While the art of the cigar from seedling to finished product contains a complex series of steps, we want to provide you with a reference guide so that choosing the right cigar isn’t a daunting process. Below you’ll find handy sets of information all about the basics, including easy-to-digest definitions and examples, a cutter and lighter guide, and step-by-step instruction on how to achieve that perfect light with every cigar you smoke. Your next purchases will be so informed, you’ll impress everyone with your knowledge at the next herf!

Whether you’re a new cigar enthusiast, or years of enjoyment have you bordering on aficionado status, we suggest you bookmark this page so if a question ever arises, you can easily locate the right answer.

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Cigar Shapes & Sizes

Describing a cigar by its size and shape is highly important, as the shape can vary depending on the size and brand. A premium’s size is measured twofold -- in length measured by inches, and by the “ring gauge,” which is the diameter broken into 64ths of an inch. 

While there are several size and shape names ranging from the classical — synonymous with old Cuban cigars — to the more modern, larger vitolas often associated with newer brands, below you’ll see names and their definitions to determine what best suits your needs:

Parejo: A straight-sided shaped cigar, parejos mostly have an open foot which needs to be cut before smoking; can either be round or box-pressed.

Corona: The vitola against which all other sizes are measured. Dimensions are 5 ½” to 6”, with a 42 or 44 ring gauge. 

Petit Corona: A smaller cousin of the traditional Corona, measuring 4 ½” with a 40 to 42 ring gauge.

Churchill: Named for Winston Churchill, this size most commonly measures 7” long, with a by a 48 to 50 ring gauge.

Robusto: A shorter cigar measuring 4 ¾” to 5 ½” by a 48 to 52 ring gauge.

Corona Gorda: Most popular amongst purists preferring Cuban-style sizing, it typically measures 5 5/8” by a 46 ring gauge.

Toro: A popular size that came into fruition around the last Cigar Boom, its customary measures are 6” by a 50 ring gauge.

Double Corona: Standard dimensions are 7” to 8” by a 49 to 52 ring gauge, closely resembling a Churchill.

Panetela: Elegantly long and thin, these will be anywhere from 5” to 7 ½” with a ring gauge of 34 to 38. A very classical vitola made popular in Europe during the heyday of the tobacco trade.

Lonsdale: Longer than a Corona but thicker than a Panatela, Lonsdales measure 6 ½” by a 42 ring gauge.

Figurados: With many manufacturers wanting to appear innovative, these creatively-shaped premiums include any cigar that isn’t a straight-sided cylinder. 

Pyramid: These cigars have cut-feet like Parejos, but have heads tapered to a point; often measuring 6”to 7” with ring gauges of 40 at the head, and 52 to 54 at the foot. The unique tapered head of the Pyramid allows complex flavors from the cigar to linger on the palate.

Belicoso: The Belicoso is a short Pyramid, but with a slightly-rounded head, measuring 5 ½” with a 50 ring gauge. 

Torpedo: Torpedos are often Pyramids; however, a true torpedo features a closed foot, a tapered head, and a slight bulge in the middle. One of the most difficult, yet more common sizes to roll, only those with many years of experience are allowed to make this style of cigar in the factory.

Perfecto: Perfectos have a rounded-head similar to a Parejo, but also have a closed foot, plus a bulge in the middle. Varying in greatly in length, they can measure 4 ½” to 9” long, with ring gauges from 38 to 48.

Culebra: Culebra is one of the most exotic cigar shapes, and it’s the Spanish word for “snake.” Three Panetelas braided together and tied with a string, Culebra is sold as one cigar, but meant to be enjoyed with friends by unbraiding when ready to be smoked. This unique size is usually 5” to 6” long by a 38 ring gauge.

Diadema: A very large Figurado with a closed and tapered head, measuring generally 8” or more. One of the more popular Diademas is the Salomone size.

Gordo: Previously referred to as a Toro Extra or Double Toro, the Gordo size has become very popular among those enthusiasts who prefer larger cigars. Each Gordo most often measures 6” by 60 ring gauge.                     

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Wrapper Leaf Color – Names & Notes

Premium wrapper leaves come in a wide array of colors, from pale greens and yellows, to extremely dark shades of black. There are seven basic color distinctions among wrappers, with an infinite number of shades between each color. The variance in color is due to the many methods for processing tobacco, and the variety of tobacco strains used on the farms. Additionally, the level of daily exposure to sunlight plays factor, as a wrapper grown in direct sunlight is typically darker than a shade-grown wrapper of equivalent seed strain.

