It’s an image that’s long been celebrated as part of Myanmar’s rich culture – and by such iconic artists as The Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling (who immortalized cheroot in his classic poem Mandalay.) While visiting Da Nyu Phyu, you can experience it yourself with AmaWaterways.

Addictive, a good stogie has continued to remain popular among Westerners over the centuries, including such iconic and glamorous figures as Kings of England, Thomas Edison, Groucho Marx, Marlene Dietrich and Peter Falk. Mark Twain even once quipped “If smoking is not allowed in heaven, I shall not go.”

And in Myanmar, the fascination with cheroot smoking runs just as deep. Smoking these types of cigars are such a way of life here that it is sometimes described as a ‘Burmese facial feature.’ A mainstay in Myanmar by the time of British rule -- and quite popular among the British aristocracy – cheroot cigars are created with dried thanat leaves, various proportions of crushed tobacco and fragrant dried wood chips. A filter is often added and made of dry corn husks or, for a stronger smoke, sugar cane fibers are sometimes used. Coming in all potencies, shapes, colors and sizes – varying from green through brown to dark tar and in rolls the size of everything from a cigarette to the elegant long white cheroots favored by the members of the old British Empire. Some of the most lavish cheroots are even decorated. The cigars are either cylindrical or cone-shaped with both ends clipped. One end is for lighting, the other is rolled shut. They are aromatic and sweet in taste and, hence, freshen the mouth.