Backwoods are the cigars everyone recognizes on sight, rustic-looking, dark-tipped and irregular, sold in small tuck pouches at nearly every gas station and tobacco shop in the country. Unlike most cigars in their price range, most Backwoods actually use a real leaf wrapper rather than the homogenized tobacco found in brands like Black & Mild, which gives them a rougher look but a more authentic cigar-smoking feel for the price.
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What Is a Backwoods Cigar?
- Origin: Puerto Rico
- Strength: Mellow
- Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf on most flavors, natural leaf variants on the Select and Dark Leaf lines
- Filler: Caribbean Basin Cuban-seed tobacco
- Size: Mostly 4 to 4.5 inches, small ring gauge, quick to smoke
- Price: Roughly $1.00 to $1.40 a stick
The Backwoods Lineup
Backwoods comes in two broad categories: flavored lines built for a sweeter, dessert-style smoke, and the Select series, one release per tobacco-growing region, for something closer to an unflavored, natural cigar experience.
What Beer to Drink With Each One
- Cognac X.O. with an amber ale or a brown ale. Caramel malt echoes the cognac finish.
- Select Honduras 1883 with a Vienna lager or a session IPA. It is the most balanced, medium-leaning stick in the lineup, so it can handle a beer with a bit more character.
- Russian Cream with a coffee stout or a milk stout. Custard and coffee notes on both sides.
- Banana with a wheat beer or a Belgian witbier. Fruit and spice notes work together.
- Dark Leaf with a porter or a dark lager. The rum-finished, aged filler wants something with roast behind it.
How Backwoods Compares to Other Budget Cigars
Backwoods sit in an interesting middle spot. They cost about the same as a Black & Mild or a Swisher Sweets, but most of the lineup uses a real Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper instead of homogenized tobacco, which is why longtime cigar smokers tend to rate them slightly higher for authenticity even though the construction is still fully machine-made. If you want to compare all three side by side, see our Best Budget Cigars Under $5 guide, or if you specifically want the homogenized-wrapper style, see our Black & Mild guide.
More Ways to Pair Beer and Cigars
Go back to the full beer and cigar pairing guide for the reasoning behind every pick on the site.
FAQ
Are Backwoods real cigars?
Yes. Most Backwoods use a genuine Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper rather than the homogenized tobacco leaf found in brands like Black & Mild, though they are still fully machine-made.
What is the mildest Backwoods flavor?
The entire lineup is built around a mellow strength profile. The Select series, like Honduras 1883, leans closest to a natural, unflavored cigar experience, while the flavored lines add sweetness on top of that same mellow base.
What is Backwoods Dark Leaf?
A line dating back to 1981 that uses an all-natural Indonesian tobacco leaf wrapper with no homogenized components, aged filler, and a sweet rum finish. It has a noticeably shorter smoking time than the rest of the Backwoods lineup.
What beer goes best with a Backwoods cigar?
Match the flavor: fruity and cream flavors pair with wheat beers or milk stouts, while the more tobacco-forward Select series and Dark Leaf pair well with ambers, porters and darker lagers.
