Master Guide: Cigar Glossary and Terminology

Complete Alphabetical Glossary

A

A (size)

The largest standard cigar size is an “A” which is also known as a gran
corona. The standard for an “A” is 9 1/4 inches long by 47 ring gauge,
but some non-Cuban “As” have slightly different dimensions. The most
famous example is the Montecristo “A” from Cuba. All “As” take a very
long time to smoke, perhaps as much as two hours.

Accordion Method

A method of cigar rolling where each leaf is folded in a wavy pattern,
in a shape reminiscent of an accordion. Slower than booking, but faster
than entubar or entubado, the accordion method tends to create cigars
with dependable draws.

Active Humidification System

A mechanical device that blows humidified air and recirculates dry air
to maintain humidity in a humidor. These devices are typically used in
larger humidors, such as cabinets, or in walk-in humidors that you find
in cigar shops or well-appointed homes.

Aging

Aging takes many forms in the premium cigar industry. Cigarmakers age
fermented tobacco in bales, typically for two to several years. Aging
cigar tobacco gives it more nuance, softens rough edges, and generally
improves the product. This is particularly important with stronger
varieties of tobacco, such as ligero. Many manufacturers also further
age their cigars after rolling. This process can be as short as a month
or so or more than one year. Not only does this help the component
tobaccos (filler, binder(s) and wrapper) marry, but it can make the
cigars more pleasant to smoke. Connoisseurs who purchase cigars often
take this step even further by aging their smokes in their cigar boxes
inside of a humidor, sometimes for decades. This is known as box aging.

Fine cigars, like fine wines, can improve with age. While not every
cigar will get better over time, ones that are full flavored, rich and
robust in youth are likely candidates for long-term aging. With almost
every cigar there is a point of diminishing returns. Many consider five
to ten years to be optimal, but we have smoked—and enjoyed—cigars
that were decades old. Cigars that are at least five years old, but
often much older, are reviewed in the Connoisseur’s Corner section of
Cigar Aficionado magazine, and many receive exceptionally high scores.

Aging Room

A room in a cigar factory of varying size, typically lined with Spanish
cedar, where rolled cigars are stored to allow the tobaccos to harmonize
and for the cigars to mellow. Some cigars are aged for a year before
being put in the box, but there is no standard on this in the
industry—a small number of fine cigar factories do not age their
cigars at all.

Amarillo

A term for a yellow leaf of cigar wrapper.

Amatista Jar

A heavy glass jar containing 25 or 50 cigars. This method of packaging
is seldom seen today, but was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. H.
Upmann cigars from Cuba originated the practice in the early 1900s. The
jars were lined with Spanish cedar and sealed tight and promoted as
being “factory fresh.”

American Market Selection

A seldom-used term today, American Market Seletion (abbreviated as AMS)
was created by the major importer of Cuban cigars in the 1950s to
designate green or candela colored wrappers, also known as double claro
wrappers. Green cigars are latter-day oddities, but they once were the
preferred smokes of Americans. From about 1958 to the early 1970s,
Americans smoked billions of cigars, and nearly all of them were
candelas.

Ammonia

Ammonia is present in freshly picked cigar tobacco. One of the main
goals of curing and fermentation is to rid cigars of ammonia. Improperly
cured and fermented cigars can have ammonia flavors, which results in a
harsh, unpleasant smoke.

Anilla

Also referred to as Vitola in Spain, this is the Cuban term for cigar
band or ring.

Arapiraca

A type of cigar tobacco grown in Brazil’s northeastern coast. It
produces a very dark, oily leaf. The seed variety is also being grown
now in Ecuador.

Aroma

Aroma, or bouquet, is the smell from a burning cigar. Great cigars
typically have enticing aromas that perfume the room. Sometimes it’s
difficult to appreciate the aroma of a cigar you are smoking; it often
helps to leave the room for a moment and come back, or to cup your hand
and direct some smoke toward your nostrils. One can also admire the
bouquet of a box of cigars, or the unlit cigar.

Ash

The burning end of a cigar. A bright, white ash indicates tobacco that
has received ample magnesium in the soil. Cameroon tobacco typically
burns with a bright white ash. A flaky white ash may have had too much
magnesium. Cuban tobacco tends to burn with a grayish ash. A black ash
may indicate the tobacco inside was grown in soil lacking proper
nutrients.

Fine, handmade cigars are made with long-filler leaves, and the ash on
such cigars retains strength even after burning. Some fat cigars can be
made to stand upright on their ashes, and can hold ashes of considerable
length. (Cigars made with short-filler tobacco tend to have very flaky
ashes with little strength.) Resist the urge to tap your ash; it’s
better to let it fall when it’s ready, after you see a seam develop,
typically around the one-inch-long mark.

B

Bale

A unit of storage for fermented cigar tobacco. Bales vary in weight and
appearance, depending upon where the tobacco was grown, and the company
that grew the tobacco. To make a bale, workers in a tobacco warehouse
take dry tobacco that’s been cured and fermented and layer it in a
wooden crate atop a scale that has been lined with material. Burlap or
nylon are two of the more common. When the desired weight has been
achieved, a hydraulic press compresses the tobacco into a rectangular
block that might weigh 110 pounds or so. The sides are then stitched by
hand, and the wooden supports removed, revealing the bale. Tobacco ages
in bales, and can be kept in this form for decades, but a few years is
more common.

Band

A ring of paper wrapped around the top third of most cigars that
contains information about the cigar, typically the name of the brand,
country of origin, and indication that the cigar is hand-rolled. While
legend says that Catherine the Great or Spanish nobles created the cigar
band, seeking a way to keep their gloves from being stained, many credit
Gustave Bock with pioneering the practice, creating the first cigar band
in the 1830s. Others say Ramon Allones was the first brand to use cigar
bands. Cigar bands were widespread in Cuba by 1855.

Many cigars today also have a secondary band beneath the main band
(typically denoting some type of special edition) and some have bands on
the bottom, or foot, of the cigar. Very few are sold without bands
today.

Many cigar bands have quite colorful graphics and often stunning
lithography, which have made them popular collectors’ items. In many
folk tales, a cigar band served as a wedding band in impromptu
ceremonies. For the record, it is equally appropriate to leave the band
on while smoking a cigar or to remove it, as long as the cigar’s wrapper
leaf is not torn when the band is removed.

Banda

Banda is a term for binder, the portion of a tobacco leaf used to hold
together the blend of filler leaves called the bunch. It’s also known as
the capote. With the wrapper and filler (known as capote and tripa in
Spanish) the binder is one of three main components in a handmade cigar.
A torcedore uses it to hold together the collection of filler leaves
inside of a handmade cigar. Many binders were grown with the intent of
being wrappers, but defects in the leaf caused them to be graded as
binders, which are considerably less expensive than wrappers. Some
factories use two binders to add complexity to a cigar blend.

Barber-pole

A cigar that intertwines two wrappers in the form of ascending, or
descending, helical stripes. Also known as “candy canes” and “double
wraps.”

Barrel

A method of shipping cigars in the United States in the early 1800s.
Cigars, often quite cheap cigars, would be packed in barrels of 2,500.
Mark Twain, one of the most famous cigar smokers in history, once said
that he paid very little for his barrels of cigars. “I have always
bought cheap cigars—reasonably cheap, at any rate,” he said at his
seventieth birthday speech. “Sixty years ago they cost me four dollars a
barrel, but my taste has improved, latterly, and I pay seven now. Six or
seven. Seven, I think. Yes, it’s seven. But that includes the barrel. I
often have smoking parties at my house; but the people that come have
always just taken the pledge. I wonder why that is?”

Beetle

A tobacco beetle is the scourge of cigar smokers. The beetles eat cigar
tobacco, and although they are very small they can ruin a cigar very
easily. Beetles begin as eggs, and when the temperature inside a humidor
rises above 72 degrees, the eggs can hatch and form beetles, which will
burrow out of a cigar. If you see a tiny, perfectly circular hole in a
cigar, or little canals, it’s a sure sign of a beetle problem. Other
signs are sandlike dust, which contain beetle droppings.

Belicoso

Traditionally a short, pyramid-shaped cigar with a shorter, more rounded
taper at the head than found on a pyramid or torpedo.

Bethune

A mixture of herbs, wine, rum or a combination of such materials used to
treat certain types of tobacco. It’s a process some cigarmakers do, but
few discuss. Royal Jamaica was famous for using a bethune on its
tobacco.

Binder

The tobacco leaf (or leaves) that hold together the filler tobacco. The
combination of a binder (known as a banda in Spanish) and filler tobacco
is known as the bunch. With the wrapper and filler, the binder is one of
three main components in a handmade cigar. Many binders were grown with
the intent of being wrappers, but defects in the leaf caused them to be
graded as binders, which are considerably less expensive than wrappers.
Some cigar factories use two binder leaves, to add complexity to a cigar
blend.

