how to smoke a cigar Cigar Education Which spirits best complement which cigars? What are the pros and cons of the straight, guillotine, V and bullet cuts? You'll find the answers to these types of questions like how to smoke a cigar and many more here for everyone from the neophyte to the sophisticated smoker. Enjoy. THE CIGAR SMOKER's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) ALT.SMOKERS.CIGARS Compiled by Bob Curtis, Internet Cigar Group http://www.cigargroup.com (all rights reserved, used with permission) The Internet Cigar Group web page contains just about everything you could possibly want to know. All-around good-guy Bob Curtis has graciously allowed us to reprint some of the more basic information here. The Cigar Smoker's FAQ is considered to be the definitive document on the pleasures of smoking by cybersmokers. You can find that document at http://www.cigargroup.com. Please address any and all corrections, additions, or suggestions reagarding the FAQ to Bob Curtis bc@gate.net. Topics Cigar Styles and Sizes Construction - The Parts of a Cigar Wrapper Types Cigar Styles and Sizes All cigars can be divided into two broad categories by their shape. Parejos, which have straight sides, and Figurados, which include all "irregular" shapes. Parejos include 3 basic divisions, by the relative proportion of their dimensions. There's Coronas (a broad category including Coronas, Dbl. Coronas, Presidentes, Robustos, and Churchills). All Coronas are characterized by an open "foot" and a rounded "head." Next are the Panatelas. Longer than coronas, these are generally considerably thinner. The third division is Lonsdales — thicker than Panatelas, but generally longer than Coronas. (confused yet? - good!) Figuardos, or "irregular" shaped Cigars are a little better defined. The smallest is the Belicoso — a small tapered cigar with a rounded head (not pointed) and a larger foot. Next are the Pyramids, tapering from a large foot to a small head. A "true" pyramid always has a pointed head. Although many smokers call a large pyramid a torpedo, a "true" torpedo has a large foot, smaller, pointed head, and a slight bulge in the middle. The Perfecto is tapered on both ends to a smaller size than it's straight middle section — a classic "cigar shape". Finally, there's the Diademas, the giant of cigars. These are 8 inches or greater. (hmmmm - does that make the Aliados General a "Diademas-and-a-half"?) Cigar size names did originally specify the exact physical size and shape of cigars. After a dozen decades of manufacturers "individualizing" their cigars, these original standards are long gone. As far as I know, only Cuban manufacturer's have stayed with these original standard sizes. Whether Upman, Partagas, or Cohiba produces it, a Habana Corona is still Corona sized... CLASSICAL CIGAR SHAPES ORDERED BY LENGTH PANATELAS • Small Panatela (5" x 33) • Short Panatela (5" x 38) • Slim Panatela (6" x 34) • Panatela (6" x 38) • Long Panatela (7 1/2" x 38) CORONAS • Petit Corona (5" x 42) • Corona (5 1/2" x 42) • Corona Extra (5 1/2" x 46) • Robusto1 (5" x 50) • Long Corona (6" x 42) • Toro (6" x 50) • Lonsdale (6 1/2" x 42) • Grand Corona (6 1/2" x 46) • Churchill2 (7" x 47) • Giant Corona (7 1/2" x 44) • Double Corona (7 3/4" x 49) FIGUARDOS3 • Petite Belicoso (5" x 50) • Belicoso (6" x 50) • Torpedo (6 1/2" x 52) • Pyramid (7" x various) • Giant4 (9" x52) 1 : Sometimes still refered to as Rothschilds, a previous term used to describe any short and stout cigar. Even more rarely seen are cigars described as a "Rothschild" which is an incorrect spelling. Like the H. Upmann brand, this size is also named after a German cigar enthusiast, specifically the Rothschilds family. Regardless of whether you chose to call the size a Robusto or a Rothschilds, it is in general part of the Corona family and, as a result, was once refered to as a Royal Corona. 2 : Yes this shape is actualy named after Winston Churchill. But considering how many cigars he smoked in a day, who's surprised? 