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A cigar band is the paper ring that covers the cigar and acts as branding. Many consider this slip nothing more than decoration and remove it before smoking the cigar, but the truth
is that it is a highly collectable object for many purists. Far from being repetitive and unoriginal, cigar bands serve to demonstrate the manufacturers' style, who spare no expense when it comes to design the bands in all the colours, styles or reliefs required. Their importance among collectors and cigar aficionados is ever increasing, to the point where cigar band collecting has become a genuinely popular discipline.

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Collecting criteria
There are no established criteria when it comes to collecting cigar bands, as most collectors tend to have their own. Generally, to be able to talk about a collection, there must be some sort of homogeneity to the group in that when a new cigar band is added, it can be quickly placed in its corresponding slot. In this sense, the criteria applied by collectors are many and varied: historical periods, cigar brands, themes, countries of origin, alphabetic order, etc.

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However, the most common criteria used by collectors and traders is to order the bands in terms of Series and Classics. Series are identical cigar bands that are ordered in terms of countries and within each country in terms of alphabetical order of tobacco brands, and within each brand in terms of chronological order. The countries with the greatest number of series are Belgium, Holland and Spain.

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Classic cigar bands can also be ordered in terms of countries, and in alphabetical order within each country. This category is led by the cigar band tradition of countries such as Cuba, the United States, Spain, Belgium, Holland and Mexico. However, in the last few years, the tobacco industry is growing considerably in countries such as Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela or the Dominican Republic with the corresponding growth in cigar bands originating from these countries.

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Finally, there are those classic cigar bands whose country of origin is unknown and that have been designed in generic fashion to be used by the manufacturers that purchase them. The normal procedure for collecting this type of cigar band is to order them in terms
of theme, which can be many and varied: a proud lion, a coat of arms, a crown, an eagle,
a woman's or man's face, etc.