The process of creating cigars seems simple on a Post-It note.

When I first started, I never understood how a brand could have so many cigars on the shelf. Clearly, you can’t have THAT many different blends.

Ah, little did I know about the rabbit hole the cigar industry actually is.

It sounds simple on the surface.

Somebody grows some tobacco. Somebody rolls the tobacco. Someone else puts on a band, some cello, and puts it into a box. They get shipped. We buy one. We smoke it.

How hard can that be? Surely it is easy after all these years.

If you spend enough time talking to manufacturers, retailers, and importers, you realize that this is not how this works at all. At any given time, there is a chink in that armor. Because on any given day, something will go wrong.

Most premium cigars take a long, slow, very unexciting journey before they ever reach a humidor. Between the day it was made and the day you lit it, it probably spent more time sitting still than moving.

We tend to think cigars are produced and then immediately sold. They are not.

The reality is that they are produced, then they rest. Then they get checked. Then they rest again. Then they move. Then they rest again. If you are seeing a pattern, you are not wrong. Much of the premium cigar business revolves around not rushing.

Which is funny, because I’m like a lot of cigar smokers I know…we are not always known for patience.

Not Every Cigar Makes the Cut

Right after a cigar gets rolled, its life is already being judged by a group of people…at least in a quality factory.

Rollers put them into trays, supervisors look them over, and anything that does not meet the bar quietly disappears from that batch. Sometimes it is construction. Sometimes appearance. Sometimes draw issues.

Yes, it is a made-made product, so stuff slips through the cracks, and you should be ok with that. One bad cigar should not have someone writing a flaming comment on Facebook.

As consumers, we mostly see the winners. There is a whole population of cigars that never make it to the box stage.

That part alone changed how I think about consistency. When a brand delivers a good experience, it is usually because they were willing to reject the ones that were not good enough. That comes at a cost.

Why New Cigars Usually Sit Before You Ever See Them

Fresh cigars are not ready to smoke. Tobacco needs time to settle after rolling. Moisture has to even out. Recently ruffed-up tobacco needs to ‘marry.’

It is the ‘sick period.’ This can take weeks. Sometimes several months.

Factories typically have rooms dedicated to this step. Nothing dramatic is happening…just cigars sitting in controlled conditions while chemistry does its thing. It is not glamorous, but it matters…a lot.

If you have ever smoked a cigar that felt sharp or unsettled and then tried another from the same line later that felt smoother, time may have been the difference.

The Work Behind a Good-Looking Cigar Box

If I were to put a percentage on it…Most delays in cigars going to market end up being the box.

Strike that. Most cigars going to market on time are due to a box delay.

When you open a box, and everything looks uniform, that is not luck. Someone sorted those cigars by wrapper color. By hand. One by one. That takes time and experience.

I couldn’t make a box and probably couldn’t color-sort cigars beyond the first hour of a shift with any accuracy. These people matter.

When a New Cigar Release Is Not Actually New

This part catches a lot of people off guard. Some cigars are finished and then held. Not because something is wrong. Because the company wants them to be exactly where they should be before release.

That could mean six months. It could mean a year. Sometimes longer, depending on the project.

So when you hear about a new cigar, it often means it is newly available, not newly made. That difference matters more than people realize.

It is also the annoying part about the business…when we hear about a cigar coming out and have to wait months…or even years to see it in a store.

Ah, take the good with the bad.

What Good Retailers Do That Most People Never Notice

Once cigars hit a store, many retailers do not rush them straight from the FedEx truck onto the sales counter. No smoking ‘right off the truck’ here.*

*I have been totally guilty of that.

Many retailers will let new arrivals acclimate in their humidors for a bit. Some will smoke a few to see how they are performing before they start recommending them or putting them on the shelf. This is one of those quiet differences between shops that just sell cigars and shops that really pay attention.

I Left [A Big] Something Out.

Enjoy the process. Tobacco takes a long journey to get to you. Heck, I didn’t even start with the farm. Do you have another 2-3 years for me to talk about that part?

Common Questions About How Cigars Are Made

How long does it take for a cigar to reach stores after being made?
Most premium cigars rest for weeks or months after rolling. Some releases age for a year or longer before shipping.

Why do cigars need to rest after production?
Resting allows moisture to balance and flavors to settle. This improves burn and flavors.

Do all cigars make it to market?
No. Many cigars fail quality checks due to construction or appearance issues.

Why do cigar shops let new cigars sit before selling them?
Retailers often let shipments acclimate to humidor conditions to improve performance.

Are new cigars actually new?
They are newly released, not newly rolled. Many were produced months or years earlier.