How to Hand Roll Cigars

Gather and Prepare Tobacco and Supplies

• 1

  Choose your filler, binder and wrapper tobacco. If your local tobacconist doesn't carry whole-leaf cigar tobacco, you can purchase it (along with many of the other supplies you'll need) from an online retailer like Otoa Cigars (see Resources below).

• 2

  Shred filler leaves with scissors or leave whole. Smooth folds from whole leaves. The filler determines the cigar's strength, and you may need to mix different types of leaves and/or cuts to find a blend you like.

• 3

  Prepare the binder leaf or leaves. Remove the middle rib with scissors if it's still there, and smooth out all the leaf folds. Depending on the size of the cigar you want to roll, you may need to use more than one leaf.

• 4

  Prepare the wrapper leaf. Remove its rib, then smooth the leaf with your hands or press it lightly with an iron.

Hand Roll Your Cigar

• 5

  Lay out the binder leaf on a flat surface and bunch your filler leaves together on top of it. It is important to bunch the filler leaves neither too tightly nor too loosely.

• 6

  Spread a small amount of the adhesive on the edge of the binder leaf and wrap it around the filler. Roll it into cigar shape, then trim away the excess leaf on ends.

• 7

  Trim the wrapper leaf to its proper size and roll it around the cigar. Secure the wrapper with a small amount of adhesive on the edge.

• 8

  Use the adhesive to attach a small piece of the wrapper leaf to one end. Leave the other end open.

• 9

  Enjoy the fruits of your labor by smoking your hand-rolled cigar (after it has aged properly) or giving it as a gift. When you hand roll your next cigar, try to improve upon the original until you have rolled your idea of the perfect cigar.