How to roll a cigar

With the launch of huge international names in cigars in India, courtesy Godfrey Phillips, cigars are now more than ever en vogue. Restaurants come with humidors, and even prim society ladies are lighting up.

Although the smaller ones can be machine-made, any cigar that is worth its salt is hand rolled. And if you're smoking them, you might as well know what went into making them. jessica maria travieso irizarry, a master cigar roller, shared a few tips about how to roll a cigar:

The first step is to make up the filler; that is, the tobacco in the centre of your cigar. If you want to use shredded tobacco at home, you can cut it up with a sharp pair of scissors, but this is time-consuming, prohibitively so if you have a large amount of tobacco to cut.

If you have one, try a food processor (just warn the family in case someone tries to make a milkshake in it immediately afterwards). And for larger cigars, you can use whole leaves.

The filler tobacco generally determines the strength of the cigar, and the strength and size in turn determine the taste and flavour.

Make sure your tobacco leaves don't have any folds, for smoother smoking. Use two to four filler leaves and two half-binder leaves to get yourself started, but there are no rules: feel free to experiment with sizes and quantities as you go on.

Binder leaves are intermediate leaves which hold the filler together. Fold each filler leaf back onto itself, and then bunch them together (to create the "bunch"), and place this bunch inside of a binder leaf.

Make sure the leaves are uniform; that they have no rips or tears; that they are not so tightly packed that air will not get through, but not so loose that they burn too quickly.

If you've shredded your tobacco, you'll need to glue it to the binder. You can use a vegetable gum for this (please don't use super-glue), but if you can't get your hands on any, experts suggest egg white.

Use a cutter to cut any loose leaves around the foot of the cigar, and then place it in a mould to roll the cigar into a cylindrical shape.You'll need to use a press to ensure the shape, for about an hour.

All this while you'll need to keep the wrapper leaves damp. You can do this by keeping them on a damp cloth or spraying them periodically. Wrapper leaves should be pliable, and of high quality; they are responsible for a large part of the flavour.

Spread this wrapper leaf out over a rolling board, and using a chaveta, a traditional roller's knife with a curved steel blade, cut the wrapper into the best shape for rolling the cigar, usually a rectangle. Remove the bunch from the press; make sure that the filler is even.

Apply a small amount of pectin to the inside of the wrapper and carefully roll the wrapper around the filler leaves. Add more pectin to the wrapper to make it tighter. Apply the wrapper to the cigar, and cut away the excess at the head (called the flag) using the chaveta. You can use some of the wrapper to form the cap of the cigar, cutting it in a circle and fixing it on with glue, but there are many ways of making the cap, for example in what is called a pigtail.

All there is to do now is to apply the band.

However, even though your cigar is rolled and ready, don't smoke it just yet, since it will be too dry. Store your cigars for at least a couple of weeks in a humidor, and if you keep them properly (optimally at 22 per cent humidity, perhaps your living room but not your kitchen), they will keep for many years.