The banderole

Besides the wrapper, the banderole is the figurehead of the cigar.

The idea to put a band around the cigar was born approximately in the year 1850 with the goal to stand out from the competition. At this time, with the wide spreading of lithography it was possible without the slightest effort to print these paper bands coloured.

Almost daily new, colourful works of art with remarkable symbols, signatures or names (private brands) developed, in order to make a cigar unmistakable or individual.
If one should risk taking of the band, then one risks the injury of the thin wrapper. If one nevertheless wants to enjoy an anonymous cigar, then one should wait for the tobacco to warm up and with that the glue with which the band was glued.

At this point a strong request:
Don't seperate the Chambrair banderole from the cigar!

The formats and the right cigar at the right time:

Each cigar has its time of day. The earlier time of day, the milder the taste of the cigar should be. The more fully the flavour, the more suitable is the cigar for the evening. Personalities smoking cigars nearly always have sanely self-assurance.
The cigar has always been a synonym for romance, art and idealism and it was always reserved for a few privileged people. At least, the nineteenth century discovered the cigar as status symbol and myth and took it into its first golden age.

From Victor Hugo to Bismarck the cigar embodied luck and misfortune of a time, which was shaped by a feeling of construction and a gold mining mentality as well as by misapprehensions and confusions.

Great men and outstanding women smoked cigars and surrounded themselves in such a way with a whiff of power and noblesse. Persons, who master the art of cigar smoking, also know how to make decisions. The cigar was always there to celebrate a winner as well as to restore the feeling of dignity of the defeated.

One does not reach for any cigar. A cigar is selected in the right moment, depending on the time of day, the mood and the available time. After diner is before diner, but with the digestive and to end of the evening a rather large sized cigar is more appropriate than a Petit Corona format.

One selects the cigar according to the cause, the company, its expressiveness and its provenance.

As other beautiful things in life the benefit should not be limited by sets of rules. The connaisseur decides freely, which format and which taste is to prepare the moment of joy.