Bleeding

The process of removing air and old butane from a lighter. Bleeding a
lighter helps maintain its performance, and not bleeding a lighter is
the leading cause of lighter malfunction, as pockets of air can suppress
the flow of butane to the lighter mechanism.

Blend

The mixture of different types of tobacco in a cigar, including up to
five types of filler leaves, one or two binder leaves and an outer
wrapper. Some specialty cigars are made with two wrappers, but this is
rare. To achieve complexity in a blend, a cigarmaker will use tobaccos
grown in various countries, or from varying regions of one country. He
will also use tobacco from different primings. In many factories, the
blends are well- kept secrets passed down from father to son. The blends
at Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. in the Dominican Republic, for example,
are not written down, and are only known by Carlos Fuente Sr. and his
son Carlos Fuente Jr.

Blind Taste

A process of judging where the identity of the judged product is kept
hidden from the taster. All of the tastings in Cigar Aficionado magazine
and Cigar Insider newsletter (save for those that appear in
Connoisseur’s Corner) are done blind. A tasting coordinator buys cigars
at retail outlets, creates a code, removes the identifying cigar bands
from the cigars, replaces the branded band with a plain numbered band
and passes them out to the tasting panel. The tasting panel does not
know the identity of the cigars, nor how much they cost, where they are
from, or any other detail.

Bloom

Bloom, which is also called plume, is a naturally occurring phenomenon
in the cigar-aging process. Oils that exude from the tobacco in a
finished cigar will appear as a fine white powder and can be brushed off
without leaving a mark. Bloom is not to be confused with mold, which has
color to it and stains the wrapper.

Blue Mold

Blue mold, or peronospara tabacina, is a fast moving, airborne fungus
that can ruin a tobacco field in just a few days. It flourishes in cool,
cloudy weather with light rain and riddles tobacco leaves with small
blemishes. Honduras once suffered from chronic, virulent outbreaks of
blue mold, and it has been a problem virtually everywhere tobacco is
grown. Some tobacco hybrids are less susceptible to blue mold than
others.

Bofetón

The protective sheet of paper that folds over the top layer of cigars
packaged in a dress box. It is usually glued to the inside of the box
and bears the brand’s logo. It’s the first thing you see when you open
the box.

Boite Nature

The cedar box in which many cigars are sold. It has two rear hinges, a
brooch-style clasp, four collars within the edges of the box and corners
that are dovetailed, or interlocked. Semi- Boite Nature boxes also are
made entirely of wood, without any trimmings, but lack some of the
characteristics of a true boite nature box.

Bonao

An agricultural region in the Dominican Republic located about an hour’s
drive from Santiago. The Bonao region was used for candela wrapper, but
it became best known as the region where the Fuente family grew the
Dominican Republic’s first shade- grown tobacco from Cuban seeds, which
became the wrapper for Fuente Fuente OpusX cigars.

Bonche

Filler leaves are rolled together and wrapped with a binder leaf to form
a cylindrical shape.

Boncheros

Trained factory workers who roll filler tobacco into binder leaves to
form a bonche, or bunch.

Booking

A rolling method by which the cigarmaker lays the filler leaves atop one
another, so they resemble pages in a book, then rolls them up like a
scroll. This method of cigarmaking is very quick, but can create
problems with the cigar’s draw.

Bouquet

Bouquet, or aroma, is the smell of a burning cigar. Great cigars
typically have enticing aromas that perfume the room. Sometimes it’s
difficult to appreciate the aroma of a cigar you are smoking; it often
helps to leave the room for a moment and come back, or to cup your hand
and direct some smoke toward your nostrils. One can also admire the
bouquet of a box of cigars, or the unlit cigar.

Box

The container used to package most premium, handmade cigars. Some credit
the start of the practice to Cuba’s H. Upmann brand in the early 1800s.
In the United States, laws in 1865, which sought to get an accurate
count on sales of cigars for purposes of tax collection, required cigars
to be packed in wooden boxes of 25, 50, 100 or 250 cigars. After the
U.S. Civil War, cigar boxes were everywhere in the United States. Cigar
boxes are traditionally made from wood (particularly Spanish cedar), but
tin, cardboard and even plastic have been used.

There are several traditional styles. A Dress Box or Semi-Plain Box is
the most common type of cigar box. These boxes are made of wood or
cardboard, and the entire box is finished with overlays of decorative
embossed paper, usually emblazoned with logos, seals and crests. Many of
these boxes are Flat tops, or Thirteen Toppers, the flat rectangular box
most popular today, with 13 cigars on top and 12 on the bottom and a
spacer. The boxes are typically closed with a brass nail. Semi-Boite
Nature is a plain cedar cigar box that has two rear hinges and a
brooch-style clasp. A Boite Nature cigar box is a cedar wooden box with
two rear hinges, a brooch-style clasp, and four collars within the edges
of the box. Cabinet Selection refers to wooden boxes with sliding tops,
designed to hold 25 or 50 cigars, often wrapped with a ribbon. This type
of packaging is also known as a Slide-Lid box. Cabinets are often much
taller than dress or semi-dress boxes, and the cigars are often packed
with greater amounts of air between each cigar. Some connoisseurs who
age their smokes prefer cigars packed in cabinet style, believing the
increased amount of air allows for better aging. 8-9-8 refers to a
round-sided box specifically designed to accommodate three rows of
cigars—eight on top, nine in the middle, eight on the bottom.

Box Aging

Box aging refers to the time a cigar spends in the box after being
rolled, which improves the qualities of a cigar, much as a fine wine can
improve with age in the bottle. Cigars can improve with age for many
years, and the Connoisseur’s Corner section of Cigar Aficionado—which
deals exclusively with aged cigars, some as old as many
decades—provides some of the highest scores the magazine has ever
given.

Box Code

Oftentimes you can ascertain the age of a cigar by its box codes. Every
Cuban cigar produced has a code at the bottom indicating the age of a
smoke; that will not only tell you how old it is, but the vintage, which
may be important. This coding process is rare outside of Cuba. Today’s
Cuban box code is transparent and easy to understand, but earlier
incarnations were disguised, to discourage consumers from knowing the
date the cigars were produced. The best-known Cuban date code was known
as NIVEL ACUSO.

Box Pressed

The slightly squared appearance taken on by cigars that are packed
tightly in a box, particularly a flat-top box. Montecristo No. 2s from
Cuba exemplify the box-pressed shape. Cigars are packed into a dress
box, stacked atop each other, and then are physically pressed to give
them a somewhat flatter and somewhat square appearance.

The term has also been used incorrectly to denote trunk pressing, which
is a much more severe press involving wooden slats between cigars, a
process that results in a very squared-off cigar.

Brooch

The clasp that secures many cigar box lids to the bottom portion of the
box.

Brother of the Leaf

Brother of the leaf is a modern-day term, popularized on the Internet,
to describe a fellow cigar smoker. It’s commonly shortened to BOTL.

Buckeye

A name used in the days before the Cuban Revolution to describe a small
cigar factory in the United States. The term came from the factory’s
liberal use of tobacco from Ohio, the Buckeye State.

Bulk

The term for a large pile of tobacco, arranged for fermentation. Bulks
can be enormous, weighing 3,500 or even 4,000 pounds or more. After
curing in a curing barn, or casa de tabaco, the tobacco is brought into
a warehouse and assembled in bunches of leaves called hands, and made
into a bulk.

The leaves sit flat in a bulk, one on top of the other, with boards,
cardboard or old tobacco stems beneath. The weight of the tobacco and
the moisture in the leaf (as well as moisture that is added by workers
before assembling the bulk) creates heat, which causes fermentation to
begin, changing the chemical structure of the tobacco, removing
impurities such as ammonia and rendering the tobacco smokeable. When the
desired temperature is reached, workers break down the bulk and rebuild
it. This process is repeated again and again, and can last for months or
longer.

There are many terms to describe the same thing. The Cubans call such a
pile a pilón, others call the piles burro or trojes (TROH-heys). Another
variation is to call a pile of tobacco that has been removed of its
stems a burro.

Bull’s Eye Piercer

A device for opening the closed head of a cigar before smoking. It
creates a circular opening like a target’s bull’s eye. It’s a type of
punch cutter.

Bullet Cutter

A type of punch cutter used to open the closed head of a cigar before
smoking. It creates a circular opening.

Bunch

The combination of filler (tripa) tobacco and a binder (banda). The
bunch, after being placed in a mold, is then rolled with a wrapper leaf
to make the finished cigar.

Buncher

A worker who makes the bunch of a cigar, the combination of filler and
binder leaves. In many factories, the tasks of rolling and bunching are
separated. In others, one worker performs both jobs. When separated,
bunching tends to be done by males, and rolling by females.

Bunching Machine

A hand-powered device consisting of a leather pad, metal handle and
guides that aids in the creation of the bunch. These devices are used
practically everywhere in the Dominican Republic, but are rare in
Central America and not used in Cuba. The devices are also known as
Liebermans or Temscos.

