Career profile · SOC ESC-C26AE03C

cigar inspector

Cigar inspectors test, sort, sample and weigh cigars in order to find defects and deviations from the product's specifications.

cigar inspector cigar inspectors test, sort, sample and weigh cigars in order to find defects and deviations from the product's specifications. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include history of tobacco, quality prototype of a tobacco leaf, curing methods for tobacco leaves, manufacturing of smokeless tobacco products, manufacturing of smoked tobacco products.

AI exposure
5.0/10
automation risk

Pay in the UK

UK: median £34,360 a year for Routine inspectors and testers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)

Middle half of full-time jobs: £28,338 to £43,307 a year

UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 8143). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)

Pay in India (occupation group)

Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Craft and related trades workers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only cigar inspector, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.

Urban India
₹17,819 a month
Rural India
₹15,532 a month
All India
₹16,773 a month

Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 7. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report

Top skills

history of tobacco quality prototype of a tobacco leaf curing methods for tobacco leaves manufacturing of smokeless tobacco products manufacturing of smoked tobacco products variety of tobacco leaves manufacturing of by-products from tobacco test cigars control levels of nicotine per cigar perform sensory evaluation of food products

Knowledge you'll build

  • Production and Processing
  • English Language
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Mechanical
  • Mathematics
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Education and Training
  • Engineering and Technology

What you'd actually do

  • Discard or reject products, materials, or equipment not meeting specifications.
  • Mark items with details, such as grade or acceptance-rejection status.
  • Measure dimensions of products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments, such as rulers, calipers, gauges, or micrometers.
  • Notify supervisors or other personnel of production problems.
  • Inspect, test, or measure materials, products, installations, or work for conformance to specifications.
  • Write test or inspection reports describing results, recommendations, or needed repairs.

Tools & technology you'd use

Microsoft Excel hot Microsoft Office software hot Microsoft Outlook hot Microsoft PowerPoint hot Microsoft Word hot Apache Hive hot Atlassian JIRA hot Autodesk AutoCAD hot Dassault Systemes SolidWorks hot Extensible markup language XML hot Microsoft Access hot Microsoft SharePoint hot

Frequently asked questions

What does cigar inspector do?

Cigar inspectors test, sort, sample and weigh cigars in order to find defects and deviations from the product's specifications.

What skills does cigar inspector need?

The most in-demand skills for this role include history of tobacco, quality prototype of a tobacco leaf, curing methods for tobacco leaves, manufacturing of smokeless tobacco products, manufacturing of smoked tobacco products, variety of tobacco leaves. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Will AI replace cigar inspector?

Our AI-durability model gives cigar inspector a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.

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