3 : It is a common misconception among smokers to consider any irregularly shaped cigar to be a figuardo. The truth in this statement is merely coincidental though. Unlike typical cigars (straight shafts with rounded heads and open foots) Figuardos are very hard to make—a master rollers job—and that's what makes them Figuardos. The types listed above are easy to pinpoint in respect to dimensions because they are very similar to typical cigars; ie. Coronas and Panatellas. The only specific notes are that Torpedos and Belicosos taper to a point at the head, and the Belicosos tapers over a shorter distance is usualy more pointy. On the other hand the following types are so different and have there own range of lengths and ring guages, that they are mentioned seperately: Pyramid: Next to the Torpedo, probably one of the most recogonized of the Figuardos. Unlike the Torpedo, which tapers in the last inch or two, the Pyramid tapers from head to foot. The Pyramid size is popular everywhere, with the Cuban Montechristo No. 2 being one of the most famous cigars of all time. Culebras: A very odd size that is not often found on the market today. It involves three smaller cigars being "snaked" together into a braided final product. In fact, the word culebra means "snake" in Spanish. Culebras first appeared when trouble arose regarding the practice of workers being able to take a few complimentary cigars home at the end of the work day. Factory bosses discovered that the workers were taking premium cigars from their workbenches and putting their daily gift cigars (which were of lesser quality) into the the premium cigar boxes! To curb this, the bosses began twisting the workers' cigars together when they were still moist to identify what was a daily gift and what was the real thing. The unique look eventually found demand from the public, but has dwindled in recent years. Hoyo De Monterrey apparently dropped it's production of Culebras in 1998, leaving Davidoff as the only manufacturer outside of Cuba that still produces the shape. However, it's supposedly still made in a couple of factories in Cuba, including the world famous Partagas factory in Havana. Perfecto: A cigar that tapers at both ends and is closed at the head and foot. Once extremely popular in the early half of the twentieth century, this cigar has come to be looked upon as a joke. As a result it has lost popularity with smokers and is hard to find anymore, although major brands do still produce it. Te-Amo, comes to mind with it's excellent Maduro Double Perfecto. Cigarillo: This is really a general term to refer to any small, cigarette-sized cigar. These days there are many named shapes that fall into the Cigarillo category. For instance, Demi Tasse is one that smokers will see often. 4 : The larger a cigar is, the harder it is to make and new rollers often start with Petit Coronas and then work their way up. The difficulty involved in rolling something as large as a Giant cigar is very great, and hence it falls into the "hard to make" category of Figuardos (see note 3 on Figuardos). Also note that the terms Diedamas and Giant are interchangable; e.g. the Punch Grand Cru Diedamas Deluxe (8 x 52) HAVANA SHAPES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER • Almuerzos (5 1/8 x 50) • Britanicas (5 3/8 x 46) • Cadetes (4 1/2 x 36) • Campanas (5 1/2 x 52) • Carlotas (5 5/8 x 35) • Carolinas (4 3/4 x 26) • Cazadores (6 3/8 x 44) • Cervantes (6 1/2 x 42) • Coronas (5 1/2 x 42) • Coronas Gordas (5 5/8 x 46) • Coronas Grandes (6 1/8 x 42) • Cosacos (5 3/8 x 42) • Dalias (6 3/4 x 43) • Delicados (7 1/2 x 38) • Delicados Extra (7 1/4 x 36) • Entreactos (4 x 30) • Especiales (5 1/4 x 45) • Exquisitos (5 3/4 x 46) • Favoritos (4 3/4 x 41) • Franciscanos (4 1/2 x 40) • Franciscos (5 5/8 x 44) • Generosos (5 1/4 x 41) • Gran Corona (9 1/4 x 47) • Hermosos No. 4 (5 x 48) • Julieta 2 (7 x 47) • Londres (5 x 40) • Marevas (5 x 42) • Minutos (4 3/8 x 42) • Ninfas (7 x 33) • Numero 1 (7 1/2 x 38) • Numero 2 (6 x 38) • Numero 3 (4 1/2 x 26) • Palmas (6 3/4 x 33) • Palmitas (6 x 32) • Panetelas (4 5/8 x 34) • Panetelas Largas (6 7/8 x 28) • Parejos (6 1/2 x 38) • Perlas (4 x 40) • Petit Bouquets (4 x 42) • Piramides (6 1/8 x 52) • Placeras (4 7/8 x 34) • Prominentes (7 5/8 x 49) • Robustos (4 7/8 x 50) • Seoane (4 7/8 x 36) • Superiores (5 3/4 x 40) • Tacos (6 1/4 x 47) • Trabucos (4 3/8 x 38) The first dimension is the length of the cigar in inches. The second is the ring gauge of the cigar or the diameter of the cigar measured in 64ths of an inch. So a Churchill is about 7 inches long and 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Construction - The Parts of a Cigar Wrappers The wrapper is the outside layer of tobacco on a cigar. It gives a cigar one of its primary flavor components. Wrappers are usually very high quality leaves, and are available in colors ranging from double claro, the lightest to Oscuro, the darkest. Wrappers are very important to the taste of a fine cigar, and described in detail in another section of the FAQ. Binders Binder leaves are the intermediate leaf used to hold the bunch of filler tobacco together. These vary considerably from one manufacturer to the next. Filler Filler is the bunch of tobacco found at the center of the cigar. Generally the filler is responsible for determining how strong a cigar will smoke. There are two types of filler: long filler, which contains the whole leaf running from the head to the foot of the cigar, and short filler, comprised of scraps of tobacco (often the trimmed ends of long fillers). The blending of wrappers, fillers and binders determines the overall flavor of a cigar. There is an art to blending tobaccos and as you smoke different cigars, you will notice how the various tobaccos interplay with one another. • Are there any differences between the blends of different size cigars in the same line? Manufacturers often use the same types of tobacco in different sizes, producing different tastes. Often the consumer will perceive this as the same "blend". There is a difference however — it's in the proportions of each type of leaf used. An experienced roller may use different proportions of the tobaccos in different sizes to allow for that size differences. In a smaller ring cigar, the binder and wrapper have a greater influence on the taste, for instance. The blender will allow for this difference by re-proportioning the filler blend. It's just one of those details that requires years of training among master rollers. (and of course, one of the reasons smokers will prefer the taste of one size over another of the same blend... • What is ring gauge and how is it measured? Ring size is the cigar's diameter, measured in 64ths of an inch. Thus a 32 ring cigar will measure 1/2 inch in diameter. Although many catalogs list ring sizes, they may deviate from each by a couple of points on specific cigars. Wrapper Types DOUBLE CLARO (also called Candela or American Market Select) - green to greenish brown. The color is achieved by picking the leaf before it reaches maturity, and then drying it rapidly. Very mild, almost bland with very little oil. CLARO - light tan. Usually this is the color of shade grown tobacco. Connecticut Shade wrappers are said to be some of the finest in the world. Shade grown tobacco is grown under large canopies to protect the tobacco from harsh sunlight. Neutral flavor and smooth smoking. NATURAL - (also called English Market Select) light brown to brown. These are most often sun grown, meaning they are not protected by canopies like shade grown leaves. Fuller bodied flavor than shade grown leaves, but still very smooth. COLORADO CLARO - mid-brown, tawny. (For example, brands such as Dominican Partagas or Fuentes, using Camaroon wrappers.) COLORADO - reddish dark brown, aromatic. A cigar with this wrapper tastes robust and rich. COLORADO MADURO - dark brown, medium strength, slightly more aromatic the maduro. Usually gives a rich flavor, as found in many of the best Honduran cigars. MADURO - dark brown to very dark brown. These usually have more texture and veining than the lighter wrappers. They are often described as oily looking, with stronger taste - sweet to some palates with a unique aroma. OSCURO - very dark brown or almost black. They are the strongest tasting of all wrappers. These wrappers tend to be from Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, or Connecticut Broadleaf. The term EMS or English Market Selection is a broad one, which refers to brown cigars- anything other double claro, (EMS) essentially. The darker the color, the sweeter and stronger the flavor is likely to be, and the greater the oil and sugar content of the wrapper. Darker wrappers will normally have spent longer on the tobacco plant. or come from higher altitudes: the extra exposure to sunlight produces both oil (as protection) and sugar (through photosynthesis). They will also have been fermented for longer.