cigarillo

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A cigarillo (Spanish for "little cigar", pronounced [θiɣaˈɾiʎo]) is a short, narrow cigar. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos are wrapped not in paper but in whole-leaf tobacco. Cigarillos can be found for purchase alone or in packs, and are often made without filters. Unlike a cigarette, they are not meant to be inhaled but rather smoked like a cigar.

Burning cigarillo

Generally, a cigarillo contains about 3 grams of tobacco, the length varies from 3 to 4 in. and the diameter is about 5 to 8 mm. Comparatively, a cigarette contains less than 1 gram of tobacco ^[1] and is less than 5" in length and 10 mm in diameter.

Cigarrillos are often machine made. This allows the price to be lower than if they were hand made. They are not produced in as large a quantity as cigarettes but cigarillos are often seen by passionate cigar smokers as a lower quality product. As cigarrillos are often smoked in quantities similar to cigarettes (between 5 and 10 per day), it is not usually necessary to store them in humidors.

Cigarrillos are also known in Europe as a 'Seven Minute Cigar'. This due to the fact that they can be smoked in seven minutes and are often seen as an alternative not only to cigarettes but also where someone does not have enough time to smoke a full cigar.

To improve their image, cigarrillos can often be found in ornamentally designed tins. Manufacturers explain this offers more protection for the product against crushing. This may also be explained as more efficient way of targeted advertising.

In the United States popular consumer brands include Swisher Sweets, Black and Mild, Al Capone, White Owl, Optimo, and Winchester, while in the United Kingdom they include Hamlets and Café Crème. Inexpensive cigarillos are often identified using a brand name rather than the term cigarillo.

Health concerns

As is the case with other tobacco products, cigarillos are a health risk to those who smoke them. In Europe, they are subject to the same laws which require manufacturers to place a health warning on a portion of each package.

Like cigars, cigarillos are not meant to be inhaled. They are seen as a healthier alternative to cigarettes, but health authorities around the world still warn smokers of the risk they pose due to smoke being in the mouth.

Taxation

In the United States, cigarillos (and cigars) are taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes. The federal tax on cigarettes is 50 cents a pack whereas cigarillos are 4 cents per pack of 20. Large cigars have a federal tax of 5 cents maximum per cigar.^[2]

Alternate usage

In Spanish-speaking countries, as well as in the Philippines, "cigarrillo" is a cigarette. In the Philippines, it is often spelt sigarílyo. Short, narrow cigars are referred to instead as little cigars. In America, cigarillos could also be used for smoking marijuana. The marijuana is hand wrapped into the whole leaf paper.

See also

• Cigar health effects
• Smoking culture

References

1. ^ http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cigars
2. ^ http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Cigar_Smoking.asp?sitearea=PED&viewmode=print&