The first cigars (or Havanas), as discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, were smoked by native Indians of Cuba. The cigars were made from raw, twisted leaves of cured tobacco and dried corn husks were used as wrappers. The first cigars to be made in a similar fashion to those of today were produced in the late 1800s in Serville, Spain by the State tobacco monopoly, Tabacalera. This was then the idea of rolling a cigar with filler, binder and wrapper was invented. Because of the cost of tobacco, they were only smoked by the wealthy. The cigar band was started in Russia. Catherine II embraced the habit of smoking cigars. However she did not want nicotine to stain her fingers, so she had strips of silk placed around her cigars. Thus the modern cigars band is born.
Along with cigars and their popularity came terminology. Blunts originally got their name from their ‘broad or rounded tip’, and were named as such in the 1800s to differentiate them from other cigars with a tapered, pointed tip. Blunts are a specific size cigar that have been so popular as to have been once sold in specific vending machines. The original blunt cigar was manufactured in Philadelphia out of a single leaf outer tobacco wrapper. At the time this was the only cigar wrapped in one continuous leaf, other cigars used pieces of leaves for their outer wrapper. Tobacco leaves naturally taper at the ends. Since this cigar was rolled in one leaf the end would taper and had a round appearance (thus leading to the Blunt name). Due to the popularity of this style of cigar many other Blunts were launched into the marketplace.
Over time the term Blunt became to describe any cigar wrapped in a single continuous leaf. However in the 1970s a new manner of producing cigars was invented. This manner is known as Spiral binding. No longer did cigars have to be rolled in a continuous single leaf but instead a continuous spiral wrap from base to tip could be employed. The basic shape of a Blunt remained unchanged although the burn characteristics of a spiral wrapped cigar is not the same as a single continuous leaf. However spiral wrapping is much less expensive than using a full single tobacco leaf. Spiral wrapping gives a better seal than a single continuous leaf as overlapping can be done (much like wrapping an arm in a bandage, spiral wrapping is easier to seal than a single continuous bandage). Individually packaged Blunt leafs have been available for many years. These are tobacco leaves that because of their nature and appearance are used to roll a cigar in one continuous sheet (thus the name Blunt is used).
Blunt Wraps have evolved over the years since they have become popular with the roll your own crowd. Blunt wraps typically consist of two layers, just like natural blunts. The inner layer is similar to that of cigarette rolling papers. The outer layer is a homogenized tobacco blend; just like a typical rolling papers only tobacco is the main ingredient for this layer. Although the term Blunt has been associated with cigars since the 1800’s, in recent times the term blunt has come associated with marijuana or joints.
Courtesy of rollingpaperwarehouse
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