London is, without a doubt, the best city in the world for hand-rolled cigar smokers, explains Blue Curran, head of cigars at The Emory Cigar Merchants.

The city’s edge lies in its history. Smokers have bought, sold, imported and exported cigars from London for centuries, and that means the capital has one of the biggest reserves of cigars anywhere in the world.

London’s cigar debut occurred in 1814, when British officers returned from the Peninsular War carrying gifts from their Spanish comrades. The product was snapped up by Britain’s smokers in the thousands of tobacco houses, private clubs and pubs across the country. The first cigar manufacturer in London was William Kelly and Sons, which opened in 1870, and over the following years the industry continued to put down roots in the capital.

In the 20th Century, names such as Alfred Dunhill and Davidoff of London opened their doors, joining Robert Lewis, founded in 1787 on St James’s Street, which later counted Sir Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde among its customers. In 1992, it joined forces with James J. Fox. Sautter of Mount Street also joined the collection.

Most of these names still have a presence in the city despite policymakers’ attempts to clamp down on smoking. There’s also a thriving cigar lounge scene, with locations such as The Emory Cigar Merchants, The Connaught Cigar Merchants and the Garden Room at the Lanesborough Hotel on Hyde Park Corner.

Although smoking indoors is generally illegal in the UK, the law permits dedicated, specialist cigar shops to have an indoor tasting or sampling room where customers can smoke cigars or pipe tobacco. That’s why rooms like those found in The Emory are technically classed as cigar shops.

The life of a hand-rolled cigar

Hand-rolled cigars make up four per cent of the global cigar market by volume, but nearly a third of the overall market value. Machine-manufactured cigars make up the remainder. Unlike the mass-produced machine-made cigars, it can take years to learn the art of cigar rolling, and many days to roll an individual cigar.

Cuba is the spiritual home of the cigar, but due to export restrictions and output limitations, the market today is dominated by other Central American countries such as Ecuador and Nicaragua, as well as the Dominican Republic.

The most common hand-rolled cigar size is the so-called Robusto size. A short, thick cigar that measures roughly 5 inches in length with a 50 ring gauge (typically ranging from 4.75 to 5.5 inches long and 48 to 52 ring gauge). These can take five years to grow and roll with care, going through every stage of the growing and production process. Each cigar contains at least four different tobacco leaves: a binder leaf to hold it all together and a wrapper leaf on top.

These are vital to the cigar’s taste and curated for the perfect look and feel and are the largest type of leaf you’ll find in a cigar. Selected for size, colour and a lack of imperfections, these leaves are often grown under canopies, such as cheesecloth, that diffuse direct sunlight and alter how the plant grows. This ultimately makes the leaves stretchier, smoother and thinner.

Ultimately, each cigar has a unique taste and flavour. When stored properly in a controlled environment (typically around 65 per cent to 70 per cent relative humidity and 18°C to 21°C), cigars can last for decades, or even a century. Older cigars lose some of their harshness, replaced by sweetness or peppiness, but strength isn’t consistent from brand to brand.

While the Robusto is the most common, other sizes, such as the Churchill (7 inches long with a ring gauge of 47) are perhaps more associated with the category. The Churchill, named after Sir Winston, an avid cigar smoker, was previously known as a Large Corona, the larger version of the Corona, the benchmark size (5 1/2 to 6 inches) against which all other cigars are measured. Longer, fatter cigars burn at a lower temperature and last much longer than shorter, thinner cigars.

Cigar smoking in London: how to enjoy it

“It’s the time and effort that’s gone into the cigar” that makes smoking each one such a special experience, explains Blue. They are not designed to be smoked in a hurry. Cigars are designed to be enjoyed and smoked with friends. They’re meant to pass the time in a friendly way, he adds. “Smoke it how you want,” Blue explains. As long as you are enjoying the experience, don’t let anyone tell you any different.

“One of the big things about cigar smoking is not coming away smelling of cigars,” explains Blue. That’s a mark of a good cigar lounge, he adds – you should be able to leave after enjoying your time and not carry the smell around.

Each one of London’s cigar bars and lounges has created its own collection of cigars. These are usually curated by the venue or its dedicated head of cigars, and each collector leaves their unique stamp on the collection. As Blue explains, some collectors prefer older, more unique cigars, which they spend their time scouring the market for. Others may take a more relaxed approach to curation.

Another reason London has carved out a unique place for cigar smokers and collectors.