Candela: Also known as Double Claro, this wrapper carries a light green hue created by a quick-drying process that locks in the natural chlorophyll present in the tobacco. Years ago, this wrapper was tremendously popular in the United States, and now is occasionally utilized by boutique brands.

Claro: A light tan color often achieved by growing the plant under cheesecloth tents, picking the crops early, and air-drying the leaves. They provide little to offer flavor-wise, and allow for the binder and long-filler tobaccos inside a blend to speak more clearly.

Colorado Claro: A light reddish-brown in color, these leaves are grown in direct sunlight, and allow to mature for a longer period of time before cultivation.

Colorado: These often shade-grown leaves are medium-brown to brownish-red and full of flavor, although subtle in their aroma. 

Colorado Maduro: Darker than Colorado, but lighter than Maduro, with similar characteristics on the palate and nose to traditional Colorado.

Maduro: This shade varies from a deep reddish-brown to nearly black. Maduro means "mature" in Spanish, which is a nod to the longer amount of time needed to cure this color wrapper than its lighter-hued counterparts. To achieve this style of leaf, crops are either toasted in a pressure chamber, or fermented longer in above-average heat. These wrappers lend significant characteristic to a cigar, imparting a strong, almost sweet flavor, yet having a mellow aroma.

Oscuro: This dark-as-night wrapper shade is achieved by keeping the leaves on the full plant as long as possible, using the highest traditional primings, and fermenting them for a very long time. Often grown in Brazil or Mexico, Oscuro wrappers feel a bit rustic in the hand, which is a result of the extra fermentation. Leaves that befit this color designation are sometimes referred to as Double Maduro.

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Tasting Your Cigars

Cigars are like any other delicacy, an indulgence for the palate. Whether a sommelier describes a fine wine, or epicureans a plate of food, cigars are often spoken of in a similar manner. Like all hand-crafted luxury experiences, cigars embody a variety of flavors and aromas that are unlocked as you are enjoying them.

A premium is judged on four main qualities: balance, flavor, body, and finish, and each component builds to a final impression. To get started, it’s best to draw a volume of smoke from your cigar. To do this, take several short pulls, followed by one long, final draw. Allow the smoke to envelope your entire palate, and swirl the smoke around your mouth with your tongue. Before exhaling, draw the smoke to the rear of your throat, and gently release it from your mouth and nose simultaneously – this is what’s known as a retrohale, and it’s an action utilized by aficionados to truly judge the full quality of a premium. Please note that releasing smoke from your nose can be difficult to get used to, so begin with mellow handmade before attempting to retrohale with something much stronger.

Balance: Testing balance means utilizing the full breadth of your palate. Your palate, or sense of taste, is divided into four regions that detect different flavors. The very front detects sweetness; on the sides toward the front is where you detect salty flavors; the sides on the rear detect acidic flavors; and the center toward the rear delivers bitter notes. Think of the smoke as having no definable flavor by itself, but rather the flavor(s) should be something sensed (or felt) as it reacts with your palate, giving you the impression of flavor. A well-balanced cigar will utilize all areas of the palate evenly, and the competing flavors should be in unison with one another.

Flavor: Now that you have tackled what regions of the palate the smoke is stimulating, it is time to seek out discernable flavors. The art of blowing smoke through your nose (aka retrohaling) becomes your biggest asset for this task. Specifically, the characteristics you identify on your palate are often referred to as "flavor,” and the characteristics you sense from your nose are referred to as "aromas;" however, many enthusiasts will use these terms interchangeably. Cigars are described by hundreds of underlying terms which commonly include: wood, nuts, earth, peat, spice, vegetal, citrus, sweet, salty, sour, wheat, bitter, flinty, grassy, burnt, cinnamon, vanilla, butterscotch, coffee, espresso, cocoa, chocolate, caramel, garlic, bread, pepper, honey, licorice, musk, pine, metallic, floral, cedar, charcoal, toast, etc. The overall richness of the flavor is described from mellow to full.

Body: The body of the cigar is often confused with flavor. Simply put, body is the strength and feeling of the cigar – it’s not the level of richness in flavor. The body is something you feel in your throat and gut as you’re smoking. Think of the ‘body’ as its power, graded from mellow to full. For example, a powerful cigar that you might smoke slowly after a big meal is "full-bodied."