Bundle

A packaging method, designed with economy in mind, that uses a
cellophane overwrap. It usually contains 25 or 50 cigars, traditionally
without bands. Bundles, oftentimes seconds of premium brands, are
usually less expensive than boxed cigars.

Burro

The term for a large pile of tobacco, arranged for fermentation. Burros
can be enormous, weighing 3,500 or even 4,000 pounds or more. After
curing in a curing barn, or casa de tabaco, the tobacco is brought into
a warehouse and assembled in bunches of leaves called hands, and made
into a burro.

The leaves sit flat in a burro, one on top of the other, with boards,
cardboard or old tobacco stems beneath. The weight of the tobacco and
the moisture in the leaf (as well as moisture that is added by workers
before assembling the burro) creates heat, which causes fermentation to
begin, changing the chemical structure of the tobacco, removing
impurities such as ammonia and rendering the tobacco smokeable. When the
desired temperature is reached, workers break down the burro and rebuild
it. This process is repeated again and again, and can last for months or
longer.

There are many terms to describe the same thing. Others call the piles
pilones (pee-LONE), bulks, or trojes (TROH-heys). Another variation on
is to call a pile of tobacco that has been removed of its stems a burro,
and the pile with stems a pilón.

Butane

A colorless, odorless gas that is used to fill cigar lighters and is the
preferred lighter fuel for a cigar smoker. It’s advisable to use
high-quality, filtered butane to refill your lighters, particularly
torch lighters, to avoid clogging the lighter.

C

Cabinet Selection

A form of cigar packaging in wooden boxes (typically made of Spanish
cedar) with sliding tops, designed to hold 25 or 50 cigars, often
wrapped with a ribbon. This type of packaging is also known as a
slide-lid box. These boxes are often made of Spanish cedar. Cabinets are
often much taller than dress or semi-dress boxes, and the cigars are
often packed with greater amounts of air between each cigar. Some
connoisseurs who age their smokes prefer cigars packed in cabinet style,
believing the increased amount of air allows for better aging.

Calfrisa

An advanced, sealed tobacco curing barn with a system of ductwork that
creates steady, predictable temperatures and humidity. The system allows
for better curing of tobacco than using vents and traditional heating
methods. The practice was pioneered in Cuba, and is now used in Central
America and the Dominican Republic. Due to the expense of buying,
installing and maintaining such a system, it is far from widespread.

Cameroon

A country in West Africa known for growing toothy, dark wrapper tobacco.
Tobacco grown in the neighboring Central African Republic is also sold
under the name Cameroon. In the early to mid-1990s, Cameroon leaf became
endangered in the wake of the departure of the French, but the dedicated
efforts of the Meerapfel family revitalized supplies of the leaf.

Candela

A green shade of wrapper tobacco achieved by a heat-curing process that
fixes the chlorophyll content of the wrapper while it’s still in the
barn. Also referred to as double claro. From about 1958 to the early
1970s, Americans smoked billions of cigars, and nearly all of them were
candelas. They were so popular in the United States that the term
American Market Seletion (abbreviated as AMS) was created by the major
importer of Cuban cigars at the time to designate green or candela
colored wrappers.

To make candela, a tobacco barn (or casa de tabacco) has to be properly
prepped. The walls of the wooden barn are wallpapered with cardboard or
paper to seal the cracks. The barn is loaded with freshly harvested
tobacco, and the vents at the bottom of the barn are opened, encouraging
air to flow out of the roof vent (known as a doghouse), which is always
open. The propane heaters or charcoal fires are lit, and the heat slowly
rises, taking the moisture out of the leaves. “The objective is to get
air flowing through the tobacco, up and out of the doghouse,” says
Gustavo Cura, the operations administrator for Oliva Tobacco Co. in
Tampa, which grows candela in Ecuador and Honduras. “The heat has to
start slowly.” Within two hours, the heat will be at about 90 degrees,
and by hour No. 3, it will rise to 100. After 40 to 48 hours, the
tobacco has wilted. The leaf is dry at this point, save for the stem,
which takes much more coercing to dry out than the rest of the plant.
The farmers shut the bottom vents in the barn and crank the heat to 165
degrees to remove the remaining moisture from the stem. This final step
lasts for about one day, and bakes the tobacco as dry as a potato chip.
After 60 to 72 hours total in the barn, the chlorophyll has been locked
in the leaf and the tobacco is done heating, but needs to be
rehumidified so it can be safely removed from the barn. Workers open the
barn’s vent doors and windows (unless it’s windy), allowing the
nighttime dew to make the crispy leaves moist again; if the climate is
too dry, they bring in a steamer. Then, the leaves are taken down,
sorted and graded, and put into boxes, ready for storage or for rolling.
The fire curing eliminates the need for fermentation and aging, cutting
months and even years off the typical process.

Sunlight will make candela leaf lighter, while heat will darken the
color. Candela wrapper can’t be stored in normal tobacco warehouses;
instead it’s kept refrigerated. Water can stain it, so a roller has to
know what he’s doing in order to make a candela cigar by hand. Because
it’s the process that makes candela, rather than the seed or country of
origin, candela wrappers are grown in a host of countries.

Candle

Something you should never use to light your cigar, as the wax particles
can foul your smoke. It’s perfectly acceptable to use a candle to light
a cedar spill, then to light your cigar with the spill.

Canoeing

A flaw in a cigar’s burn, in which a narrow strip burns quicker than the
rest of the cigar, making a burnout canoe effect.

Cañonazo

A fat cigar size from Cuba, the cañonazo is known as a cannon shot. The
size measures 5 7/8 inches by 52 ring, and was first used to describe
the Cohiba Siglo VI.

Cantero

A term for a seedbed, the part of a farm where tobacco seedlings are
grown. These are also known as canteros. Traditionally seedbeds were
planted directly in the ground, and they still are in some areas of the
world, but now many tobacco seeds are planted in trays and/or on raised
beds, or within greenhouses. This provides protection from the elements.
Tobacco farmers often grow far more seedlings than they need, and the
extra seedlings can be used in case portions of a farm need to be
replanted due to extreme weather or other unforeseen setbacks in
growing.

Cap

A piece of wrapper leaf placed at the head, or top, of the cigar to
secure the wrapper. Caps come in a variety of forms. Cuban-style caps
are mounted, or flat, and have three seams. They are known as mounted
heads, three-seam caps or triple caps. This method is being found in a
variety of other countries now, including the United States, some
factories in Nicaragua and Honduras, and in very rare instances the
Dominican Republic. The more common type of head is made with a small
circle of wrapper leaf, and has a somewhat round shape. Other varieties
include those with pig tails or flag caps, which have a thin strip of
tobacco protruding from the head, which can be anywhere from a quarter
inch to an inch or more long. The cap has to be cut, pierced or removed
to draw smoke through the cigar.

Capa

The cigar’s wrapper, or outer leaf.

Capote

Capote is a term for binder, the portion of a tobacco leaf used to hold
together the blend of filler leaves called the bunch. It’s also known as
the banda. With the wrapper and filler (known as capote and tripa in
Spanish) the binder is one of three main components in a handmade cigar.
A torcedore uses it to hold together the collection of filler leaves
inside of a handmade cigar. Many binders were grown with the intent of
being wrappers, but defects in the leaf caused them to be graded as
binders, which are considerably less expensive than wrappers. Some
factories use two binders, to add complexity to a cigar blend.

Carbon

The Spanish word for charcoal, and the names given the pits dug into
some curing barns to put small piles of charcoal that are burned during
cool days to raise the temperature in the barn. At times this has been
done with iron pots filled with charcoal. More sophisticated barns have
propane gas powered burners.

Carotene

A naturally occurring compound found in aged cigars.

Casa de Tabaco

A curing barn, or curing shed. Casa de tabacos are constructed in or
very near tobacco fields and are essential to the harvest. After cigar
tobacco is taken from the fields, it is brought into the casa de tabaco
and hung to dry. The leaves are typically hung on wooden poles known as
lathes or cujes, but occasionally are simply draped on strings, also
called sartas.

The tobacco remains in a casa de tabaco for around 45 days while it
turns from green to brown, but the length of time depends upon the
temperature and humidity, and can vary from season to season. During the
time it spends in the barn cigar tobacco cures, changing from green to
yellow to brown, in a process known as curing. Water moves in and out of
the plant during this time, gradually drying the leaf. After curing, the
tobacco is taken from the barns for fermentation in pilones or bales.

Certain advanced barns, known as calfrisas, speed the process. In the
candela curing process, very high temperatures are used to lock the
green color in the leaf. While cigar tobacco is technically air cured,
small charcoal or propane gas fires are occasionally used to fight cool
temperatures or to lower humidity.

Case

In the cigar production process, workers case, or slightly moisten, aged
tobacco so that it will become supple and ready for manipulation. Some
factories use a technique in which the leaves are bathed in a fine mist
of water, others use huge rooms with extremely high humidity and others
dip the stems of tobacco directly in water. The leaves are usually
prepared a day in advance. Casing is also a term used for flavoring
added to many varieties of pipe tobacco.

