The first chapter of Cigars 101 briefly explained the difference between long-filler cigars and the machine-made cigars often sold in places like drugstores and gas stations (aka chemists and petrol stations depending on where you live). This chapter explains that difference in more detail. It covers how a totally handmade cigar is made, how machines bunch and roll cigars, what homogenized tobacco leaf is, what “hand-finished” actually means, and where short filler and mixed filler fit in. The goal is to help you understand what a label means, not to tell you which kind of cigar you should enjoy.
Totally handmade: whole leaves at a rolling table
As this book uses the term, a totally handmade cigar is bunched and wrapped by people, not by a continuous running machine. As mentioned earlier, the filler is long filler: whole leaves, or large pieces of them, laid or folded so they run the length of the cigar. A binder leaf holds that bunch together. After the bunch has spent time in a mold, a natural wrapper leaf is rolled around it in a spiral and finished with a cap applied by hand.
Most premium cigars are made this way. The work of cultivation and selection process is slow. Leaves are chosen for how they burn, how much body they add, and, for the appearance of the wrapper. Each bunch is checked for soft spots and blockages, and the wrapper has to stretch without tearing. The common ways of forming the bunch, including entubado (rolling each leaf into a tube), the accordion fold, and the book method, are described in bunching and rolling by hand. For the whole process from seed to box, see how cigars are made.
Handmade does not mean that every leaf in every factory is perfect, and it does not mean that every hand-rolled cigar uses long filler. Some low-priced lines are rolled by hand around chopped leaf. The description on the band or box, and the cut end of the cigar, tell you more than the word “handmade” alone.
How machine bunching and rolling work
Machine-made cigars are produced at industrial speed. A common process works like this:
- Short filler (chopped leaf, trimmings, and sometimes stems) is measured into a set amount.
- A binder, often a sheet of homogenized tobacco leaf, is wrapped around that amount of filler to make a bunch.
- The bunch is trimmed to length.
- A wrapper is applied by machine, or in some lines by a person at a finishing table. Better machine-made lines use a natural leaf wrapper; cheaper ones use a homogenized sheet.
- Plastic or wooden tips, filters, and flavorings are common on cigarillos and little cigars, but rare on the premium handmade cigars this book covers.
Some cigar factories use a continuous process similar to cigarette manufacturing: a long rod of short filler is wrapped in a continuous binder sheet and then cut into lengths. Other machines follow the steps of hand rolling more closely, but still use hoppers, knives, and pre-cut binders instead of hand bunching. In both cases, the purpose of the machine is high volume and consistency: the same weight, a similar draw, and the same shape in every cigar.
Machines can also reject cigars that fail a draw or weight test during production. This is a different kind of quality control from a torcedor (cigar roller) squeezing each bunch by hand before it goes into a mold. Both are real forms of quality control, suited to different costs and production volumes.
Homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL)
Homogenized tobacco leaf, often shortened to HTL, is reconstituted tobacco made into a sheet. Scraps of leaf and tobacco dust are mixed with a binding agent (usually a cellulose adhesive) and then rolled or pressed into a thin, paper-like sheet that can be cut like fabric. Factories use it as a binder, as a wrapper, or as both.
HTL is still tobacco, but it is not a whole leaf from the farm either. It burns more evenly and looks more uniform than a natural binder leaf, which is why it suits high-speed production. On a low-priced cigar you may find a natural wrapper over an HTL binder: the outside looks like leaf, but the inner wrap is a sheet. On the cheapest cigars, the wrapper itself may be HTL, sometimes with no separate binder at all.
Premium handmade cigars, as this book uses the term, do not use HTL for the binder or the wrapper. They use whole leaves. If the cut end or the wrapper shows a uniform brown sheet instead of a leaf with veins, the cigar is made with reconstituted tobacco.
Hand-finished is not the same as totally handmade
These terms are easy to confuse. Hand-finished (or “hand-rolled over a machine bunch”) usually means that a machine formed the bunch, often with short filler, and a person then applied the wrapper and cap. The outside can look excellent, with a real leaf, a neat seam, and a proper head, but the inside was still made by a machine.
