Tobacco cultivation in Iran dates back more than two centuries. The provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Kurdistan, and Lorestan — thanks to favorable climates — are the country's main tobacco-leaf hubs, supplying both domestic cigarette manufacturing and hookah-tobacco production.
Alongside industrial farming, the past decade has seen small semi-industrial workshops grow, hand-processing leaf and blending local flavors (quince, barberry, rosewater) into homegrown shisha tobacco with a devoted following both domestically and, increasingly, abroad.
Cigars are not traditionally produced in Iran, and the market there leans heavily on imported Cuban, Dominican, and Nicaraguan brands — but a small, active community of collectors and cigar enthusiasts has formed in Tehran and other major cities.
