What Does It Really Mean If a Cigar Is “Machine-Made”?

When you hear the words “machine-made cigar,” it’s easy to assume that means cheap, mass-produced tobacco with little attention paid to quality.

But that’s not the case.

In fact, some machine-made cigars have a fascinating history tied to the golden age of American cigar manufacturing—and some of the machines still producing cigars today are essentially pieces of living cigar history.

So what does machine-made actually mean when it comes to cigars?

What Is a Machine-Made Cigar?

At its simplest, a machine-made cigar is a cigar that is constructed, at least in significant part, using machinery rather than being entirely rolled by hand.

But the story gets much more interesting when you look at what kind of machines we’re talking about.

Cigar Machines are From the Past, not the Future

The phrase “machine-made” can make you picture a modern automated factory filled with stainless steel machinery and computerized controls, rather than the actual process.

Machine-made cigars aren’t a new invention. In fact, cigar-making machines were already transforming the American cigar industry more than a century ago.

The Machines That Keep Making Cigars

One of the coolest examples can be found at J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in Tampa.

LM Cigars’ Factory Throwouts are made using machines that J.C. Newman has reportedly used continuously for approximately 90 years.

That’s a pretty different image from what many smokers imagine when they hear “machine-made.”

These aren’t necessarily faceless, modern automated production lines. They’re pieces of old cigar-making technology that have been maintained and put to work producing cigars for generations.

And the resulting cigars aren’t simply tobacco products designed to be as inexpensive as possible. Factory Throwouts, for example, use aged tobaccos and an Ecuadorian wrapper, and are designed specifically as affordable, everyday cigars.

Machine-Made Doesn’t Automatically Mean Low Quality

This is probably the biggest misconception about machine-made cigars.

Machine-made describes the manufacturing process—not necessarily the quality of the tobacco. A machine-made cigar can still use aged tobacco, quality wrapper leaf, and carefully developed blends. 

Take Mexican Segundos. These cigars are machine-made but use an Ecuadorian wrapper combined with Mexican, Dominican, and Nicaraguan tobaccos. They’re specifically designed to deliver many of the characteristics smokers associate with premium cigars while maintaining a value-oriented price.

The same idea applies to many of the Luis Martinez machine-made offerings available from LM Cigars. The brand’s Factory Throwouts, Dominican Pride, Privateer, Factory Seconds, and several selection lines use machine construction while incorporating natural-leaf wrappers and quality tobaccos.

The Ultimate Throwback: Factory Throwouts

If you want to understand the old-school appeal of machine-made cigars, Factory Throwouts are a great place to start.

Even Some Famous Cigarillos Are Machine-Made

Machine-made cigars aren’t limited to traditional bundle cigars, either. Some of the most recognizable cigarillos in America are machine-made.

LM Cigars carries popular brands including Swisher Sweets, Black & Mild, Backwoods, and Dutch Delites, among others.

Black & Mild, for example, is a machine-made cigar produced by the John Middleton Company and is made using pipe tobaccos.

Backwoods take the concept in a completely different visual direction. They’re machine-made cigarillos deliberately designed with a rustic, irregular appearance—including their characteristic frayed end.

In other words, a machine doesn’t necessarily have to make a cigar look like it came from a machine.

So, Should You Avoid Machine-Made Cigars?

Absolutely not.

If you’re looking for a premium handmade cigar, you should certainly understand the difference between handmade and machine-made construction.

But if you’re looking for a good everyday cigar, an affordable bundle, a cigar for sharing, or a value cigar you don’t have to overthink, machine-made cigars can be worth exploring.

And there’s something appealing about the history behind them.

A machine-made cigar can be the product of decades of manufacturing experience, traditional blends, aged tobacco, and machinery that has been making cigars longer than many of us have been alive.

That’s not cutting corners; that’s cigar-making history.

Shop Machine-Made & Value Cigars at LM Cigars

LM Cigars carries a wide selection of machine-made and value cigars, including Factory Throwouts, Luis Martinez, Black & Mild, Swisher Sweets, Backwoods, Mexican Segundos, and more.

So the next time you see “machine-made” on a cigar description, don’t automatically think cheap.

Think consistent, affordable, historic—and sometimes made on a machine that’s been rolling cigars for generations.