From the beliefs and rituals of the indigenous peoples, tobacco became the most important non-food agricultural product on the planet. The use of tobacco products in all their forms (snuff, straw cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own, etc.), goes back to times well before the existence of the present-day cigarette manufacturers.

With its origins in the Andes, tobacco followed the migrations of the Indians throughout Central America, until it arrived in Brazil.

The first tobacco fields were farmed by colonists for their own consumption. Soon, however, many people appeared who were willing to buy the excess until finally, in Europe, demand . . . → Read More: Brazil tobacco history

Cruz das Almas is the main city of Mata Fina region in the Reconcavo Bahiano, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The city of Cruz das Almas is 150 kilometers away from Salvador, the capital of the state. The Mata Fina region gets its name from the native vegetation (mata= vegetation and fina=thin). Mata Fina is a strip of land between the Mata Atlantica (Atlantic Rain Forest) and the Caatinga (very dry and sandy). The vegetation in this area is thin and tall, like the rain forest, but the treetops are small and bushy, like the caatinga. Tobacco was . . . → Read More: Brazil cigar tobacco regions

Brazilian cigars are mostly produced in the state of Bahia on the eastern coast of Brazil. Here the region is very tropical and the soil fertile, which naturally makes a great tobacco growing environment. Brazil is the leading South American country for tobacco exports.

In the world of cigars, Brazil is mostly known for its dark tobacco, called Mata Fina tobacco. Mata Fina is a sun-grown tobacco which is typically made into wrappers and used for premium, long filler cigars by many cigar producers in the Caribbean and Central America. This Brazilian wrapper is dark brown to black in . . . → Read More: Brazil cigar tobacco