Cigar Glossary

Amarillo: a yellow-colored wrapper leaf that's grown under shade.

Amatista: a sealed container, usually glass, holding 50 or 25 cigars.

Band: an imprinted paper ring circling the head of a cigar.

Barrel: a cigar's main body.

Belicoso: a reference to Coronas or Corona Gordas, the short, pyramid-shaped cigar that is traditionally 5 or 5 1/2 inches long.

Blend: a tobacco mixture of a cigar that includes a binder leaf and an outer wrapper along with as many as five types of filler leaves.

Boite nature: a cedar box that gives added protection to a cigar.

Booking: a method, also known as book style, of rolling filler leaves like a scroll.

Bouquet: a fine cigar's odor or nose.

Box: the place cigars are packaged.

Box-pressed: a tightly-packed box of cigars that take on a square appearance.

Bull's-eye piercer: used to expose the closed head of a cigar before being lit.

Bunch: different types of filler tobacco, up to four, blended and held by the binder to create a cigar's body.

Burros: the method of fermenting cigar tobacco by piling or bulking up to 6 feet tall.

Cabinet Selection: the packing of cigars in wood boxes for proper aging, preferred over standard cardboard or paper-covered boxes.

Candela: the green-shaded wrapper, also known as double claro, that is produced by a heat-cured process while the cigar is still in the barn.

Cap: the round piece of wrapper leaf at the cigar's head.

Case: a part of the production process in which aged tobacco is slightly moistened for easier rolling.

Catador: a person who determines a cigar's texture and aroma by tasting the cigar.

Chaveta: a roller's knife used to cut the wrapper leaf.

Churchill: thought to be named for Winston Churchill, a large Corona-format cigar.

Cigar Humidor: a room or box designed in various sizes for proper storage and aging of cigars. An ideal cigar humidor maintains a 70-percent humidity level and a temperature between 65 and 70 degrees.

Claro: a mild, lightly-colored wrapper, also called a natural.

Colorado: a wrapper that has a brownish-red to medium-brown shade, most often aromatic and associated with well-matured cigars.

Corojos: a plant grown under a gauze sunscreen that produces a potent and sweet wrapper.

Corona: a straight-sided premium cigar featuring a closed, rounded head and an open foot.

Culebra: a cigar consisting of three braided Panetelas.

Curing: how newly-harvested tobaccos are dried.

Diademas: a long cigar, generally about 8 inches, with either an open foot or a closed one like a Perfecto.

Dominican Republic: the country east of Cuba that has become a major exporter of cigars to the U.S.

Double Claro: a flue-cured cigar, greenish brown in color, dried quickly from an unmatured leaf.

Draw: the cigar's flow of smoke.

English Market Selection: the color designation for somewhat lighter-colored wrapper leaves, also referred to as naturals.

Entubar: a rolling method that involves folding an individual filler leaf back on itself, then bunching the leaves together for a superior air flow through the cigar.

Escaparates: the cabinets used to cool cigars for a few weeks at the factory after rolling.

Filler: tobacco that goes into the body of the cigar, usually between two and five types in a fine cigar.

Fermentation: a process of gathering large bulks - or piles - of leaves after harvesting and adding moisture for fermenting. This releases ammonia from the tobacco.

Figurado: cigars with unique shapes and sizes, such as Torpedos, Belicosos, Perfectos, Pyramids, and Culebras.

Finish: a reference to the taste left on the palate after puffing on a cigar. Stronger cigars have a lingering flavor, while mild cigars leave less finish.

Flag: the shaping of the wrapper leaf that finishes the head of a cigar, sometimes tied off in a curly head or a pigtail.

Foot: the lit end of a cigar. Except for Torpedos and Perfectos, the foot is usually pre-cut.

Gran Corona: one of the largest cigars, generally 9 1/4 inches by 47 ring gauge.

Gum: an adhesive for securing the wrapper leaf's head around the finished bunch.

