While in the West, the image of a woman smoking a cigar may conjure up images of the Wild Wild West or other types of women living on the frontier, this is not the case in all the world. In Myanmar, or Burma, for example, it is quite common, at least in some areas, to see women puffing away.
One area where they are noted is Inle Lake, where the women are famous not only for smoking cheroots but for the quickness in which they can roll them… each one capable of churning out hundreds of them per day.
The word Cheroot comes from a French word, cheroute. This in turn comes from a Tamil word that means a “roll of tobacco”. Rolling cheroots was common in the south of India as well. (The name “stogie” was originally given to a cheroot that become popular in Calistoga.)
While all cheroots have both ends clipped, here the commonality ends. In Myanmar, the cigar is made from a tobacco blend and fragrant chips of wood which is then rolled up in a flattened and dried “tha nat phet” leaf. A filter is then added which is made from either fibers from the sugar cane or husks of dry corn.
A lot of cheroots are made in the Shan states located in the eastern part of Myanmar. Some say the best are made in Taunggyi factories. Particularly large sized ones are sold in Mandalay. For most tourists, though, it’s Inle Lake where they will most easily encounter cheroots, cheroot rolling, and the cheroot smoking nana.
In Inle Lake, they are not just known for the quickness of their rolling ability, they’re also renowned for their flavors. Some of them are rolled with pineapple, dried banana, tamarind, rice wine and honey. In fact, in some cases there is so much evidence put on the flavor, there is barely any tobacco present.
A missionary and teacher in India, Verrier Elwin, believed that the scented smoke of cheroots may drew the interest of mosquitoes away from the smoker’s skin, allowing him to stay malaria-free, although it’s more likely that the smoke repelled them. In any case, it’s a theory that may be worth a try in tropical Myanmar.
Since they can vary widely in taste, you may want to try a few types before you decide whether you’re for or against. If you’re a fan of a fine Cuban cigar, you may be best off not thinking of them as cigars at all and just letting them stand on their own merit. If you do like them, they are a great souvenir to take home… you’re sure to be brought back to your travels with the first inhale.
Even if you have no interest in trying a puff for yourself, a tour of a cheroot factory might be worth putting on your itinerary, particularly if you find yourself around Inle Lake. In any case, no visitor to Myanmar will want to go home without a photo of a home-rolling puffing grannie.
Maureen Santucci, originally from the U.S., has made Peru her home for the past 5 years. She writes for Fodor’s Travel Guide as well as various travel blogs when she isn’t escaping off to the mountains to hike, teaching Tai Chi, or treating patients in her acupuncture clinic.
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