“Hand-rolled” is a phrase that you might come across often if you’re browsing through premium cigars. One of the draws of a top-shelf (or even middle-of-the-road) cigar is that it’s rolled with care by an actual person. Of course, not all cigars are rolled alike, and many of the cheapest on the market do not undergo the same preparation.

Hand-Rolled Cigars

Skipping over all of the hard work of growing and curing tobacco leaves, the process of rolling a cigar is still intensive. It all starts with the filler leaves at the center of the cigar. Once this filler tobacco is properly blended and cut to the right size, it’s carefully rolled and held together with the binder leaf. This cylinder of tobacco is then rolled in the wrapper leaf, which is held in place with a little vegetable glue. The wrapper is the outer leaf that will determine the cigar’s appearance and most of its flavor. After some trimming, the cigar is placed in a mold to ensure a consistent look across each cigar.

Machine-Made Cigars

Where hand-rolled cigars all start with long-filler tobacco that runs the length of the stogie, machine mades generally contain short-filler tobacco. Short-filler is chopped into fine pieces and is often created from leftover scraps of tobacco leaves. This tobacco is inserted into a wrapper and binder via (you guessed it) machines. These binder and wrapper leaves also come from tobacco scraps known as homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL). As the name suggests, these leaves ensure a uniform look across all cigars, despite many more being produced compared to hand-rolled sticks.