Cat’s Eye Cutter

Also known as a v cutter or wedge cutter, a cat’s eye cutter has a
v-shaped blade that gauges an opening in the head of a cigar that is
shaped somewhat like a cat’s pupil. These cigar cutters were far more
popular in the early 1900s, and many antique models are designed for the
smaller cigars of that era.

Cedar

1. The name often given for the type of wood that is used to make most
   cigar boxes and humidors. Spanish cedar is used— not red or
   aromatic cedar—and the word is a marketing name for cedrela, a
   tree that belongs to the mahogany family. It grows throughout the
   tropics and is not a true cedar. It’s quite different from red or
   aromatic cedar, which should never be used in humidors or cigar
   boxes.
2. A type of flavor commonly associated with cigars. Cigars are aged in
   Spanish cedar lined aging rooms, or in Spanish cedar boxes, and
   sometimes come wrapped with a thin strip of Spanish cedar. The
   associated aromas and flavors are described as cedary.

Cedar Spill

A strip of Spanish cedar used for lighting a cigar in a very
fashionable, formal way. A cedar spill is lit, using a candle, match,
lighter or other flame, and then used to slowly toast the foot of a
cigar. Spills burn slowly, and in some cigar bars a member of the
waitstaff might use one that is more than a foot long to light a cigar.
Spills can create very long, thin, messy ashes, so care must be taken
when using this method.

Cellophane

A clear, protective material that is put around many premium cigars.
Cellophane was created in 1912. True cellophane is a natural substance
made of cellulose, the main component in the cell wall of a plant. A
machine makes tubes of cellophane, and workers in a cigar factory slip
individual cigars within the tubes. The cellophane provides extra
protection and slows the drying process of a cigar. Cellophane is
increasingly popular in modern- day cigar sales, as many more cigars are
sold individually, rather than in boxes, and having cigars in cellophane
prevents damage to the cigars from excessive handling in cigar shops.

One of the most common questions asked of Cigar Aficionado editors is
about removing cellophane from a box of cigars. Once you’ve bought the
cigar and are placing it in your humidor, we recommend you remove the
cellophane. Cellophane will prevent humidity from reaching the cigar,
and you’ll find the cigars will respond to humidification better if the
overwrap has been removed. The same holds true for cigar tubes, whether
glass or aluminum; these tubes will completely close off a cigar to
humidification if left on. However, if you intend to transport your
cigars (such as in a coat pocket), it may be a good idea to keep a few
tubes or cellophane overwraps handy to protect the cigars during
transport. We typically advise people to remove the cellophane if they
intend to age the cigars, and to perhaps keep a few in the cellophane to
provide for ease of transport.

Chaveta

A crescent-shaped piece of steel used by a cigar roller in a cigar
factory to cut a wrapper leaf to size. A cigar roller also uses such a
device to help shape the head of a cigar. A custom in cigar factories is
to slap the flat of the chaveta against the wooden rolling board, akin
to applause.

Cheesecloth

The traditional material used to cover a field of shade-grown wrapper
leaf. Today it is made of nylon or another synthetic material. The
Spanish term for the covering is tapado. It takes some 5,000 yards of
shade to cover an acre of tobacco.

Cheroot

A term for a rustic cigar, typically one with an open head as well as a
foot.

Chinchalle

A slang term for a very small cigar factory, such as those found in
Union City, New Jersey, or in Little Havana, Miami.

Chop

A slang term for short-filler tobacco, or picadura.

Churchill

A large corona-format cigar, traditionally 7 inches by a 47 ring gauge.
The most famous Churchill is the Romeo y Julieta Churchill. The grand
size takes its name from legendary cigar aficionado Sir Winston
Churchill, who was famous for almost never being seen without a cigar.

Cibao Valley

The valley in the Dominican Republic where much of the country’s premium
cigar tobacco is grown.

Cigar Association of America

The national trade organization of cigar manufacturers, importers and
distributors headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Cigar Bar

A bar and/or lounge where cigar aficionados can enjoy a cigar and
libation. For a listing of such places to smoke, visit Cigar
Aficionado’s Where to Smoke.

Cigar Boom

The stellar rise in premium, handmade cigar sales that began in late
1992 and peaked in 1997. The start of the boom began with the launch of
Cigar Aficionado magazine in Autumn 1992. Premium cigar imports soared
from about 100 million units to more than 400 million by 1997. While the
rise changed the industry forever and revitalized the cigar business,
there were also negatives involved.

Cigar Box Tool

A multifunction tool used in cigar shops to open flat-top cigar boxes.
The rounded knife blade is used to break the seal and crack open the
box, the slit in the rounded blade can be used to pry out a nail and the
hammer portion can be used to pound the nail back into the box,
resealing it.

Cigar Case

A portable storage device for a small number of cigars. The most common
size allows for storage of three cigars, but some models accommodate
two, four, or even a single cigar. Such models are built for the breast
pocket of a suit, while larger models are designed for the briefcase or
other piece of luggage. Most cigar cases are made of leather, and most
do not have humidification devices.

Cigar Lounge

A sanctuary where smoking cigars is welcome. More and more cigar stores
are opening lounges to provide a place for their customers to light up.

Cigar Rights of America

A consumer organization headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, aimed at
protecting the rights of cigar smokers.

Cigarillo

Favored by some aficionados and scorned by others, these thin, short
cigars, popular in Europe, are generally machine-made, and many brands
use homogenized wrappers or binders.

Cigarmaker

The owner of a factory who creates new cigars; also a term used for the
workers who make cigars.

Claro

A pale-green to light-brown wrapper, usually shade-grown.

Classic

A cigar that receives a score of 95 points or higher on Cigar Aficionado
Magazine’s 100-point scale. It’s fairly rare.

Clear Havana

A cigar made in the United States prior to the embargo with Cuban
tobacco.

Coffin

A slide-lid cigar box that accommodates only one cigar. Montecristo As
and Fuente Fuente OpusX As are two cigars that come in individual
coffins.

Cold Taste

The act of clipping a cigar and sucking air through the cigar prior to
lighting (also called a dry draw). This can tell you if a cigar will
draw, and it will also give you a first impression of how the cigar may
taste after lighting.

Collars

Four pieces of cedar protruding from the four inner edges of some cigar
boxes, particularly boite nature boxes. They are fully covered when the
lid is closed.

Color Sorting

One of the final steps in the cigar production process, color sorting is
done by specialized workers operating in brightly lit areas of a cigar
factory. They spread out cigars on a stark black or bright white table
and examine color, arranging boxes of cigars with cigars of very similar
color. The process requires a keen eye for color, as there may be as
many as 20 slight color variations. A sorter may also reject cigars if
they have any visible flaws, such as cracks or blemishes.

Colorado

A medium-brown to brownish-red shade of wrapper tobacco.

Complexity

A beneficial characteristic in the flavor of cigar smoke. Top scoring
cigars in Cigar Aficioando magazine typically are complex, having
several flavors that pair well together.

Condega

One of the three main tobacco growing areas of Nicaragua. Condega,
located north of Estelí, is a quiet town near the Cantagallo Mountains.
Tobacco from Condega tends to be more medium bodied than the tobacco
grown in Estelí and stronger than the tobacco grown in Jalapa. The land
is known for its orchids and it’s not uncommon to see small cacti
growing near the region’s tobacco fields.

Connecticut Broadleaf

A type of tobacco grown in the open sunlight, principally in the
Connecticut River Valley. Connecticut broadleaf grows as a squat, bushy
plant. The leaves are very wide, hence the name, and after curing they
get very dark. Broadleaf is among the prized wrapper leaves used to make
many maduro cigars. The plants are stalk cut, the entire plant harvested
at one time.

Connecticut Habano

A dark, sun-grown wrapper variety from the Connecticut River Valley that
is grown in lower quantities than Connecticut shade and Connecticut
broadleaf. Like broadleaf, Habano is grown in the open sunlight. The
plant grows leaves with pointy tips, as opposed to wide leaves with
somewhat rounded edges, as found on broadleaf. It’s known for hearty
flavor.

Connecticut River Valley

A tobacco growing region that stretches north from Hartford,
Connecticut, across the border into Massachusetts. Native Americans grew
tobacco in Connecticut before the arrival of Europeans, and historians
say locals have grown cigar tobacco there since the 1600s. The valley
was the birthplace of shade tobacco circa 1900.

