There are a lot of books about cigars. Some of them are good, some of them are less good and some of them are, let's admit it, almost useless. I've been checking out some books lately and I also asked people around to recommend their favorites, so we came up with this list. Feel free to let us know if we missed some in the comments area.
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The Ultimate Cigar BookThis is the all-time bestseller and considered as the cigar book. It is indeed quite a nice read, not too simple and not too technical. The author concentrates more on non-Cuban cigars. The 2003 edition is quite expensive, but you can get the old one real cheap. |
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Cigars: Revised & UpdatedThis beautiful book is very recent (2009), unlike most of other books in our selection. Written by a renowned cigar expert, Vahé Gérard, it deals with the history and traditions of cigars. There are some great photographs made by Matthieu Prier. Cigars: Revised & Updated concentrates more on Cuban cigars. |
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Cigar DossierThis is probably the best pre-filled cigar journal. If you are too lazy to make one, this hard-covered stylish book will help you record your experiences with different cigars. It is extremely easy to use and has enough pages to store hundreds of reviews. |
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to CigarsThis is, in our opinion, the best book for newbies. If you have more than one year experience in cigar smoking, then you probably won't learn much from this read, but if you're just getting started, there's a ton of valuable information. Extremely easy to read and understand, it will make a nice gift. |
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The Illustrated History of CigarsThis appears to be the best coffee-table book about cigars. Thorough explanations, interesting history, great illustrations - we should also mention the quality translation. The authors seem to overestimate Cuban cigars, but we'll pardon them. |
As you can see, we didn't include any "cigar encyclopedias" in our list. There are several reasons for this - first of all, there are so many released and discontinued cigars each year that it is really impossible to have a very reliable printed ressource. Secondly, this information (most of it) can be easily found online.
UPDATE Here are a couple of other cigar-related books of note, suggested by our readers:
- Nat Sherman's Passion for Cigars: one of the most renowned cigar makers/shop owners describes his passion in a simple, non-snobbish manner.
- 27 Lessons to Become a Cigar Expert: very easy to read, this book provides a great introduction to cigars in 27 short lessons.
I hope you enjoyed this selection. Don't forget to let us know about your favorite cigar books!
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