Lexicon
Totalmente a mano
The Cuban declaration for cigars made entirely by hand — the benchmark of the premium world.
“Totalmente a mano” — entirely by hand — appears on Cuban boxes whose cigars a torcedor has rolled without any mechanical assistance. This is distinct from machine-made cigars, usually short filler, and from hybrid forms in which machines carry out part of the work: phrasings such as “hecho a mano” (“handmade”) can refer to precisely such intermediate cases. It is therefore worth reading the declaration carefully before every purchase.