Tobacco Regions: maps and tobaccos The Dominican Republic is a major producer of top quality tobacco. The principal tobacco growing area in the country is the Cibao River Valley area in the northern half of the country near the city of Santiago.

Other Connoisseur Links history etiquette construction size variations wrapper types tobacco regions cigar type suggestions how to judge a good cigar The Official Cigar Rating System

The Connecticut Valley is a major source of some of the world's finest wrapper leaves. This golden colored wrapper tobacco is highly regarded and praised by many cigar makers and connoisseurs. Connecticut Shade, which emanated from the Hazelwood strain of Cuban seed, is shade-grown under huge tents to protect the delicate leaf. Also from this area is Connecticut Broad Leaf. Grown in the sun, this wrapper tobacco is coarser, darker and produces a sweeter taste.



Indonesia has gained an excellent reputation for wrapper tobacco. It is dark, tasty, and fragile in nature. In recent years, special strains of Java married with Connecticut tobacco have been cultivated with particular emphasis on the process of fermentation to produce a rich, flavorful and fine burning wrapper and binder tobacco. Grown under shade, it is commonly referred to as TBN.



Many Mexican cigars are made with 100% Mexican grown tobacco. The San Andreas valley is world-famous for producing a sun-grown variety of Sumatra-seed tobacco - called Mexican Sumatra. This is used for wrappers. Dark tobacco, used for long fillers and binders, is also grown here. It is the finest burning tobacco grown, and gives the cigar a distinctive sweet, peppery, light texture. Mexican wrapper leaves are often used as Maduro wrappers.


Honduras produces quality Cuban seed and Connecticut seed tobaccos, both full bodied, with strong, spicy flavor and heady aroma. A Connecticut seed variety is shade-grown in Honduras and is similar to Connecticut grown shade leaf tobacco.




Tobacco from Brazil tends to be dark, rich and smooth with a slightly sweet flavor. In fact, the Brazilian tobacco leaves are a deep brown after fermentation.




Cuban tobacco is acknowledged as some of the finest tobacco. The primary tobacco growing region is the legendary Vuelta Abajo area of the Pinar del Rio province in the western part of the country. Because of the take-over by Fidel Castro and the subsequent U.S. embargo in 1963, Cuban-grown tobaccos are not used in cigars sold in the United States.