Virginia Heritage little cigars (singular: Virginia) are long, thin cigars with a mouthpiece. Virginia Heritage little cigars brand derives its name from the fact that it was originally made from particularly well-isolated Virginia tobacco that was dried over hickory fires. This process (still used today) is called “dark fire-cured”. On the one hand, this serves as a preservation of tobacco; on the other hand, it also gives the cigar its special smoky taste. In addition to Virginia, Burley, Kentucky and Maryland tobacco are also sometimes used. The inventors were the Aztecs, who smoked tobacco leaves wrapped around a reed.

The characteristic mouthpiece of Virginia Heritage little cigars can be a straw or plastic tube. In addition, a dried blade of grass can be incorporated that runs through the whole cigar. It has to be removed before smoking and thus releases a smoke channel. This channel is conducive to the pulling behavior of the cigar because the tobacco is processed particularly moist and is therefore particularly dense.

One kind of kindling – known from the films with Wachtmeister Studer – consists of pulling out the blade of grass, breaking the tip of the cigar a finger’s breadth and heating up with the burning blade until the smoke comes through the mouthpiece.

The tradition of Virginia Heritage little cigars is well over 100 years old and is mainly popular in southern Germany as well as in Switzerland and Austria. Various brands have been discontinued in the past 10 years, so that there were temporarily none at all on the market. Villiger then brought this tradition back to life and launched Villiger Virginia on the German market in autumn 2009. During production, a natural straw is worked into the insert, which is pulled out before enjoyment. Without this smoke channel, the cigar would not be aired because the tobacco is processed very moist. The Virginia Heritage little cigars tobacco blend consists of “dark fired” tobaccos, which are dried over hickory fires, creating the special smoky flavor.