Cigars - Size and shape

Size and shape

World's largest cigar at the Tobacco and Matchstick Museum in Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden.

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

The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches).

Parejo

The most common shape is the parejo, sometimes referred to as simply "coronas", which have traditionally been the benchmark against which all other cigar formats are measured. They have a cylindrical body, straight sides, one end open, and a round tobacco-leaf "cap" on the other end which must be sliced off, have a V-shaped notch made in it with a special cutter, or punched through before smoking.

Parejos are designated by the following terms:

Term	Length in inches	Width in 64ths of an inch	Metric length	Metric width	Etymology
Rothschild	4 + ½	48	11 cm	19 mm	after the Rothschild family
Robusto	4 + ⅞	50	11 cm	20 mm
Small Panatela	5	33	13 cm	13 mm
Petit Corona	5 + ⅛	42	13 cm	17 mm
Carlota	5 + ⅝	35	14 cm	14 mm
Corona	5 + ½	42	14 cm	17 mm
Corona Gorda	5 + ⅝	46	14 cm	18 mm
Panatela	6	38	15 cm	15 mm
Toro	6	50	15 cm	20 mm
Corona Grande	6 + ⅛	42	16 cm	17 mm
Lonsdale	6 + ½	42	17 cm	17 mm	named for Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
Churchill	7	47-50	18 cm	19–20 mm	named for Sir Winston Churchill
Double Corona	7 + ⅝	49	19 cm	19 mm
Presidente	8	50	20 cm	20 mm
Gran Corona	9 + ¼	47	23 cm	19 mm
Double Toro/Gordo	6	60	15 cm	24 mm

These dimensions are, at best, idealized. Actual dimensions can vary considerably.

Figurado

Cigar shapes

Irregularly shaped cigars are known as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher quality because they are more difficult to make.

Historically, especially during the 19th century, figurados were the most popular shapes; however, by the 1930s they had fallen out of fashion and all but disappeared. They have, however, recently received a small resurgence in popularity, and there are currently many brands (manufacturers) that produce figurados alongside the simpler parejos. The Cuban cigar brand Cuaba only has figurados in their range.

Figurados include the following:

Figurado	Description
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.
Tuscanian	The typical Italian cigar, created in the early 19th century when Kentucky tobacco was hybridized with local varieties and used to create a long, tough, slim cigar thicker in the middle and tapered at the ends, with a very strong aroma. It is also known as a cheroot, which is the largest selling cigar shape in the United States.

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 collectible and extremely expensive, when publicly available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgeable 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". Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.

Little cigars

Little cigars (sometimes called small cigars or minatures in the UK) differ greatly from regular cigars. They weigh less than cigars and cigarillos, but, more importantly, they resemble cigarettes in size, shape, packaging, and filters. Sales of little cigars quadrupled in the U.S. from 1971 to 1973 in response to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned the broadcast of cigarette advertisements and required stronger health warnings on cigarette packs. Cigars were exempt from the ban, and perhaps more importantly, were taxed at a far lower rate. Little cigars are sometimes called "cigarettes in disguise", and unsuccessful attempts have been made to reclassify them as cigarettes. In the United States, sales of little cigars reached an all-time high in 2006, fueled in great part by their taxation loophole.

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