BOX PRESSED CIGARS
 The box press is another technique worth noting. Box pressed cigars are not considered figurados, even though they lack the classic "cylinder" shape. Box pressed cigars have "squared" sides of varying degrees (some are less round than others). This effect originated unintentionally as a by product of packaging cigars in Cuba. When cigars are boxed, they are at higher humidity levels.
Once a squared box is closed, the cigars will take the shape of the box as their humidity stabilizes. This shape became characteristic of Cuban cigars that came packaged in flat boxes of 25, thus becoming known as the Cuban box press. Today, many cigar makers outside of Cuba take extra measures to create this “special” look and feel on their own cigars.
CULEBRA
 Spanish for "snake", culebras are probably the most unusual cigar(s) to behold. The culebra is actually 3 individual cigars braided together and then bound with string.
Legend has it that these cigars were developed as daily rations for Cuban torcedores. The "story" states that factories have allowed their rollers a daily ration of cigars; but managers had little control over how much one person could consume. The culebra is an underfilled cigar that retains its rustic “snake-like” shape after it has been unbraided. This visible hallmark gave managers an ingenious method to ration and control employee consumption.
Click here to read Culebra: A Definitive Guide to an Unusual Cigar
Certified R&D Tobacconists: United States |
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