Habana: an inscription on a cigar band indicating it's Cuban, although not all Cubans are marked Habana or Havana.

Head: opposite the foot, the end away from the one that gets lit.

Hot: an under-filled cigar that produces a quick, loose draw, resulting in harsh flavors.

Hygrometer: a device for measuring a humidor's humidity.

Lance: also known as a piercer, the cutter that pierces a small opening in the cigar's closed end.

Lector: most often known as someone who reads to cigar rollers at work.

Ligero: a Spanish term for light, it's one of three basic types of filler tobacco.

Machine-Made: mechanically produced cigars, a process involving heavier-weight wrappers and binders.

Maduro: a dark-brown cigar, a favorite of experienced smokers. It's a color match of Cuban cigars.

Oil: a secretion mark that identifies a well-humidified cigar.

Oscuro: a black cigar that is quite strong with a light bouquet.

Panetela: the shape of a long, thin cigar.

Parejos: cigars such as Coronas, Panetelas, and Lonsdales that are straight-sided.

Perfecto: a cigar with a distinctive shape - closed at both ends, with a rounded head and often a bulge in the middle.

Planchas: the boards used for spreading tobacco leaves before fermentation begins.

Plug: the occasional blockage of tobacco that prevents proper draw for a cigar. Gentle massage of the cigar can alleviate the plug.

Primings: a tobacco plant's number of rows, six being the average. A stronger tobacco has a higher priming number.

Puro: used to distinguish a cigar from a cigarette. All Cuban cigars are known as puros.

Pyramid: a cigar that has a wide, open foot and a closed head.

Ring Gauge: a measurement for a cigar's diameter - based on 64ths of an inch. For example, a cigar that is 40/64ths of an inch thick has a 40 ring gauge.

Robusto: a cigar that is substantial but short, measuring 5 to 5 1/2 inches by a 50 ring gauge.

Seco: a type of filler tobacco, derived from the Spanish word for dry.

Shade-Grown: the practice of growing wrapper leaves under a tapado, a cheesecloth tent. By filtering sunlight, thinner, more elastic leaf is created.

Short Filler: chopped scraps of leaf that are used in machine-made cigar production, a quicker, hotter burning process.

Smoking Time: the length of time a cigar burns. The longer the cigar and the bigger the ring gauge, the more minutes of smoking pleasure a cigar provides.

Shoulder: the portion of the cigar where the body and cap are joined. A cut shoulder will unravel the cigar.

Spanish Cedar: the preferred wood for making cigar boxes and humidors.

Spill: a cedar strip for lighting candles, lamps, or cigars, something that can alter the taste of a cigar.

Sugar: a natural occurrence in cigars, especially darker wrappers such as maduros that are higher in sugar.

Sun-Grown: the practice of growing tobacco in direct sunlight to create a thicker leaf and a thicker vein.

Tapado: for shade-growing, a cheesecloth tent used to cultivate the wrapper leaf.

Torcedores: a cigar roller.

Torpedo: a long cigar that has a closed foot, a pointed head, and a bulge in the middle.

Totalamente a mano: a term given to cigars totally made by hand as described on cigar boxes.

Tubos: cigars packed to stay fresh in either wood, glass, or metal tubes.

Tunneling: an unpleasant experience of uneven cigar burning. Occasional rotation of the cigar prevents tunneling.

Vega: a plantation that grows tobacco.

Vein: a tobacco leaf's rib. The fewer veins on a leaf the better.

Vintage: a reference to the year the tobacco was harvested, rather than the year the cigar was manufactured.

Viso: a wrapper leaf that is glossy and grown under cover.

Volado: a filler tobacco type selected for its burning qualities.

Wedge Cut: the slicing in a V shape made at the closed end of a cigar.

Wrapper: also called capa, the leaves featuring elasticity for restraining the filler within the cigar. You should not spot a vein on a good wrapper.