Cigar Blog

Happiness is a good cigar

Make Your Own Cigar Box Guitar

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Copy_of_Shanes-588x440This is no child’s toy, although one might think that. Truth be told, when I first heard of cigar box guitars a long time ago, I thought that my friends were pulling my leg. Why would I want to make one?

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.

Originally posted on January 20, 2011 @ 8:06 am

The Origin of Cuban Cigars

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Mention cigars and a person would instantly associate it with Cuban cigars. Cuban cigars are acclaimed to be the best hand rolled tobacco in the world, being the preferred country where such finely prepared tobacco leaves are found. Cigar production is controlled by the Cuban government where they are rolled in the various cigar factories that are existent in the country of Cuba.

Cuban Cigar Manufacturing

Habanos SA and Cubatabaco are known to be the leading groups that handle the manufacturing and distribution of their finest roles produced. Such produced cigars are usually known to be hand made although there are some who also use machines to be able to produce bulk cigars bundles.

Ironically, Cuban cigars where introduced in Europe by the very same person who discovered America, Christopher Columbus. He is credited with this distinction from his numerous voyages, something that people are familiar with today. It is amazing that he too is responsible for making cigars known in Europe.

Originally posted on September 17, 2010 @ 4:28 am

Old world meets new world

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Cigar smoking is enjoying a resurgence – a renaissance if you will. With the strong and decisive efforts of many different groups to stamp out cigarette smoking all over the world most people have started seeing cigars and smoking them in a completely new light.

With the way cigar is supposed to be smoked (don’t inhale it!) more and more people are beginning to appreciate cigars and even the art of smoking them. Yuppies and young adults are rediscovering the unique set of experiences that cigar smoking brings to the table. Since these new fans of cigars are part of the new generation, they are using the tools that they are familiar with to further deepen their knowledge about cigars. They are now using online resources in order to learn about the anything and everything cigar related. There are even those who have joined forum sites in order to touch base with other cigar aficionados from all over the world.

Who said traditions can’t be modernized?

Originally posted on August 25, 2010 @ 12:39 pm