Totally handmade means that people did both the bunching and the wrapping. In premium cigars, this almost always means long filler as well.
Neither term is regulated in the way an official government grade would be, and sellers use them with varying accuracy. Look beyond the label: check whether the description says long filler, short filler, or mixed filler, and look at the foot of the cigar when you can. A good-looking wrapper on a short-filler bunch is still a short-filler cigar. A long-filler cigar that was bunched and wrapped by hand is the premium cigar described in what is a premium cigar.
Short filler and mixed filler
Short filler is chopped leaf. It includes pieces cut specifically for filler and leftover pieces from long-filler production. It packs easily into a mold or a machine, wastes less leaf, and burns faster, because small pieces expose more surface to the burning end. It also drops loose bits of tobacco more easily than a well-made long-filler bunch. Short filler is standard in most fully machine-made cigars. It is also used in some hand-rolled low-priced lines that are sold in “handmade” packaging.
Mixed filler (sometimes called “sandwich” construction in shops) puts short filler inside a layer of long-filler leaf, or otherwise combines the two, so the bunch has whole leaves around a chopped core. The aim is to keep some of the draw and ash qualities of long filler while using cheaper leaf inside. It is a genuine construction method, but it does not meet the standard of “premium cigar.”
Long filler uses leaves that run the full length of the cigar. When it is done well, it helps the cigar burn evenly and hold a firm ash, and it lets the blender control where each type of leaf goes in the bunch: the volado, seco, and ligero leaves described in wrapper, binder, and filler. That is why long filler and hand rolling go together in the definition of a premium cigar, even though each can occasionally be found without the other.
How to tell them apart
No single sign proves how a cigar was made, and some packaging is designed to look premium. Taken together, these checks give a reasonable first impression:
- The foot. Long filler shows the folded ends of leaves when you look at the cut end. Short filler looks like an even plug of shredded tobacco. Mixed filler can show long leaves around a chopped center.
- The head. A separately applied cap, with a faint seam where it meets the body, indicates hand finishing. A pressed, crimped, or molded tip is common on machine-made cigars and tipped cigarillos.
- The wrapper. A natural leaf shows veins, small changes in color, and a spiral seam. A completely flat, even sheet is often HTL.
- The label. “Long filler,” “short filler,” “machine made,” and “hand finished” mean different things. The word “handmade” by itself does not tell you what kind of filler is inside.
- How the shop stores them. Whole-leaf premium cigars are kept in a humidor because they dry out and crack without humidity. Many machine-made cigarillos are designed to be sold dry in a flip-top pack.
Once a cigar is lit, its construction also shows in the draw, the burn, and the ash. For storing whole-leaf cigars, start with first humidor setup.
What this means for a buyer
Machine-made and short-filler cigars exist because many smokers want a cigar that is inexpensive, consistent, and easy to find. They are a different product from a premium long-filler cigar, not a failed attempt at one. If you are reading Cigars 101 to learn about the cigars behind the brand pages and the cedar boxes, you are likely looking for totally handmade, long-filler cigars, as described in what is a premium cigar and explained further in wrapper, binder, and filler.
The brand pages on this site, for example Padrón and Arturo Fuente, describe companies that make cigars in this handmade tradition. Size also affects how a blend smokes; the ring gauge and length cheat-sheet and the robusto guide are good next steps.
Where to go next
- Parts of a cigar: what is a premium cigar.
- The three leaves: wrapper, binder, and filler.
- From seed to box: how cigars are made.
- Your first purchase: choosing a first premium cigar.
- Cutting without damaging the cap: how to cut and light a cigar.
- Terms: long filler, short filler, mixed filler, homogenized tobacco, 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: Established trade descriptions of handmade vs machine-made construction, long/short/mixed filler, homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) as reconstituted binder/wrapper sheet, and hand-finished (machine-bunched, hand-wrapped) vs totally handmade. No statistics, scores, or tasting notes.