Cigar Glossary

8-9-8 Packaging:
Cigars packed in a box three layers deep, with eight on the top, nine in the middle, and eight on the bottom.

Amatista:    
A glass form of packing cigars started in Cuba. Traditionally packed in quantities of 50 cigars.

Aroma:
Much like wine, used to describe the scent of the cigar's smoke.

Band:    
The label that appears on a cigar itself indicating the brand. This may be considered the first form of cigar advertising. One story has it that Catherine the Great invented cigar bands to keep her gloves from getting stained. Traditionally, bands are elaborately printed, and contain the cigar's name and sometimes more information like country of origin or if they (the cigars) are handmade. Also make great collector's items.

Belicoso:    
The industry term for an "irregular shape." Commonly a short, often tapered cigar, usually not more than 5 ½ inches long.

Binder:    
One of the three main components of a cigar. Used primarily for construction purposes. The binder is a single leaf that is used to hold the filler tobacco bunch together prior to application of the wrapper that completes the cigar.

Blend:    
The "recipe" of tobaccos used to make a cigar, consisting of the filler, binder, and wrapper.

Blue Mold:    
One of tobacco's worst enemies. A fungus that affects tobacco while in the fields, and it can wipe out an entire crop in a matter of days.

Bouquet:    
See Aroma.

Box pressed:    
Style of packing that gives cigars a squared-off finish.

Bunch:    
The term for the filler tobaccos together with the binder (exclusive of wrapper). Usually, a combination of different tobaccos, which makes the "meat" of a cigar.

Bundle:    
Term used to describe a form of packing that does not utilize a traditional box. Usually associated with lesser grade cigars or cost-effective cigars, packed without a box.

Cabinet:    
A form of packaging a "wheel" of cigars in a square, slide-top box. Traditionally in quantities of 50, though smaller quantities are more common today.

Candela:    
A green-color wrapper, also known as Double Claro or American market selection (AMS). The color is due to its very short curing process.

Cap:    
The piece of wrapper tobacco used to close the head of the cigar.

Capa:    
The Spanish word for wrapper.

Cedar:    
An aromatic wood that has always been closely associated with storing and aging cigars.

Cellophane:    
A thin, transparent film made from regenerated cellulose, often used in the packaging of individual cigars.

Box pressed:    
Style of packing that gives cigars a squared-off finish.

Bunch:    
The term for the filler tobaccos together with the binder (exclusive of wrapper). Usually, a combination of different tobaccos, which makes the "meat" of a cigar.

Bundle:    
Term used to describe a form of packing that does not utilize a traditional box. Usually associated with lesser grade cigars or cost-effective cigars, packed without a box.

Cabinet:    
A form of packaging a "wheel" of cigars in a square, slide-top box. Traditionally in quantities of 50, though smaller quantities are more common today.

Candela:    
A green-color wrapper, also known as Double Claro or American market selection (AMS). The color is due to its very short curing process.

Cap:    
The piece of wrapper tobacco used to close the head of the cigar.

Capa:    
The Spanish word for wrapper.

Cedar:    
An aromatic wood that has always been closely associated with storing and aging cigars.

Cellophane:    
A thin, transparent film made from regenerated cellulose, often used in the packaging of individual cigars.

Churchill:    
A size made popular by Sir Winston Churchill. Traditionally 7" x 47 ring.

Cigarillos:    
Typically a small machine-made cigar that uses short-filler and is dry cured. Usually, with a small ring size and not more than 3" long. Often sold in boxes/tins of 10 or 20.

Claro:    
A delineation of wrapper color. Traditionally light neutral green to light brown in color.

Colorado:    
A wrapper color delineation; medium brown to brown/red.

Connecticut Shade:    
Referring to a type of tobacco that is grown under cheesecloth throughout the Connecticut River Valley and is commonly used for wrappers. The Connecticut shade is a delicate, silky leaf, usually golden in color with a complementary and usually very smooth flavor.

Corona:    
A cigar that traditionally measures 5 ½" in length with a 42 ring, but some artistic license is taken so it can vary slightly.

Cuban Seed:    
A general term for a tobacco seed of Cuban origin grown outside Cuba.

Culebra:    
Three cigars braided together and tied. They are to be untied and smoked individually.

Curing:    
The first process tobacco goes through after harvest. Leaves are hung in barns to dry, during which time the leaves release chlorophyll and moisture (85%), causing them to change in color from green to yellow and eventually brown. Once the leaf is dry, the color is fixed. Curing also fixes the sugar content of the leaf and halts the maturation process.

Diademas:    
A very large figurado traditionally tapered on both ends and usually a minimum of 8" long.

Double Claro:    
See Candela

Double Corona:    
A cigar size slightly larger than a churchill. Usually about 7 ½" X 50 ring.

Draw:    
The act of pulling air through a cigar or the actual ease or inability to pull air through a cigar. If the draw is "tight," it can't be smoked. If the draw is "loose," it will burn too hot.

Fermentation:    
A natural process occurring when cured tobacco leaves are stacked and covered. The natural heat breaks down the starches and carbohydrates within the leaves, turning them to sugars. The process also eliminates the ammonia within the leaves. This process helps to make a smoother, less harsh tobacco.