The soil around the valley is silty, with clay, sand and loam, the
product of glaciers that scraped the northeastern part of America as
they crept down from the Arctic. The first Connecticut tobacco was grown
in the open sunlight, which makes a leaf thick and dark, with veins like
ropes. The first variety grown was Connecticut broadleaf. In the late
1800s, Connecticut farmers were losing marketshare to a thin, beautiful
leaf grown in Sumatra (part of modern-day Indonesia), so people tried to
duplicate the product by planting Sumatra seeds in the Connecticut River
Valley. The results were poor due to the bright sunny weather typical of
a Connecticut summer, quite different from the overcast growing season
in Sumatra. Farmers erected cheesecloth tents to cover the fields and
shield the tobacco from the direct rays of the sun. “The first tents
went up on River Road in the Poquonock section of Windsor in 1900,” says
Nielsen. The result was extraordinary: the leaves grew thin and supple,
with barely noticeable veins. When cured and aged, the leaf turned
golden brown and oily. Most experts say that was the origin of shade
tobacco, which today is also grown in Cuba, Nicaragua and the Dominican
Republic.

Connecticut Shade

The term for Connecticut-seed tobacco (a derivative of Sumatra seed)
grown in the Connecticut River Valley, under shade. The cover diffuses
the rays of the sun, resulting in a thin, supple leaf with very thin
veins. The leaf is prized for wrapper tobacco, and is known for its
golden-brown color and mild taste profile. Connecticut seed tobacco is
grown in a host of other countries, but true Connecticut shade comes
from the Connecticut River Valley.

Connoisseur’s Corner

Cigars that are at least five years old, but often much older, are
reviewed in the Connoisseur’s Corner section of Cigar Aficionado
magazine, and many receive exceptionally high scores. Unlike every other
review conducted by Cigar Aficionado, these reviews are done by one
taster, due to the rarity of the cigars being smoked, and the rater
knows the identity of what he is smoking, so it’s not a blind tasting.
These aged cigars, particularly aged Cuban cigars, have received some of
the highest ratings in our magazine’s history, including several perfect
100-point scores.

Corojo

The most famous variety of Cuban-seed tobacco. Corojo seed was first
developed in the 1930s at the El Corojo plantation outside San Juan y
Martinez, Cuba. The leaf was used to wrap Cuba’s finest cigars.
Descendents of the seed are now grown in Central America and the
Caribbean, but Cuba no longer grows Corojo.

Corona

One of the most familiar sizes and shapes for premium cigars. Coronas
are parejos, straight-sided cigars, with an open foot and a closed,
rounded head. The Cuban standard for the size is 5 5/8 inches long with
a 42 ring gauge.

Costero

The lateral sides of a cigar box, which normally bear the brand name and
other decorative elements.

Cover Leaf

A casual way of referring to a wrapper leaf, the outer leaf on a
premium, handmade cigar.

Cuban Sandwich

A handmade cigar made with a mixture of long-filler and short- filler
tobacco. These cigars are sometimes referred to as mixed- fill cigars.

Cuban Seed

Usually refers to plants grown in non-Cuban countries with seeds that
originated in Cuba. Cuban-seed tobaccos tend to be full in flavor.
Tobacco changes when planted in different soils, so a seed from Cuba
planted in, say, the Dominican Republic, will not taste identical to the
one planted in Cuba.

Cubatabaco

Formerly the worldwide distribution company for Cuban cigars (now done
by Habanos S.A.), Cubatabaco is the state-owned entity that owns all of
Cuba’s cigar brands.

Cubierta

The top surface or outer lid of a cigar box.

Cuje

A wooden pole, also known as a lathe, used to hang freshly harvested
tobacco leaves in a curing barn, or casa de tabacco. There are two
varieties. Cuje cortos measure about six feet long, cuje largos
(considered superior) are about 12 feet long. Some less advanced
versions use wooden strings, known as sartas. The tobacco is held to the
sarta, cuje or lathe using string that is sewn through each leaf. Most
countries sew the leaves by hand, but in Connecticut the process is done
via a special sewing machine.

Culebra

Spanish for “snake.” Culebras are cigars made of three panetelas braided
and banded together; usually 5 to 6 inches in length, most often with a
38 ring gauge. Legend has it that the culebra was invented as a way for
factory owners to ensure their rollers were not exceeding their three
cigars per day allotment. They would be given one braided culebra; a
worker smoking (or taking) a straight cigar could be recognized as
stealing. Whatever the legend, culebras are eye-grabbing smokes.

Curing

The very important step in preparing cigar tobacco immediately following
the harvest. Freshly harvested tobacco leaves (which have been either
primed or stalk-cut) are hung in tobacco curing barns, also known as
casas de tabacos. There the leaves turn from green to brown in a process
known as curing. Moisture is slowly removed from the plant over a period
of around 45 days, depending on the weather. Vents are opened and closed
in these barns to make adjustments, and sometimes propane gas powered
burners or small charcoal (or carbone) fires are lit to increase
temperature, and on occasion humidity is added. The tobacco leaves turn
from green, to yellow, then finally to brown. The veins and the very
thick stem are the last to turn. This curing process prepares the leaves
for fermentation, but the tobacco would be too raw and harsh to
enjoyably smoke in this form.

Curing Barns

Curing barns, sometimes called curing sheds or casas de tabaco, are
constructed in or very near tobacco fields and are essential to the
harvest. After cigar tobacco is taken from the fields, it is brought
into the curing barn and hung to dry. The leaves are typically hung on
wooden poles known as lathes or cujes, but occasionally are simply
draped on strings, also called sartas. The tobacco remains in a casa de
tabaco for around 45 days while it turns from green to brown, but the
length of time depends upon the temperature and humidity, and can vary
from season to season. During the time it spends in the barn cigar
tobacco cures, changing from green to yellow to brown, in a process
known as curing. Water moves in and out of the plant during this time,
gradually drying the leaf. After curing, the tobacco is taken from the
barns for fermentation in pilones or bales.

Certain advanced barns, known as calfrisas, speed the process. In the
candela curing process, very high temperatures are used to lock the
green color in the leaf. While cigar tobacco is technically air cured,
small charcoal or propane gas fires are occasionally used to fight cool
temperatures or to lower humidity.

Cutter

A device for preparing a handmade cigar for smoking by piercing or
removing its cap, or head.

D

Desflorado

Tobacco that has been topped, or removed of its flower, seeds, and
sometimes the entire upper portion of a tobacco plant. This causes the
tobacco plant to redirect its energies from creation of the flower
(which contains tobacco seeds) to the tobacco leaves. Topped tobacco is
stronger than tobacco that has not been topped.

Despalillo

The Spanish term for deveining tobacco, which is the process that is
more commonly called destemming or just stemming. The stem of a tobacco
leaf is very thick, and needs to be completely or partially removed
before the leaves can be rolled into cigars. For binder and wrapper
tobacco, workers remove the entire stem, either by hand or by using a
machine made specifically for such an action. For filler tobacco, a
worker strips the bottom two thirds or so of the stem, leaving a leaf
that somewhat resembles a frog looked at from above, so such leaves are
known as frog’s legs.

Destemming

The stem of a tobacco leaf is very thick, and need to be completely or
partially removed before the leaves can be rolled into cigars. For
binder and wrapper tobacco, workers remove the entire stem, either by
hand or by using a machine made specifically for such an action. For
filler tobacco, a worker strips the bottom two thirds or so of the stem,
leaving a leaf that somewhat resembles a frog looked at from above, so
such leaves are known as frog’s legs. The process is more commonly
called stemming.

Diadema

A very large figurado with a closed and tapered head. Generally 8 inches
or more long. One of the more popular diademas is the Salomone size. All
Salomones are diademas, but not not all diademas are Salomones.

Dipping

A frowned upon method of dipping the end of your cigar in a glass of
spirit. Don’t do it.

Doghouse

The top vent in a tobacco curing barn. It remains open, to encourage air
flow.

Dominican Republic

The country that rolls more cigars by hand than any other nation. Most
of the country’s cigars are made in Santiago, but some are rolled in La
Romana. The Dominican Republic is also a tobacco producing country.
Tobacco has been grown there for many years, but only recently
high-quality wrapper tobacco has also been cultivated there.

Double Claro

A green shade of wrapper tobacco, achieved by a heat-curing process that
fixes the chlorophyll content of the wrapper while it’s still in the
barn. Also referred to as candela. From about 1958 to the early 1970s,
Americans smoked billions of cigars, and nearly all of them were
candelas. They were so popular in the United States that the term
American Market Seletion (abbreviated as AMS) was created by the major
importer of Cuban cigars at the time to designate green or candela
colored wrappers.

Double Corona

A big cigar, known as a prominente in Cuban cigar factories. The cigars
generally measure 7 1/2 to 8 inches by a 49 to 52 ring gauge. The most
famous one is the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona from Cuba, which once
scored 99 points in a Cigar Aficionado taste test.

Draw

The amount of air that gets pulled through a lit cigar. It can be too
easy (hot) or too tight (plugged).

Draw Test Machine

A device that sucks air through a cigar in a cigar factory (often an
unfinished one) to determine if air will move through the cigar properly
when lit. The introduction of draw testing machines, which were rare
around 1990 but are now common in the majority of cigar factories, is
one reason why faulty draws are less common than before.

