The Cuban Cigar Handbook

Cuban cigars have been considered as the best in the world for centuries. In the sixteenth-century Spain made more money exporting tobacco from Cuba than it made from gold. Now as Cuba opens up to international trade the world can obtain the full range of Cuban cigars again. The Cuban Cigar Handbook is the aficionado's guide to the diversity of Cuban cigars.

From Fidel Castro's favourite, the Cohiba, to the Romeo y Julieta brand, much-loved by Winston Churchill, The Cuban Cigar Handbook gives a detailed history, and tasting notes, for over 200 brands (making this the definitive handbook for connoisseurs, and anyone who would like to know more about Cuban cigars).

Including fascinating detours into stories of celebrated cigar aficionados from Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway to Rudyard Kipling, with advice on the best Cuban rum to pair with a cigar, plus dynamic profiles of growers, hand-rollers, and producers this is the definitive book on the subject.

The Cuban Cigar Handbook captures the vibrancy of Cuba, with its full-colour illustrations throughout, and the sense of tradition and craft that is at the heart of a Cuban cigar - describing how tobacco is grown, aged and then rolled to make a Cuban cigar a luxury and an art form as much as a pleasure.

Contributors include Matteo Speranza, editor of the Cuban Cigars blog; Carlos Devito, author of over 15 books, including Life by the Glass; Gary Korb who writes for CigarAdvisor.com; Walt White who has founded Stogie Review, a cigar review blog, and Denis Toulouse, founder of the Cigar Inspector Blog.