Simply looking and admiring a Barber Pole Cigar; you don't immediately contemplate how much extra skill is required to roll one of these uniquely stylish cigars.
Reserved for the highly skilled, senior artisan rollers, Barber Pole Cigars have been stretching skillsets and manufacturing costs for a long time in the cigar world.
Created during the Cigar Boom of the 1990s, Arturo Fuente are recognised as the first to make a Barber Pole Cigar as a means to showcase their highly skilled rollers and also to stand-out in what was the most crowded market ever.
Still to this day, Barber Pole Cigars are regarded as a rare treat due to the significant increased cost of using two or three wrappers and the higher labour costs to produce (from skills and the time taken).
Some cigars even use a green Candela wrapper to produce Limited Edition annual releases to celebrate St. Patrick's Day; the Alec Bradley Cigar Co. has been doing this every year since 2014 with this Black Market Filthy Hooligan Toro.
In 2019 the Alec Bradley Cigar Co. took this one step further and introduced the Black Market Filthy Hooligan Shamrock that uses three wrappers to produce a complex Barber Pole Cigar.
TCM side note: Alec Bradley Cigar Co. originally planned to launch the Filthy Hooligan as the Dirty Hooligan, but as a nod to his friend Jonathan Drew of Drew Estate Cigars; Alan Rubin changed it to Filthy Hooligan. This would be because Drew Estate uses the phrase Dirty Rat in their Liga Unico Serie' cigar line.
Also the Irish Community (largely in the USA) started a large public campaign against the Alec Bradley Cigar Co. due its "bigotry" depiction and anti-Irish sentiment by using "stereotypical" packaging and branding...
Please see the offensive poster at the bottom of this BLOG post below.
What is a Barber Pole Cigar?
In its simplest form a Barber Pole Cigar is rolled with two different, alternating wrapper varietals. The most common to produce the contrast are a Natural wrapper and a Maduro wrapper; or more specifically a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper for instance.
This is what the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Between the Lines uses; giving the most noticeable appearance of a Barber Pole (lite vs dark).
The use of two different and generally opposing wrapper types lends to a very enjoyable and complex cigar being created.
Their industry classification is "MWL" which simply stands for Multiple Wrapper Leaf.
Other Versions
There are many other variations or twists on the Barber Pole Cigar or the MWL cigars; the most common and closest to the Barber Pole Cigar is regarded as the Pinstripe Cigar; which is a thin opposing tobacco used to create a pinstripe finish.
The CAO America' line uses this as does the RoMa Craft CroMagnon EMH Black Irish.
Also you have what is displayed below; an artistic use of opposition and alternating wrappers to create artisanal artwork cigars; this is just a handful of what has been produced over the last few decades.
Respected Barber Pole Cigars?
The most noteworthy of course is the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Between the Lines; being tipped as the original in this creation.
Then Alec Bradley Cigar Co. would be next recognised with the Black Market Filthy Hooligan and newer Shamrock.
C.L.E. and their Asylum 13 The Ogre is another (now a regular production cigar); these are huge 6" by 80 and even larger Barber Pole Cigars.
The CAO America' gets a solid mention for their use of the Pinstripe Cigar method of course.
Oscar Valladares has a Barber Pole Cigar in his 2012 by Oscar line-up.
Kurt Kendall of 7-20-4 Hustler also has a great Barber Pole Cigar (I really should get more 7-20-4 cigars for New Zealand one day).
Rocky Patel has The Edge A-10 as a Barber Pole Cigar also.
Some include the Joya de Nicaragua' JOYA Cabinetta in the Barber Pole Cigar line-up; but its really only there as MWL (Multiple Wrapper Leaf) version; but it does use two solidly opposing tobaccos.
The Short History of the Barber Pole
The barber pole's history is deeply rooted in the practice of bloodletting, where barbers (yes barbers, not Doctors or Surgeons) in the past also functioned as surgeons, and the pole represents the staff that patients would grip during the procedure to make their veins more visible; the red and white stripes symbolize the blood and bandages used in bloodletting, with the blue stripe sometimes added to represent the vein itself.
Key points about the barber pole:
Origin: The barber pole is believed to have originated in ancient Greece and Rome where barbers performed surgery and dentistry alongside haircuts.
Bloodletting connection: The pole's design is linked to the practice of bloodletting, where barbers would use a pole for patients to hold onto during the procedure.
Colour symbolism: The red stripes represent the blood, white represents the bandages wrapped around the arm, and the blue stripe (when present) represents the vein.
Evolution of the pole: Early barber poles might have been a simple wooden post with a brass leech basin, but later evolved into the familiar red and white spiral stripes to signify the bloody bandages.
Modern usage: Today, the barber pole is still used as a symbol of a barbershop, with the rotating pole signifying the historical connection to bloodletting.
