By the time leaf reaches the rolling table, it has already been grown, harvested, cured, fermented, sorted, and aged. This chapter of Cigars 101 covers the step where those leaves become a cigar: who does the work, the main ways of forming the bunch, how the wrapper goes on, and how the head is closed. For the complete sequence from seed to box, see how cigars are made.
Who works at the table
A cigar roller is called a torcedor. In Cuban factories, one torcedor usually makes the whole cigar: forming the bunch, pressing it, and applying the wrapper and cap. The rolling room in a Cuban factory is called the galera, where rollers sit at rows of benches.
Many factories outside Cuba split the job between two people working as a team. The bunchero (also spelled bonchero) arranges the filler leaves and wraps them in the binder to make the bunch. The rolero applies the wrapper and finishes the head. The bunchero's work has the most effect on how the cigar draws and burns. The rolero's work has the most effect on how it looks and how cleanly the head cuts. Both jobs take years to learn, and the hardest shapes, such as thin lanceros and pointed figurados, go to the most experienced people.
Each roller or team works from a recipe for that cigar. The recipe says which leaves go into the filler and in what proportion. Many blenders place the slow-burning ligero toward the center of the bunch, with lighter-burning leaves such as seco and volado around it. The leaf types are explained in wrapper, binder, and filler.
Forming the bunch
The bunch is the filler wrapped in the binder. How the filler leaves are arranged inside it is called the bunching method. There are three main hand methods, and some factories also use a simple hand-operated device.
Entubado. In entubado bunching, the roller rolls each filler leaf into its own small tube, like a rolled-up sheet of paper, and then gathers the tubes together. The tubes leave channels for air to pass through the length of the cigar. This is the oldest and slowest method, and it takes the most skill. If the tubes are packed too tightly, the cigar can still draw poorly.
Accordion. In an accordion bunch, the roller folds the edges of each filler leaf inward, one leaf at a time, and stacks the folded leaves on top of one another. If you cut an accordion-bunched cigar lengthwise, the leaves show folds like the pleats of an accordion. The method allows good airflow, is quicker than entubado, and is easier to learn.
Book. In a book bunch, the filler leaves are laid flat on top of each other and then folded over once, like closing a book, before the binder goes on. It is the fastest of the three hand methods. Because the leaves lie flat against each other, less air passes between them than in an entubado or accordion bunch. Trade sources describe it as one of the most widely used methods in premium cigar production today, because it lets a roller make more cigars in a day.
The Lieberman device. Many factories, especially in the Dominican Republic, use a hand-powered bunching device known as a Lieberman. The bunchero still selects and lays out the filler and binder leaves by hand on a rubber or leather pad. Pulling a lever then rolls the pad around the leaves to form an even, consistent bunch. This is not the same as the machine-made production described in handmade vs machine-made: the leaves are whole, the person controls the blend, and the wrapper is still applied by hand. Cigar Aficionado notes that these devices are used widely in the Dominican Republic, are rare in Central America, and are not used in Cuba.
Whatever the method, the folds or tubes must run the full length of the cigar, and the bunch must be packed evenly from end to end. A loose spot causes a soft area that burns fast, and a lump causes a blockage (a plug) that makes the draw tight. The roller checks the bunch by feel before it goes any further.
Pressing in the mold
The finished bunch goes into a mold, usually a wooden or plastic block with a row of cigar-shaped slots. The molds are stacked in a press so the bunches keep their shape while the leaves settle. Many factories turn the bunches during pressing so they do not develop a flat seam along one side. Molds also give figurado shapes, such as the torpedo and belicoso, their tapered heads. Some cigars are pressed square later, after rolling. That is a box press, and the cigar still counts as a parejo.
Applying the wrapper
Wrapper leaf is the most expensive and most fragile leaf in the cigar. It is kept slightly moist so it can stretch without tearing. The roller lays half a leaf on the board with its veined side facing up, so the smoother side ends up on the outside of the cigar. Using a chaveta, a flat blade with a rounded edge, the roller trims the leaf to the right shape for the size being made.
Next, the roller places the bunch on the wrapper at the foot of the cigar and rolls it in a spiral toward the head, stretching the leaf slightly as it goes. The tension has to stay even. If it is too loose, the wrapper wrinkles or comes away from the bunch. If it is too tight, the wrapper can crack or tighten the draw. The overlapping edge forms the faint spiral seam you can see on a finished cigar. A small amount of colorless, flavorless vegetable gum holds the end of the wrapper in place. Habanos S.A. describes this gum as usually tragacanth.
Closing the head: flags and caps
The head is the end you put in your mouth, and the roller has to close it so the wrapper does not unroll. There are several ways to do this:
- Flag head. The roller trims the end of the wrapper into a thin strip called a flag and winds it over the head to close it, with no separate cap. This takes a lot of skill, because there is no cap to cover mistakes.
- Flag and cap. The flag closes the head, and a small round cap cut from spare wrapper is glued on top. This is the most common finish on premium cigars today.
- Triple cap. The traditional Cuban finish uses extra pieces of wrapper so the head shows three seams. Habanos S.A. describes the roller winding the flag around the head and then fixing a small disc of wrapper, cut with a round cutter called a casquillo, on top. See triple cap.
- Pigtail. The flag is twisted into a short curl at the head, with no cap. Pigtails are often seen on lanceros and some other thin sizes. Most smokers simply cut it off with the top of the head.
Last, the roller trims the cigar to its finished length, usually at the foot, and checks its girth against a gauge. A well-made head is round, smooth, and firmly attached, so a cutter can open it without the wrapper coming loose. How to cut it is covered in how to cut and light a cigar.
What happens next
Finished cigars are not boxed straight from the table. Factories check them for weight, firmness, appearance, and draw, and many rest them in an aging room before banding and boxing.
What this means for a smoker
You cannot usually tell which bunching method a cigar uses just by looking at it, and manufacturers do not always say. What you can judge is the result. A well-bunched and well-rolled cigar feels evenly firm from foot to head, with no soft spots or hard lumps. The wrapper lies smooth with a neat seam, and the cap is secure. Once lit, it should have an easy draw, an even burn, and a firm ash. A single faulty cigar does not mean a whole line is badly made, but repeated tight draws or uneven burns in the same box usually point to a bunching problem.
Shaped cigars are the hardest test of rolling skill. The Hemingway line from Arturo Fuente is a well-known example of figurados that depend on rollers who can form a point by hand.
Where to go next
- The three leaves: wrapper, binder, and filler.
- Hand vs machine: handmade vs machine-made.
- From seed to box: how cigars are made.
- Shapes that test a roller: perfecto and figurados and torpedo and belicoso.
- Terms: entubado, accordion bunch, book bunch, Lieberman, bunchero, chaveta, triple cap, and the rest of the glossary.
- The full course: Cigars 101.
Smoke Rings sells the tools and not the tobacco: cutters, lighters, and humidors, sold through eBay (seller us-grai), plus empty cigar boxes for collectors. For the cigars themselves, our sponsor AbsoluteCigars.com is your best source.
Sources: Habanos S.A., 'The craft of the Torcedor' (tools: tabla, chaveta, casquillo, goma/tragacanth, cepo; wrapper rolled from the foot, veined side inward; flag and cap). Tobacconist University cigar-rolling curriculum (entubado, accordion, book, Lieberman; flag, flag-and-cap, triple cap, pigtail heads). Cigar Aficionado glossary (rolling method; Lieberman/bunching machine use by country). Cigar Journal and Holt's on bunching methods. No statistics, scores, or tasting notes.