Finish: In the simplest terms, finish is the aftertaste experienced once you’ve enjoyed your cigar. After releasing all of the smoke from your palate, wait about five seconds and shift your tongue around in your mouth: you’ll detect the finish toward the rear of your palate. While the flavor detected in the finish may be similar to what you experienced while smoking, it’s often something different that you didn’t notice while first drawing on the cigar itself. The finish should have a discernible character, and is described by its staying power, which ranges from short to long.

The key to training your palate is practice. As your palate develops, you’ll begin to detect more of the nuances from your preferred premiums. 

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Top Three Ways to Cut Your Cigar

Guillotine: Easily the most popular option due to its availability, and long history within the cigar-smoking community. While traditionally serving to cut premiums up to a 54 ring gauge, due to the modern enthusiast’s penchant for larger cigars, there are guillotine cutters that can service up to an 80-ring. This cutter works with all shapes, cutting above the shoulder with ease using its dual-blade action.  

Punch: These cutters are the best solution for those looking for the convenience of a pocket-sized accessory. True to their name, they punch a small hole in the cap, making for an experience that concentrates the smoke on the palate. Aside from their size, Punches are popular for their ability to self-clean, and provide a razor-sharp cut in your premium that doesn’t allow filler tobacco to spill out into your mouth.

V-Cut: The V-Cut (or Cat’s Eye Cut) has been gaining in popularity over the last decade, as it offers a slightly-larger opening than the Punch, but removes less of the cap than the Guillotine. It makes a clean, angled cut right down the center of the cap, allowing for another means to concentrate the draw on your palate, allowing for greater sensation of flavor.

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Lighting Your Cigar

Don’t think of lighting your cigar like you would a cigarette or the wick of a candle – properly lighting a cigar takes longer, a bit more patience, and definitely some practice. Even the most seasoned of aficionados make a mistake now and again, but the key is to not let an accidental motion ruin what should be an enjoyable process.

A properly lit cigar is key because it means all the blend’s components will be evenly lit, thus imparting the flavors onto your palate as the manufacturer intended them to be experienced. Additionally, you won’t be fighting the dreaded uneven burn, which can add hassle and frustration to a time that’s meant to be spent be relaxing.

To properly light a premium, follow these four steps:

1) Cut your chosen cigar using either a Gullotine, Punch, or V-Cut, making sure to remove just enough of the cap to allow air to pass through it. This allows for you to experience what is known as a “cold draw,” where you can test the cigar before its lit, ensuring the cut you made was effective.

2) Light your cigar the same way you would toast a marshmallow over an open fire — keep the cigar above and near the flame, but don’t let the two meet. If you accidentally nick the cigar with the flame, don’t fret, just quickly separate the two. Putting cold tobacco directly on or in the flame chars it, seeing as the heat from your incendiary device is far warmer than the cigar itself.

3) As with a marshmallow analogy, you’ll want to rotate the cigar so all parts of its foot are equally heated. Be patient, and continue doing this motion until there’s a glowing ring all the way around the foot, with the edges thinly blackened.

4) Raise the unlit end of the cigar to your mouth, and take your first puff. The ember should burn evenly while drawing; if it doesn’t, remove the cigar from your mouth, and touch up the end with the flame. Another option is to gently blow on the embers to create a smooth, completely rounded ash.

What constitutes a proper tool with which to light your premium? It’s best to avoid using a heat source that will alter the essence of your cigar. Examples of this include a candle, Zippo or oil-fueled lighters, and standard sulfur matches. These lighting implements can impart odd flavors perceptible on the palate and to your nose.

Instead of using one of the aforementioned suboptimal tools, a practical yet old-fashioned option is a cedar spill — or simply put, strip of cedar — like the ones often found inside cigar boxes. If you can’t break off some cedar, we suggest a long, sulfur-less wooden match to allow for a patient lighting experience without being at-risk for burning your hands.

The best way to get the ideal light, however, is to use what’s known as a torch. Available in single, double, triple, and even quadruple flames, a torch uses butane for fuel, and will not impart any undue essences onto your cigar. There are dozens of different cigar lighters on the market, and what’s best for you is a matter of personal preference. The most important requirement is performance—a lighter should fit comfortably in the hand, ignite easily, and work without fail every time.