Figurado:    
A generic term for shaped cigars.

Filler:    
One of the three major components used to make up the body, or "guts," of the cigar. The tobacco leaves that are positioned within the very center of the bunch and held together by the binder. An analogy: if the filler is the "meat" of the cigar, the wrapper would be the "spices" you would use to flavor it.

Finish:    
A term used to describe taste. Much like wine, the finish is the lingering flavor that stays on your palate after the smoke has been expelled. Slightly subtler in character, but lets you experience the true essence of the cigar.

Foot:    
The open-ended side of the cigar that you light.

Gran Corona:    
A size delineation. Refers to a cigar usually 6 ½" x 47.

Gordo:    
A relatively new vitola category, created to reference those cigars with a 60 ring gauge or larger.

Guillotine cut:    
A straight cut that removes the entire cap from the head, opening the cigar its entire circumference.

Hand:    
A means of holding 25 or 50 tobacco leaves together, tied at their stems, once the tobacco is harvested from the fields.

Handmade:    
Refers to a premium cigar that is completely made by hand and uses only the best tobaccos. Also known as Hand-Rolled.

Head:    
The closed end of the cigar.

Hot:    
A term used to describe a cigar, usually rolled too loose, that draws too easily.

Humidor:    
An environment that can control humidity (and sometimes temperature) in order to store cigars properly. (Ideally 70 degrees F and 70% humidity.)

Lancero:    
Traditionally a thin, elegant cigar often finished with a "pig tail" cap. The most popular formats are 6" x 38 and 7.5" x 38.

Long Filler:    
Whole-leaf tobaccos that are used to create the bunch. The tobacco leaf used in a long-filler cigar will run the entire length of the cigar.

Lonsdale:    
A traditional vitola usually measuring, 6 ¾" x 43 ring.

Machine-Made:    
Cigars that are produced by a machine using short-filler or cut tobacco, as opposed to the long filler used in handmade premium cigars.

Maduro:    
A color classification of wrapper leaf, very dark reddish brown to almost black. Also refers to a specific fermentation process, using higher heat for a longer time creating more sugars within the leaf and resulting in a slightly sweeter, richer taste.

Oscuro:    
The darkest shade classification for wrapper tobacco.

Oil:    
Sometimes referred to as the sheen of the wrapper. It is natural moisture within the leaves.

Panatela:    
A traditional vitola, usually 6" x 38 ring.

Parejo:    
A straight-sided cigar.

Perfecto:    
A figurado cigar that is tapered on both ends.

Petit:    
A cigar that is smaller than a petit corona but larger than a cigarillo. These cigars often are "medium filler," but are hand wrapped and finished with a cap.

Petit Corona:    
A shorter, thinner vitola that is most commonly 4" x 40.

Plug:    
Something within the bunch that prohibits the ability to draw.

Priming:    
The "leaf position" on a particular plant. Designated from top to bottom as Ligero, Viso, Seco, and Volado.

Press (Cigar):    
The apparatus that exerts pressure on cigar molds to compress the tobacco into a cylindrical shape.

Punch-Cut:    
Refers to a type of cut that removes a small circular piece of the cap while leaving most of the cap in place.

Puro:    
The Spanish name/translation for cigar. Also the term for a cigar made entirely of tobaccos from one country of origin.

Pyramid:    
Figurado that traditionally tapers its entire length from the foot to its conical head.

Ring Gauge:    
The measurement standard for the diameter of a cigar. It is based on a 1/64 of an inch, eg., A 50 ring cigar has a diameter of 50/64.

Robusto:    
The size of a cigar. A stout cigar is traditionally 5" X 50 ring gauge.

Shade Grown:    
A means of growing tobacco under a 'tent' (usually cheesecloth) that helps filter out the sun's intensity, producing a larger, thinner leaf that is lighter in color.

Short filler:    
Cut tobacco used for machine-made cigars and cigarillos. It tends to burn quicker and hotter.

Short robusto:    
This format has increased in popularity. This refers to cigars that are shorter than five inches, with a ring gauge of 48 or fatter.

Sun Grown:    
Tobacco grown in direct sunlight, producing a heavier, thicker leaf.

Torpedo:    
A generally straight cigar with a tapered head.

Toro:    
This size fills the gap between a Robusto and a Churchill. Standard is 6" x 50, though they're now commonly offered in 52, 54 and 56 ring gauges as well.

Tunneling:    
The result of filler tobaccos burning faster than the binder and wrapper, creating a tunnel into the cigar.

Vintage:    
Refers to the year the tobacco was harvested, or in after market, the age of a particular cigar.

V-Cut:    
Refers to a style of cutting a cigar where the cut takes a wedge or a piece of pie from the head of the cigar. Also called a "cat's eye."

Vitola:    
The term identifying a cigars' shape and size.

Wrapper:    
The third component of a cigar. A silky, high-quality tobacco used to finish a cigar because of its appearance and flavor. If the binder and filler represent the 'meat', then the wrapper is how you season it. Some may say that it re


 

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    -Last updated on July 28th, 2015