Arturo Fuente's Hemingway line of premium cigars are some of the most popular figurado cigars in the world. The Hemingway is a cigar designed to complement an activity rather than to be an activity in and of itself, although it is certainly flavorful and smokable enough to do so. It is smoother than some cigars: its filler and binder are of Dominican tobacco, its wrapper usually Cameroon (except for the comparitively rare maduro edition) for a slightly spicy finish. The cigars are figurado, meaning that their shape differs from the norm — specifically, they are perfectos, tapered at the ends, broader in the middle.

The cigar line takes its name from the novelist Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway, a Nobel prize winner for his literary accomplishments, was both an iconic and a tragic figure. Born in Illinois, he was a great traveller, spending time abroad for literary, military, and sporting pursuits (he was an avid hunter) in Africa, Spain, Italy, and various Latin American countries. An estate in Cuba was his longest residence. He died in Idaho.

How did Hemingway come to have a cigar line named after him? The reason is similar to the reason that Winston Churchill has a cigar size named after him. Both men had larger-than-life personalities; both were known for their virile habits and lifestyles, and it is precisely this virility that has come to be associated with cigar smoking. Hemingway, despite his myriad personal demons and his eventual suicide in 1961, is remembered as a man who liked to enjoy the pleasures of life, a propensity that is reflected in his writings. The Sun Also Rises, in particular, is famous for its depiction of the good life in Pamplona, Spain: the characters enjoy fine wines, good cigars, and bullfights. Cigar-smoking, and cigar appreciation, is also a habit (one might even say ritual) that, like the enjoyment of fine wines, is steeped in tradition. Hemingway had a deep appreciation for tradition, both the traditions of his native country and of the countries he visited.

The Arturo Fuente's decision to name a line of cigars after Ernest Hemingway, then, is both a shrewd marketing scheme — those wishing to emulate Hemingway's lifestyle, and to appropriate something of his personal aura, can feel they are doing so by purchasing and enjoying the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Cigar that bears his name — and a tribute to the writer's legacy and the values that he stood for.