Dry Draw

The act of clipping a cigar and sucking air through the cigar prior to
lighting (also called a cold taste). This can tell you if a cigar will
draw, and it will also give you a first impression of how the cigar may
taste after lighting.

E

Ecuador

A country in South America that has become a prized source for wrapper
tobacco. Tobaco is grown outside of Guayaquil, near the foothills of the
Andes mountains. The ecosystem creates a near continuous cover of
clouds, delivering the same effect as shade without the infrastructure
or investment. Traditionally, Connecticut seed (yielding light, golden
brown tobacco) and Sumatra seed (stronger, darker, oily tobacco) have
been grown in Ecuador. In recent years Habano seed (dark, oily and very
flavorful) has been introduced by Oliva Tobacco Co. of Tampa, Florida,
with fine results.

Empilónando

The process of making a pilón, or a bulk or troje of tobacco for
fermentation.

Encallado

A type of tobacco growing where a plot of tobacco is shaded only on the
sides. This provides protection from the wind and also provides a
limited form of shade, shielding tobacco from the rays of the sun when
the sun is lower in the sky. Tobacco grown encallado style is fairly
rare, and provides a farmer with a middle ground between shade grown and
sun grown.

English Market Selection

Abbreviated EMS, a term used to designate a natural color wrapper, not
claro or lighter shades, nor maduro or darker shades. In the United
Kingdom, an EMS sticker found on boxes of Cuban cigars refers to
inventory that has been vetted by Hunters & Frankau, cigar distributors.
(Also see American Market Selection.)

Ensarte

The process of taking tobacco leaves from the fields and hanging them in
a curing barn. The strings used to hold the leaves are called sartas.
Sartas can be hung on their own, or in a preferred method, attached to
poles known as cujes.

Entubar

A rolling method that originated in Cuba. The roller rolls each filler
leaf into a straw or tube shape, creating tubes with great air flow.
Proponents say this method allows for a greater number of filler leaves
to be put in a cigar while maintaining the draw. Also called Entubado.

Escaparates

Cooling cabinets in which cigars are kept at the factory for a few weeks
after they have been rolled.

Escogida

Spanish for chosen, escogida in the world of cigarmaking is the act of
color sorting, one of the final steps in the cigar production process.
Color sorting is done by specialized workers operating in brightly lit
areas of a cigar factory. They spread out cigars on a stark black or
bright white table and examine color, arranging boxes of cigars with
cigars of very similar color. The process requires a keen eye for color,
as there may be as many as 20 slight color variations. A sorter may also
reject cigars if they have any visible flaws, such as cracks or
blemishes.

Estelí

The agricultural town in Nicaragua where most of the country’s cigars
are made. Strong tobacco is also grown there.

F

Face

The side of a cigar that is banded. Cigars are made by hand, so one side
might look better than the other. The color sorter selects the better
side, places it that side up in a tray, and that is the side that bears
the face of the cigar band.

Federal Excise Tax

The tax paid to the U.S. government on cigars as they are brought into
the United States. This tax is paid by the importer, and is typically
passed onto the consumer. The Federal Excise tax on large cigars used to
be modest, less than five cents per cigar, until April 2009 when the
$32.8 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Care Initiative
(SCHIP) caused the federal excise tax to balloon to 40.26 cents per
cigar. Some companies didn’t increase prices, but most did.

Fermentation

Perhaps the most important step in preparing cigar tobacco for smoking.
After harvest, workers gather the tobacco leaves in large bulks (known
as pilónes), moistening the leaves and allowing them to ferment. The
pressure and the heat causes temperatures to rise, perhaps as high as
140 degrees Fahrenheit before the bulk is broken down and rebult. This
process, called working the bulk, releases ammonia from the tobacco and
creates a chemical change in the tobacco. Smoking unfermented tobacco
can make a smoker ill.

Figurado

Any cigar that isn’t straight sided. This group includes belicosos,
torpedos, pyramids, perfectos and culebras. The other type of cigar
group is a parejo.

Filete

The decorative trimming that runs along each edge of a cigar dress box.
Also called trim.

Filler

The individual tobacco leaves used in the body of the cigar. The filler
leaves are held together by the bunch. A fine cigar usually contains
between two and five different types of filler tobacco. In Spanish, the
term is known as tripa. Handmade, premium cigars are typically made
entirely from long-filler tobacco, which are whole leaves. Machine-made
cigars are made from short- filler tobacco, chopped up leaves, which are
the leftovers from handmade cigar production.

Finca

A farm.

Finish

A tasting term. It refers to the taste that lingers on your palate after
a puff. Mild cigars do not have much finish, either in terms of length
or complexity (called a short finish), but stronger, more full-bodied
cigars have distinctive flavors that linger for a while. Some novice
smokers confuse the term with the way a cigar tastes after it has been
smoked down to virtually nothing.

Firemen

The workers in a tobacco curing barn that monitor conditions when gas or
charcoal burners are being used to increase barn temperatures during
curing. Barns have been known to burn down when firemen aren’t doing
their job.

Firm

A term used to describe the draw of a cigar, or how the air moves
through the cigar. A firm draw means extra effort is required to get the
smoke from the cigar. Gently massaging the cigar may help improve the
draw. Very firm cigars are considered faulty, and a plugged cigar is
unsmokeable.

Flag Tip

An extension of the wrapper leaf shaped to finish the head of a cigar;
used instead of a cap. Flags are sometimes tied off in a pigtail or a
curly head.

Foil

An eye-catching and practical element added to certain cigars. Cigars
could be individually wrapped in gold or silver foil for protection,
freshness, and aesthetics. In some cases, only part of the cigar is foil
wrapped. Notable examples include the Bolivar Gold Medal. Some cigars,
such as Romeo y Julieta Cazadores, are ribbon-bound, and the entire
bundle is then wrapped in foil, rather than each individual cigar.

Foot

The end of the cigar you light. Most often it is open. Most perfectos
have narrow feet resembling a nipple, and the draw of such cigars can be
improved by cutting a bit off that end. A few handmade premium cigars
have completely closed feet.

Frog’s Legs

A cigar factory term for a leaf of filler tobacco that’s been stripped
of most of its stem. The top third or so of the stem, nearest the tip of
the leaf, is kept, the rest is stripped, leaving a leaf that somewhat
resembles a frog looked at from above.

Frontmark

The name of a specific size of a cigar, which typically appears on the
front of the box. With an Arturo Fuente Flor Fina 8-5-8, for example,
Arturo Fuente is the brand name, Flor Fina 8-5-8 is the frontmark. For
more on frontmarks and how to decipher the words in a cigar shop, see
the Cigar Aficionado video on selecting cigars.

G

Glass Jar

Also known as an Amatista jar, these are heavy glass jars that
containing 25 or 50 cigars. This method of packaging is seldom seen
today, but was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. H. Upmann cigars
from Cuba originated the practice in the early 1900s. The jars were
lined with Spanish cedar and sealed tight, and promoted as being
“factory fresh.”

Glass Top Cohibas

One of the most common type of counterfeit cigars. Glass top (or Lucite
top) Cohibas are fake Cohiba cigars presented in boxes with glass or
lucite tops, showing a view of the cigars inside the box without opening
the box itself. There never has been a genuine Cuban Cohiba produced
with a glass or Lucite top box.

Glass Tubes

Also called Crystales, these glass test-tube like cases are designed to
protect individual cigars from damage or from drying out.

Gomma

A flavorless, odorless vegetable adhesive used to secure the head of the
wrapper leaf around the finished bunch. Also called gum.

Gorda

Spanish for “fat,” as in the corona gorda shape, a thicker corona. The
traditional size is 5 5/8 inches with a 46 ring gauge.

Gordito

A Cuban cigar factory term for a cigar measuring 5 1/2 inches by 50
ring.

Gran Corona

A very big cigar; generally 9 1/4 inches by 47 ring gauge.

Gran Panetela

A long panetela, which is a slim cigar. Gran panetelas typically measure
longer than seven inches. The most famous type of gran panetela is a
lancero, a 7 1/2 inch long cigar with a ring gauge of (usually) 38 that
has a flag or pigtail tip.

Guajiro

A Cuban term for a peasant farmer, or a man of the earth. It’s
considered a compliment in many circles.

Guayabera

A Cuban dress shirt, typically made of linen, with many pockets, which
make it ideal for holding cigars. The shirts are worn untucked.

Gum

A flavorless, odorless vegetable adhesive used to secure the head of the
wrapper leaf around the finished bunch. Also called gomma.

H

Habana

See Havana

Habano

A Cuban term for a cigar made entirely of Cuban tobacco.

Habanos S.A.

The worldwide distribution company for Cuban cigars.

Half Wheel

A bundle of 50 cigars. Cigar rollers usually use ribbon to tie the
cigars they produce into half-wheels. These are also known as media
ruedas.

Hand

Individual leaves of tobacco that are hung together after harvest and
tied at the stalk. These hands are piled together to make a bulk for
fermentation. A hand of tobacco contains about 30 or 40 tobacco leaves.

