Scientists in Japan have achieved the fastest internet speed in human history: 125,000 gigabytes per second over a distance of 1,120 miles. To put it lightly, that’s not a small upgrade. It is, in fact, about four million times faster than the average internet speed in the US.

Yes, this has nothing to do with cigars. Not directly. But stick with us — it gets interesting.

The Speed: 125,000 GB per Second Explained

To understand what Japan has achieved, we need to put the numbers in perspective. Transmitting 125,000 gigabytes per second means moving 125 million megabytes every second. That equals one exabit per second, a one followed by eighteen zeros.

At this speed, we’re not just improving internet performance. We’re entering a new category entirely. This isn’t about smoother streaming or faster downloads. It’s about data moving so quickly and reliably that it begins to mimic the nature of physical reality. The line between the digital and the physical starts to blur.

Imagine pulling down the full contents of Netflix, every film, series, and documentary, in less than a second. Or downloading the entire Internet Archive, over 100 petabytes of content, in under four minutes. This speed is so far beyond anything in daily life that comparisons almost fail to do it justice.

What makes it possible is a completely new kind of fibre optic cable. Instead of a single core, it contains nineteen cores packed into one strand, the same size as today’s standard cables. All nineteen carry data simultaneously, and they’re engineered to interact with light in exactly the same way. That means minimal distortion, less data loss, and far better performance over long distances.

The test involved sending data the equivalent of 1,120 miles, about the distance from New York to Florida, repeated 21 times in a loop. Even after all that, the signal remained intact.

This kind of infrastructure changes the conversation. We’re not just moving information faster. We’re beginning to imagine a future where entire environments, objects, or atomic structures could be transmitted the same way we send images or files today.

Could You Download a Physical Object?

Let’s imagine something completely absurd. Say you wanted to download a cigar. Not a picture of one. A physical, smokeable cigar. A full Montecristo No. 2 appearing in your hand with the oily sheen of its wrapper perfectly intact.

What would that take?

We’re talking about transferring matter — not files. To do that, you’d need to transmit data describing every atom in the cigar.

The Math of Matter Transfer

Let’s say you want to download a real cigar. Not an image or a digital file, but an actual physical cigar that appears in your hand. For this example, we will use a standard robusto weighing around 15 grams.

To make this happen, a machine would need to know everything about every atom that makes up the cigar. That means what type of atom it is, where it is located in three-dimensional space, how it is bonded to other atoms, and other complex information. It is an enormous amount of detail.

We can make a rough estimate using hydrogen atoms as a baseline, just to keep the math simple. There are about 6 hundred thousand billion billion atoms in just 1 gram of hydrogen. Multiply that by 15 and we get around 9 hundred thousand billion billion billion atoms in a 15 gram cigar. That is written out as a 9 followed by 24 zeros.

Now let’s say we need 100 bytes of data to describe each atom. That includes its type, position, and other important details. Multiply 100 bytes by that huge number of atoms and we get 9 followed by 26 zeros. That is called 900 yottabytes of data.

To explain that clearly:

• One yottabyte is 1 followed by 24 zeros in bytes
• That is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes
• So 900 yottabytes is 900 times that amount

Now imagine trying to transfer that data over the internet in one second. You would need a connection that can handle 7 thousand 200 exabits every second. One exabit is 1 followed by 18 zeros in bits. That is
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits.

For comparison, Japan’s record-breaking speed reached 1 exabit per second. You would need 7 thousand 200 times that just to download one single cigar in real time.

That is assuming no delays, no signal loss, and perfect accuracy. And that is for just one cigar. If you wanted to download a full box of ten, multiply everything by ten.

So yes, the idea of downloading cigars from the internet is still pure science fiction. But the numbers are fascinating. And one day, if speeds keep improving the way Japan has just shown us, who knows what will be possible.

How Far Are We from Downloading Cigars?

Let’s take a look at where we are right now. The average internet speed for a home connection in the UK is about 100 megabits per second. In the United States, it is closer to 250 megabits per second. These are good enough for streaming and general use, but nothing special in the big picture.

Now compare that to Japan’s recent world record. The team achieved a speed of 1 exabit per second. That is one followed by 18 zeros in bits. Written out, it looks like this:

1 exabit equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits per second
That is the same as 1,000,000,000 megabits per second

In other words, the Japanese system is around 10 million times faster than the average home connection in the United States. It is beyond anything currently available to consumers.

And even with that incredible speed, it is still not enough. As we saw earlier, downloading one cigar would require 7 thousand 200 exabits per second. So even Japan’s world record is more than 7 thousand times too slow for that kind of task.

We are not just a little behind. We are on a completely different level. Downloading cigars is not around the corner. It is on the other side of a galaxy.

But Let’s Pretend Anyway…

Imagine this. You are browsing cigars online. You scroll through rare regionals, vintage stock, limited editions. You spot a Cohiba Talisman. You hit the checkout button. And instead of a shipping notification, something else happens. The air in front of you starts to shimmer. A moment later, there it is. A fully formed cigar in your hand, rebuilt from pure data.

No delays. No customs. No waiting. Just digital indulgence turned into reality.

And the best part? No stock issues. If the data exists, it can be transmitted. You are no longer limited by warehouses or inventory. You are limited only by bandwidth.

Final Thoughts

Is this going to happen? Not tomorrow. Not in ten years. But technology has a way of making fools out of cynics. We’ve already got people experimenting with 3D printing food, remote surgeries using robotic arms, and Elon Musk trying to beam thoughts directly into your skull.

So maybe, just maybe, one day we will download cigars from the cloud. And when that day comes, it’ll probably start in Japan.

Until then, we’re more than happy to enjoy our cigars the old-fashioned way. Unwrapping a box. Cutting the cap. Lighting it by hand.

No cables required.

For now.