Cigar

:This page is about the tobacco product; for other meanings of Cigar, see Cigar (disambiguation).

Types of cigars

There are many types of cigars, but each consists of three primary elements that produce its smoking and flavor characteristics. The first is the wrapper which gives the cigar much of its character and its flavor. The second element is the binder. This secondary leaf adds physical strength to the cigar, by binding it together. The third, or inner-most, leaf is known as the "filler." There are two main types of filler: long and short. Long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality. Short or "mixed" filler uses chopped up leaves as well as stems and other bits. The filler gives the cigar its strength, from light to full-bodied.

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Wrappers

The wrapper of cigars are broadly categorized by their color.

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• Candela - very light, slightly greenish (also called American Market Selection or jade)
• Claro - light tan or yellowish
• Colorado Claro - light brown (also called English Market Selection)
• Colorado - reddish brown (also called Rosado)
• Maduro - dark brown to almost black (also called Spanish Market Selection)
• Oscuro - black, often oily in appearance

Filler

Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce unique cigar flavors. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the light-flavored (dry) Seco, through the medium Volado, and on to the strong Ligero. Large-guage cigars have a greater capacity to contain filler, and thus have greater potential to provide a full body and/or complex flavor.

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Styles

Cigars are commonly categorized by the size and shape of the cigar, which together are known as a vitola.

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The most common shape is the parejo, which has a cylindrical body and a round cap.

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The parejos include the following vitolas (from shortest to longest):

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• Robusto (aka Rothschild)
• Panatela
• Petit Corona
• Corona
• Lonsdale
• Churchill
• Toro
• Corona Gorda
• Double Corona
• Prominente
• Particulares

Irregularly-shaped cigars are known as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher quality because they are more difficult to make. Figurados include the following:

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• Torpedo - Like a parejo except that the cap is pointed.
• Pyramid - Has a broad foot and evenly narrows to a pointed cap.
• Perfecto - Narrow at both ends and bulged in the middle.
• Presidente/Diadema - shaped like a parejo but considered a figurado because of its enormous size and occasional closed foot akin to a perfecto.
• Culebras - Three long, pointed cigars braided together.

Arturo Fuente, a large cigar manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic, has also manufactured figurados in exotic shapes ranging from chili peppers to baseball bats and American footballs. They are highly collectable and extremely expensive, when publically available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgable cigar smokers. Min Ron Nee, the Hong Kong-based cigar expert whose work "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" is considered to be the definitive work on cigars and cigar terms, defines Torpedo as "cigar slang." He adds, "In the old days, could mean a perfecto or a pyramid shape cigar. After the Revolution the meaning leans toward the pyramid rather than the perfecto. Some cigar authorities insist that the correct meaning of a torpedo should be referring to a perfecto and not a pyramid. The majority of people have got it wrong. I find it rather funny that a slang word can be incorrectly misunderstood by the majority." In other words, Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.

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Other types of cigars:

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• stogie or stogy - a cheap type of cigar
• list of fictional cigars

Ring gauges

In some parts of the world (especially America), cigars are measured with two dimensions - ring gauge (numerator of the widest diameter in 64ths of an inch), and length. For example, most non-Cuban robustos have a ring gauge of approximately 50, and a length of approximately 5 inches. Robustos which are of Cuban origin always have a ring guage of 50, and a length of 4 7/8 inches.

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Cigar ring gauge guide

A cigar's ring gauge is the diameter of the cigar and is measured in 64ths of an inch. Thus, a cigar with a ring gauge of 47 is 47/64ths of an inch wide.

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