James Joyce. Winston Churchill. Sigmund Freud. Edward VII. Rudyard Kipling. Karl Marx. Franz Liszt. What all these people (who would not be caught dead in a room together) had in common was their love of cigars. All Europeans, all cigar lovers. It should come as no surprise, then, that Europe has something of a history with cigars. European cigars are still loved all over the world. The word ‘cigar’ is itself a European term, and derives from ‘cigarro’ in Spanish. Spain was the first country in Europe, and indeed the world, to manufacture cigars, and can therefore claim to be the originator of European cigars. Spanish cigars are also some of the best cigars available on the market—their closest competition comes from Cuba, with its famous Havana line.
Cigars and cigar-making is not restricted to any one continent or region. South America, the United States of America, and the EU all grow tobacco and manufacture cigars. Even Russia and Indonesia have a cigar industry. Of these, the South American cigars are most highly reputed, followed closely by certain European cigars. The Spanish cigar industry is generally recognized to be the second-best in the world. The European cigar industry remains one of the largest in the world. The European Cigar Manufacturers Association (ECMA), founded in the early 1990’s, is the organization that represents European manufacturers of cigars. The European Cigar Manufacturers Association has as its members the major cigar manufacturers in Spain, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the UK and Switzerland. The ECMA’s members’ production therefore constitutes over 95% of the Eropean Union’s industry. Examples of European cigars produced by its members include Davidoffs, Wintermans, Churchills, Villigers, and Panter Cigars. The full range of cigars, as can be seen, is quite large, and this range is one of the reasons the European industry dominates the market, alongside the Cuban industry.