Cigar tobacco production is growing rapidly as cigar consumption has been increasing recently in China. In order to be clear about the current status of tobacco-specific nitrosamine (TSNA) contents of cigar wrappers and fillers from different regions of the world and from different varieties, 55 domestic and imported cigar samples were collected, and 16 cigar varieties were cultivated in Sichuan Province of China for cured sample collection and measurements. The correlation of TSNAs to their precursors, alkaloids and nitrate, was also analyzed. The results showed that the total TSNA content in cigar samples from different producing areas ranged from 1.46 to 25.75 µg/g, with NNN content being the highest among four individual nitrosamines, ranging from 0.63 to 20.91 µg/g, and varying the greatest among all the samples. The nicotine and nornicotine contents were 0.66 % ~ 10.02 % and 0.04 % ~ 0.79 %, respectively, with percent nicotine conversion being 2.07 % ~ 28.01 %. The total alkaloid level in fillers was higher than that in wrappers and binders. However, the contents of nicotine and nornicotine and the nicotine conversion rate varied greatly among samples from the same region and within the same cigar tobacco type, indicating that cigar tobacco from any region had the problem of nicotine to nornicotine conversion that resulted in decreased levels of nicotine and increased levels of nornicotine, which is the precursor of NNN. Correlation analysis showed that nornicotine in cigar tobacco leaves had a significantly positive correlation with NNN and total TSNAs. Results from variety test also showed that all the tested varieties had the problem of nicotine to nornicotine conversion at different degrees, with the percent nicotine conversion in bulk samples ranging from 5.03 % to 53.12 %. Correlation analysis also showed a significant positive correlation between nornicotine and NNN and total TSNAs. In conclusion, current cigar tobacco worldwide has the problem of nicotine conversion, which leads to increased levels of NNN and total TSNAs in both wrapper and filler cigar tobaccos. There is an urgent need to purify the cigar population so as to substantially lower TSNA contents in cigar tobacco and cigar products.