Hand-Rolled

A cigar made entirely by hand with high-quality wrapper and long filler
tobacco. Also called handmade.

Havana

Capital of Cuba. The traditional center of manufacturing of Cuban cigars
for export, and a term widely used to designate Cuban cigars. Also
refers to the tobacco types grown from Cuban seed in the Dominican
Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. Also known as Habana.

Head

The closed end of the cigar; the end you smoke. The head can take many
forms, including round, flat, mounted, flag tip, and more.

Holder

Cigar holders are an interesting affectation and collectible, but true
aficionados let nothing come between their lips and the head of a cigar
they’re smoking.

Homogenized Tobacco Leaf

A mixture of chopped scrap tobacco and a cellulose adhesive, which is
extruded into a sheet that can be cut in any size, homogenized tobacco
leaf (HTL) is scorned by purists. It’s found on many cheaper cigars that
are made by machine. It was created in the 1950s as a way to cut costs
in the cigar business. It can be used as wrapper or binder, and is not
used on premium, handmade cigars.

Honduras

With the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Cuba, one of the four largest
handmade cigar producing nations. Honduras also grows fine tobacco.

Hot

Describes a cigar that is underfilled and has a quick, loose draw. A
cigar that burns hot often causes harsh flavors. Not desirable.

Humidification Element

The device that maintains the humidity in a humidor. These can be active
humidification systems, operating mechanically with a blower, or passive
systems, that simply rely on air to move about without manipulation.
Strive to keep your cigars at around 70 percent humidity.

Humidor

A room, or a box of varying sizes, designed to preserve or promote the
proper storage and aging of cigars by maintaining a relative humidity
level of around 70 percent. Advanced humidors can also regulate
temperature.

Hybrids

Hybrids are combinations of two or more types of plants. Modern day
tobacco stems from a natural hybrid known as Nicotania Tabacum. Tobacco
growers make their own hybrids, combining genetic characteristics of two
plants and growing seven crops of the new plant to lock in the genetic
characteristics. Hybrids are developed for resistance to disease,
increased yields, improved flavors and other advances.

For more, read Hot Hybrids.

Hygrometer

A device that indicates the humidity, or percentage of moisture in the
air; used to monitor humidor conditions.

I

Inhale

What you don’t do with cigar smoke.

International Premium Cigar & Pipe

Retailers Association The leading trade association for retail
tobacconists, formerly known as the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America
(RTDA). The IPCPR holds an annual trade show, where cigar companies
unveil new products.

ISOM

An acronym for Island South of Miami, a term popularized on the Internet
used by some to refer to Cuba.

J

Jalapa

One of the three main tobacco growing areas of Nicaragua. The Jalapa
Valley is known for its subtle, elegant tobacco, and much of the tobacco
grown here becomes Nicaraguan wrapper. The soil in Jalapa is red and
clay like, and considered some of the most prized growing areas for
tobacco anywhere.

Jamastran

A valley in southern Honduras where fine tobacco is grown. Jamastran is
located not far from the cigarmaking town of Danlí and very close to the
border of Nicaragua.

Jar

Ceramic or glass, these are decorative vessels that often double as
humidors and usually hold 25 cigars. Often, jars are released as
limited-edition promotions of certain brands. Amatista jars are heavy
glass jar containing 25 or 50 cigars. This method of packaging is seldom
seen today, but was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. H. Upmann
cigars from Cuba originated the practice in the early 1900s. The jars
were lined with Spanish cedar and sealed tight, and promoted as being
“factory fresh.”

L

La Casa del Habano

A cigar store specializing in Cuban cigars. Habanos S.A., a Cuban
company owned by the Cuban government, is a part owner in all La Casas.

Lance

A cutter with a pointed, sharp end used to pierce a small hole in the
closed end of a cigar. Also called a piercer. Lances and piercers are
relatively uncommon today.

Lancero

A long, slim cigar that is part of the gran panetela family. The first
lanceros were rolled at El Laguito in the 1960s with the creation of the
Cohiba Lancero.

Larguero

The front side of a cigar box, which normally bears the brand name and
other decorative elements. The country seal often wraps around from the
top of the box, down over the larguero and then underneath to the bottom
of the box.

Lath

A wooden pole, also known as a cuje (COO-hey), used to hang freshly
harvested tobacco leaves in a curing barn, or casa de tabacco. Some less
advanced versions use wooden strings, known as sartas. The tobacco is
held to the sarta, cuje or lathe using string that is sewn through each
leaf. Most countries sew the leaves by hand, but in Connecticut the
process is done via a special sewing machine.

Lector

A person who reads to the cigar rollers while they work. This practice
is no longer common, but still occurs in many Cuban cigar factories and
on rare occasion in a factory outside of Cuba.

Libre de Pie

The tiny leaves that grow at the lowest level of tobacco on a plant.
Libre de pie, or sand leaf, is often not used, and discarded.

Lieberman

A hand-powered bunching machine device consisting of a leather pad,
metal handle and guides that aids in the creation of the bunch. These
devices are used practically everywhere in the Dominican Republic, but
are rare in Central America and not used in Cuba. The devices are also
known as Temscos.

Ligero

One of the three basic grades of filler tobacco. Ligero is the strongest
variety (seco is the mildest, viso is stronger than seco but more mild
than ligero.) Ligero lends body to a blend. The name means light in
Spanish, and these leaves—which come from the top section of a tobacco
plant—receive the most sunlight of any tobacco leaf. They are
noticeably thicker than other leaves. Ligero grown in the Estelí region
of Nicaragua is known for being one of the strongest varieties used in
the cigar industry.

Lighter

A mechanism for lighting your cigar. Be sure to use a butane- powered
lighter as lighters that run on lighter fluid can taint your cigars with
a foul flavor.

Lighter Fluid

A petroleum distillate used primarily for wick lighters, also known as
naptha. This fluid has an odor similar to gasoline, and lighters fueled
with it are inappropriate for cigars. Cigars should be lit with lighters
powered by butane gas, or with sulphur free matches.

Long Filler

Filler tobacco consisting of whole leaves, which run the length of the
body of the cigar, rather than chopped pieces (short filler) found in
machine-made cigars. The Spanish term for filler tobacco is tripa.

Lonsdale

A lonsdale is generally longer than a corona but thicker than a
panetela, with a classic size of 6 1/2 inches by 42 ring. Example:
Montecristo No. 1

Loose

Describes a cigar that is underfilled and has a quick draw. A cigar with
a loose draw often burns hot and causes harsh flavors. Not desirable.

M

Machine Made

Cigars made by machine, rather than by hand. There are machines that
work with long filler tobacco, but most operate using short- filler
tobacco. While some are made to work with real wrapper leaves, the vast
majority of machine-made cigars are made with homogenized tobacco leaf
wrappers or binders. Homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) is a mixture of
chopped scrap tobacco and a cellulose adhesive, which is extruded into a
sheet that can be cut in any size. Machine-made cigars are also known as
mass- market cigars, as they are produced in far greater quantities than
handmade cigars and are traditionally sold in convenience stores rather
than high-end cigar shops. Machine-made or mass-market cigars are sold
in the billions of units annually, compared to hundreds of millions for
premium, handmade cigars.

Maduro

A wrapper shade from a very dark reddish-brown to almost black. The word
means ripe in Spanish. The color can be achieved by sun exposure, a
cooking process or a prolonged fermentation.

Mareva

The Cuban term for a petit corona. The Cuban standard is 5 1/8 inches
long by 42 ring.

Mass-market

Mass-market or machine-made cigars are made by machine rather than by
hand. There are machines that work with long- filler tobacco, but most
operate using short-filler tobacco. While some are made to work with
real wrapper leaves, the vast majority of machine-made cigars are made
with homogenized tobacco leaf wrappers or binders. Homogenized tobacco
leaf (HTL) is a mixture of chopped scrap tobacco and a cellulose
adhesive, which is extruded into a sheet that can be cut in any size.
They are produced in far greater quantities than handmade cigars and are
traditionally sold in convenience stores rather than high-end cigar
shops. Machine-made or mass-market cigars are sold in the billions of
units annually, compared to hundreds of millions for premium, handmade
cigars.

Mata Fina

The most famous of Brazil’s cigar wrapper tobacco varieties, Mata Fina
is grown in the Recôncavo of Brazil, a strip of land near the
northeastern coast. Mata Norte is a subvariety, grown in the northern
part of the Recôncavo.

Mata Norte

A sub-variety of Brazil’s Mata Fina tobacco, Mata Norte is grown in the
northern part of Brazil’s Recôncavo region, in the northeast of the
country.

Media Rueda

A bundle of 50 cigars, also known as a half wheel. Cigar rollers usually
use ribbon to tie the cigars they produce into half-wheels. A full wheel
of 100 cigars is known as a rueda.

Medio Tiempo

These small leaves, cherished by tobacco growers for its rich flavor,
are rarely seen on a tobacco plant. If they do appear, the complex
leaves grow at the very top where they receive more light than any other
part of the plant.

