the smarts. What Sluetal did – and does – was to make guitars for the presidents of cigar companies. He gave these as gifts and he has been amply compensated with all the empty cigar boxes that he needs.

If you want one of his works, you can visit Elderly Instruments in Lansing and Surroundings in Manistee. Make sure you have about $125!

Then I did some reading and I found out that cigar box guitars were actually used by “real” musicians! According to Dr. Tony Hyman, the curator of the National Cigar Museum, cigar boxes prior to 1840 were actually crates. These crates could hold up to 100 cigars at a time. As time went by, manufacturers realized that the crates were not an efficient means of transporting cigars. Hence, smaller cigar boxes were created.

Along with the proliferation of cigar boxes, the popularity of cigar smoking increased as well. Naturally, a lot of smoked cigars meant a lot of empty cigar boxes. At this point, enterprising people started picking up those empty cigar boxes and started making good use of them. From guitars to banjos and fiddles – empty cigar boxes were turned into useful things.

Whoever got started on this probably didn’t have any idea of what was in store for these nifty little things. Well known musicians like Carl Perkins, Jimi Hendrix, George Benson, Ted Nugent, BB King, and Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd have all, at one point, played with cigar box guitars!

So it may be easier to buy guitars these days, but if you have some spare time and you want to let your creativity flow, why don’t you try your hand at making a cigar box guitar? Check out this video at Walyou.

Chewgars are “cigars” which are meant especially for your lovable dog. For stogie lovers who have dogs, you’ve probably noticed how they react when you light up. In general, I have noticed that my friends’ dogs (I don’t have one) seem to be wanting to enjoy what their owners are also enjoying. I don’t know if it’s the aroma that the cigar is giving off. I don’t know if it’s the smoke – heck, I really don’t know. The fact remains that sometimes, when you smoke a cigar and your dogs are with you, you just want to share your pleasures with them. I am sure some of you have done the same thing with beer….

Anyhow, you can get chewgars so that your canine friend will be kept busy as you smoke your cigars. Chewgars do not really contain tobacco, so they should be safe for your pet. The fun part is that chewgars are shaped just like cigars and are even packaged just like real ones! They are made of rawhide and come in various flavors – chicken, beef, and even chocolate! If you’re worried about other health concerns, really you shouldn’t. these products are guaranteed to be pesticide-free, and will not harm your dog.

Just recently, a Cuban cigar roller broke his own records. Jose Castelar Cairo (Cueto) is not a stranger to the longest cigars in the world. The Caribbean News has this report:

Cuban cigar roller Jose Castelar Cairo (Cueto) will receive officially his fourth Guinness Record certificate, this time for his 45,38 meters long Habano cigar.

Cueto works in La Triada store, of the Grupo Caracol. He told Opciones that he was very happy with the acknowledgement and that he receives the record on behalf of Cuba, a country known for producing the best cigars in the world.

You know what I like about this story? The guy is not a faker. I mean, he has his records but he continues to work and do what he loves doing. And better yet, he keeps trying to outdo himself and breaking his own records. I’ll smoke a cigar to that!

There are so many things about cigars that you can actually collect, if you think about. How about cigar boxes? In different parts of the world, you can get cigars individually. But if you want to collect boxes, then you should get them in bundles. More than the cigars themselves, the boxes that they come in are works of art themselves. In fact, some people have made it their business to look for the most beautiful and unique cigar boxes that have been made.

How about humidors? This is another cigar-related item that can be collected. As cigars have been around for ages, so have humidors. Way back then, they needed humidors just as much as we need them today, and I am sure you know just how beautiful those old humidors are. More than simply serving their practical purpose, they were wonderful works of art. While the antique humidors might not work anymore today, they would still look wonderful in your display.

And have you thought about cigar bands? Cigar bands could be works of art as well. While some people throw them away, some keep them. You can also start keeping the best cigar bands and collecting them!

I can see your eyebrows going up, skyhigh, now…No, a herf is probably not what you think, whatever it is that you may be thinking. The term herf is used a lot – it has been used a lot and I reckon that it will continue being used a lot. But what is it really?

Is herf a noun? A verb? An adjective? To be honest, I myself did not really know exactly what a herf is until quite recently. When I did find out what it meant, though, it left me chuckling. Here is the appropriate definition or description of the term, according to cigar expert Tom Featherstone. He has described it better than I can, I think.

The term herf started around 1996 in the cigar news groups that used to be popular at the beginning of the internet boom. The word can be a noun, adjective, verb, prefix, suffix, expletive or an adverb, there is no wrong way to use the term.

Most often it is used to describe a cigar outing with a group of friends. You may see a post on a forum announcing a herf, which would be several guys getting together to smoke cigars at a club, restaurant or smoke shop. I said guys, but girls we will herf with you to and girls herf all the time. Actually, I love to see a group of beautiful ladies herfing. There is nothing sexier than a girl at a herf.

So, the truth is that you can use herf whichever way you wish to do so, but it basically means a smoking get together! So what do you think, wanna go on a herf with me?

To some people, it would be best to check out the labels that they come with. The years specified in each box or label have a purpose and this is to show how long the cigar has been preserved thus for people to expect a higher quality taste for them.

Aging cigars may draw negative conclusions. But this would depend entirely on how educated the person who will be lighting the cigar is. There is no basis for waste when one talks about the length of storage a cigar has. The longer a cigar is kept, the better the taste it will provide once it is lit and smoked.

For cigars, packaging can affect the price. Cigar.com talked about this earlier this year:

Many brands have extravagant packaging, most of which are very expensive. So exactly how much does the packaging affect the cost of a cigar?

Well, when developing a price structure to sell a particular cigar, there are many factors that must be examined before a standard MSRP can be created. Some factors that attribute to the total MSRP include the price of tobacco, laborers, cost of running facilities, and packaging. Typically, the way each brand of cigars is packaged and presented does drastically affect the total outcome of the MSRP. Of course, the cost of the tobacco is the biggest expense, hands down, but any cigars that utilize special packaging will definitely be more expensive than others. Manufacturers producing more premium, higher end cigars tend to use more extravagant packaging simply because it makes the cigar look more credible while also providing the consumer with an elegant package that truly does make you feel good about your purchase.

Now that we have established just how the packaging can affect the price of a cigar, my question is: Would you pay more for a cigar because of special packaging?

I think that if we were talking about the packaging alone, I would not easily part with more money. However, if, as that tidbit from Cigar.com explains, the nicer packaging means better quality tobacco, then I just might be willing to shell out extra bucks. Do you think the same way?