The History of Backwoods: When Did They Launch?

If you've searched "when did Backwoods come out" and landed on five different answers, you're not imagining things. Some sources say 1973. Some say 1981. Even the brand's own current manufacturer only cites one of those dates on its site. Here's the short version: both dates are correct, they just describe two different moments in the same story.

The Short Answer: 1973 and 1981 Are Both Right

Backwoods started life in 1973 as part of a wave of "little cigar" brands that tobacco companies pushed out after cigarette advertising got banned from TV and radio. That early version didn't yet carry the rustic, frayed-end look most smokers associate with the brand today.

The Backwoods most people recognize, the "Wild & Mild" cigar with the tapered body and unfinished head, was rolled out nationally in 1981. ITG Brands, the company that owns and manufactures Backwoods today, states this directly: the cigars were introduced nationally in 1981 and became an instant success. So when someone tells you 1973, they're talking about the brand's cigarette-era origin. When someone tells you 1981, they're talking about the national cigar launch that actually built the brand you buy today. Most blogs pick one number and never mention the other, which is exactly why the date causes so much confusion online.

The Full Timeline of Backwoods History

1970: President Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning cigarette advertising on television and radio starting January 1, 1971. Tobacco companies scramble for a workaround, since the law didn't apply to cigars.

1973: Backwoods enters the market as part of that "little cigar" wave, a category built specifically to keep tobacco ads on TV under a different product name.

Late 1970s: The brand leans hard into rugged, outdoor-focused marketing aimed at hunters, fishermen, and outdoorsmen, with the now-famous tagline built around looking wild but smoking mild.

1981: Backwoods relaunches nationally as the all-natural cigar people recognize today, complete with the frayed end, tapered body, and unfinished head that set it apart from smooth, machine-finished competitors. This is the launch ITG Brands points to as the brand's real breakout moment.

1980s onward: Backwoods becomes one of the best-selling all-natural cigars in the U.S., expanding well past its original outdoorsman audience into convenience stores and tobacco shops nationwide.

1999 to 2015: Ownership changes hands more than once as the tobacco industry consolidates, which is the part most blogs skip entirely (more on that below).

Today: Backwoods remains one of the most recognized machine-made cigar brands in the country, with a flavor lineup that's grown far beyond the original.

Who Makes Backwoods Cigars Today

This is the part almost every ranking article gets vague on, so here's the actual ownership chain:

Backwoods was originally produced under Consolidated Cigar Corporation. In 1999, Consolidated Cigar was renamed Altadis U.S.A. after a merger between Spain's Tabacalera and France's SEITA created the parent company Altadis. In 2008, Altadis was acquired by Imperial Tobacco, later renamed Imperial Brands. In 2015, Imperial folded its U.S. cigar and cigarette operations, including the old Altadis U.S.A. business, into a new entity called ITG Brands, LLC.

So today, Backwoods is manufactured and marketed by ITG Brands, LLC, a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Imperial Brands, and ITG Brands is currently the third-largest tobacco company in the United States. If you see "Altadis U.S.A." credited as the maker on an older blog post or product listing, that's not wrong, it's just the brand's name before the 2015 restructuring.

What's Actually Inside a Backwoods

Part of why Backwoods held onto its identity through all those ownership changes is that the actual construction barely changed. Every Backwoods cigar is built with Caribbean Basin Cuban-seed filler tobacco and finished in a genuine Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, not the homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) that most machine-made cigars use. That's a real, whole-leaf wrapper, the same category of leaf used on plenty of premium hand-rolled cigars, which is part of why Backwoods burns and smells different from other budget cigarillos on the shelf.

The filler tobacco is grown in the Dominican Republic, while the finishing work happens domestically in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the brand has been based for decades. That combination, machine-made for consistency and cost, but wrapped in real leaf instead of reconstituted tobacco, is the detail most competitor blogs either skip or get backwards.

How the Flavor Lineup Grew Over 50 Years

The original 1981 release was a single natural blend. Since then, the lineup has expanded steadily, and the current flavors available at Smokenza's Backwoods collection include Honey, Honey Berry, Honey Bourbon, Sweet Aromatic, Russian Cream, Dark Stout, Black Russian, Dark Leaf, Banana, and Vanilla, sold as both cigars and standalone rolling wraps.

Not every flavor released over the decades survived. Some, like a few early fruit blends, were discontinued in the U.S. and occasionally return as limited runs, which is part of why longtime smokers keep an eye out for restocks rather than assuming a discontinued flavor is gone for good.

Formats have expanded too. Backwoods now ships as single pouches of five, individual singles sold 24 to a pack, 8-pack cartons (40 cigars total), and 10-pack cartons of three (30 cigars total), alongside True Wraps sold in boxes of 16 packs of five (80 wraps total) for anyone who prefers to roll their own rather than smoke the pre-rolled cigar.

Backwoods' Cultural Footprint

Backwoods built its early identity almost entirely around outdoor, masculine marketing, print ads showing climbers and hunters paired with the "wild and mild" slogan. That positioning stuck for years and is part of why the rustic, unfinished look became the brand's signature rather than a manufacturing shortcut.

Over time, the brand's reach extended well past its original outdoorsman audience into music and streetwear culture, where the pouch and the cigar's distinctive shape became a recognizable visual on their own. It's also well documented in public health research that Backwoods and similar cigarillos are commonly repurposed by cannabis users to roll blunts, a use case the brand itself doesn't market toward but one that's been studied and reported on for years.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Backwoods come out?

Backwoods traces back to 1973 as an early "little cigar" brand, but the version most people know today, the natural, frayed-end cigar, launched nationally in 1981. ITG Brands, the current manufacturer, cites 1981 as the brand's breakout year.

Who makes Backwoods cigars?

Backwoods is made by ITG Brands, LLC, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. Before a 2015 corporate restructuring, the brand operated under the name Altadis U.S.A.

Is Backwoods considered a premium cigar?

No. Backwoods is a machine-made, all-natural cigar. It uses a genuine Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper rather than the reconstituted wrapper found on most budget cigarillos, which puts its construction a step above typical drugstore cigars, but it's not classified or priced as a premium, hand-rolled cigar.

What was the original Backwoods flavor?

The 1981 national release was a single natural, unflavored blend. Flavored variants like Honey and Sweet Aromatic came later as the lineup expanded.

Are Backwoods wraps the same as Backwoods cigars?

No. Backwoods wraps are standalone rolling leaf sold without filler, meant for rolling your own. Backwoods cigars are the finished, pre-rolled product with filler tobacco already inside.

The Bottom Line

Backwoods isn't a brand with one clean launch date, it's a brand with two important ones. 1973 marks where the name started. 1981 marks where the cigar people actually associate with Backwoods came from. Over 50 years and one corporate restructuring later, the construction, real Connecticut Broadleaf over Cuban-seed filler, has barely changed, even as the flavor lineup has grown considerably.

If you want to see the full current range, including every flavor and format mentioned above, Smokenza's Backwoods collection has boxes, packs, singles, and wraps all in one place.