Long is more expensive, because it comes from one continuous leaf. Short fill comes from leftover cut off from the long filler when they make the better cigars. Long fill cigars tend to burn more evenly. While Fulgencio Batista was president of Cuba in the 1950s, some producers grew Cuban cigar tobacco in Honduras due to an ongoing problem with blue mold in Cuba. One year blue mold wiped out most of Cuba's cigar tobacco in the field, and they had to import tobacco seeds from Honduras.
Most Cuban tobacco is descended from Honduran seed.
This Cuban tobacco grown in Honduras and Nicaragua is called Havana or Cuban seed. It is used in healing ceremonies by the Mayas and the Gar funas, and for fortune telling among the Bay Islanders. Richardson's registered blend uses Cuban seed filler from Nicaragua and tobacco form Honduras' Copan region. Copan's tobacco is known to be a mild tobacco. To produce a mild to medium taste, he blends the stronger Esteli tobacco with Copan's tobacco.