Mexico

An important country in the cigar industry both for making cigars and
especially for growing tobacco. The San Andres area grows the country’s
best tobacco. San Andres Negro is a stalk- cut variety that makes superb
maduro leaf and is used around the cigarmaking world.

Mixed Fill Cigars

A handmade cigar made with a mixture of long-filler and short-filler
tobacco. These cigars are also called Cuban sandwich cigars.

Mold

1. The form used in cigarmaking to give shape to a finished bunch. It
   is a form with slots that approximates the size and diameter of the
   cigar being made. After a mold is filled, the top half of the form
   is placed over it and the mold is taken to a manual (or automated)
   hydraulic press. The bunches are usually pressed for 30 to 45
   minutes, with the mold given a quarter turn at intervals to prevent
   tobacco ridges from forming where the mold halves meet. At this
   point, some factories also put the cigars on a special machine known
   as a draw tester to suck air through the cigar and check the draw.
   Traditionally made of wood, many cigar molds are now made from
   plastic.
2. A potentially damaging fungus that forms on a cigar when it is
   stored at too high a temperature. Mold tends to have color, and when
   brushed off a cigar it leaves a stain. Cigars with mold on their
   feet should not be smoked. A fine, white powder that can be brushed
   off without leaving a mark is known as plume or bloom, and is not
   harmful for your cigars.

Mounted Head

A Cuban-style of cigar head, also known as a three-seam or triple cap.
These heads are flat, and have three seams. This method is being found
in a variety of other countries now, including the United States, some
factories in Nicaragua and Honduras, and in very rare instances the
Dominican Republic.

Mulling

A finishing step done on some, but not all tobacco, before it is used in
a factory. Tobacco is mulled in a hot, humid room to finish tobacco
leaves that may have been on the side or the top of a pilón. Away from
the center of a pilón, the temperatures are not high, so tobacco may
miss part of the fermentation process. The mulling room, at 95 to 100
degrees, with humidity of 90 percent, darkens and sweetens the tobacco
as needed.

N

Natural

A medium-brown colored wrapper, also referred to as a Colorado Claro.

Nicaragua

A country in Central America where fine cigars are made and premium
cigar tobacco is grown. Nicaraguan cigar production is centered in
Estelí, an agricultural town along the Pan American Highway situated
north of the capital city of Managua. Estelí is also one of the three
main tobacco-growing regions of Nicaragua. Tobacco from Estelí is prized
for its strength. Tobacco from nearby Condega is more medium bodied,
while tobacco grown in the northern area of Jalapa is subtle and prized
for its ability to be used as wrapper. Nicaraguan cigars make excellent
puros due to the wide variety of tobacco grown in the country.

Nicaraguan Cigar Guilders Association

A group consisting of most of the cigarmakers of Nicaragua.

Nicotiana Tabacum

The family from which modern-day tobacco plants derive. Nicotiana
Tabacum is a natural hybrid. The original tobacco plant is believed to
have originated near what is modern-day Peru.

Nosing

The act of exhaling a bit of cigar smoke through your nose after a puff,
which is a way to judge the power of a smoke and get more notes on the
cigar’s flavor. Do not inhale the smoke.

O

Oil

The mark of a well-humidified cigar, and an attractive element to the
wrapper of a cigar.

Olor

A variety of Dominican cigar tobacco known for its big leaves. It is
used as filler tobacco and especially as binder tobacco.

Ometepe

A volcanic island near Lake Nicaragua where a small amount of tobacco is
grown. The nutrient rich volcanic soil is known to give the tobacco a
sweet, earthy taste.

Oscuro

The blackest shade of wrapper, darker than maduro.

P

Panetela

A long, thin cigar shape. Extra long panatelas are known as gran
panatelas. Many have pigtail caps.

Papeleta

Stickers or seals affixed to the box’s outer hinge or side. Part of the
papeleta is usually found stuck to the top of the box while the rest of
it wraps down over to the rear larguero section of the box or down the
sides. It must be sliced with a tool in order to open the box.

Parejo

A straight-sided cigar, such as coronas, panetelas and lonsdales. Cigars
that are not straight sided are called figurados.

Partido

A prime tobacco growing area in Cuba.

Passive Humidification System

A system of humidification that does not need a battery pack or
electrical outlet to function.

Pelletized

The process of coating tiny tobacco seeds in an inert material, such as
clay, to make them easier to handle. Not all tobacco seeds are
pelletized.

Pelo d’Oro

This colorfully named tobacco (translated from the Spanish, it means
“hair of gold”) is not terribly common in the cigar industry. The Cuban
seed is from old-time Cuba, and while it’s prized for flavor it is not
hardy in the face of disease, so it can be difficult to grow. Some
modern-day cigarmakers grow it in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and
Costa Rica.

Perfecto

A distinctive cigar shape that is closed at both ends, with a rounded
head; usually with a bulge in the middle.

Petit Corona

A small cigar, known as a mareva in a Cuban cigar factory. Petit coronas
vary in size, but the Cuban standard is 5 1/8 inches long by 42 ring
gauge. The Montecristo No. 4, one of the world’s most popular cigars, is
a petit corona.

Picadura

Used mainly in machine-made cigars, picadura, or short-filler tobacco
(sometimes called chop) consists of chopped scraps of leaf. Short filler
burns quicker and hotter than long filler. A small number of cigars are
made by hand with a blend of short and long-filler tobaccos. These are
known as mixed-fill cigars or Cuban sandwiches.

Piercer

A cutter with a pointed, sharp end used to pierce a small hole in the
closed end of a cigar. Also called a lance. Lances and piercers are
relatively uncommon today.

Pilón

The term for a large pile of tobacco, arranged for fermentation. Pilónes
can be enormous, weighing 3,500 or even 4,000 pounds or more. After
curing in a curing barn, or casa de tabaco, the tobacco is brought into
a warehouse and assembled in bunches of leaves called hands, and made
into a pilón. The process of assembly is called empilónando.

The leaves sit flat in a pilón, one on top of the other, with boards,
cardboard or old tobacco stems beneath. The weight of the tobacco and
the moisture in the leaf (as well as moisture that is added by workers
before assembling the pilón) creates heat, which causes fermentation to
begin, changing the chemical structure of the tobacco, removing
impurities such as ammonia and rendering the tobacco smokeable. When the
desired temperature is reached, workers break down the pilón and rebuild
it. This process is repeated again and again, and can last for months or
longer.

This term is used widely in Cuba, and by Cubans in other countries, but
there are many terms to describe the same thing. Others call the piles
burros (pronounced BURR-ohs), bulks, or trojes (TROH-heys). Another
variation is to call a pile of tobacco that has been removed of its
stems a burro.

Piloto Cubano

A popular variety of Cuban-seed tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic.

Pinar del Río

The area of Western Cuba where Cuba’s finest cigar tobacco is grown.

Plug

A blockage that sometimes occurs in the tobacco that can prevent a cigar
from drawing properly. A plug can sometimes be alleviated by gently
massaging the cigar.

Plume

Plume, which is also called bloom, is a naturally occurring phenomenon
in the cigar aging process. Oils that exude from the tobacco in a
finished cigar will appear as a fine white powder and can be brushed off
without leaving a mark. Plume is not to be confused with mold, which has
color to it and stains the wrapper.

Pre-Castro Cigar

A Cuban cigar made before Fidel Castro’s rise to power in January 1959.
Like pre-Castro cigars, these cigars are considerably valuable. Many are
rated in Connoisseur’s Corner, a special tasting section about aged
cigars.

Pre-Embargo Cigar

A Cuban cigar made before President Kennedy enacted the U.S. trade
embargo against Cuba in 1962. Like pre-Castro cigars, these cigars are
considerably valuable. Many are rated in Connoisseur’s Corner, a special
tasting section about aged cigars.

Press

Various presses are used in a cigar factory and/or a tobacco warehouse.
Hand powered presses are used to help give the shape to cigars that go
into wooden or plastic molds. These presses are either vertical or
horizontal. The horizontal ones are arranged between roller and buncher,
so workers don’t need to get up from their stations to get cigars. This
practice was developed in the Dominican Republic. Some larger factories
use a pneumatic system to power the press instead of a hand crank. Hand
presses are also used to make trunk pressed cigars, which are squared
off on the edges. (These cigars are commonly, and erroneously, called
box-pressed cigars.) Larger, hydraulic presses are employed in the
tobacco packing area to create tobacco bales.

Primings

The rows of leaves on a tobacco plant. The number of primings varies,
but six is average. The first priming is closest to the ground, the
sixth is near the top. The higher the priming, the stronger the tobacco.
Most fine cigar tobacco is harvested by priming. Workers always harvest
from the bottom of the plant up, taking two to three leaves at a time.
The lowest level of priming, known as sand leaf, or libre de pie, is
often discarded. A few days go by between priming harvests, allowing the
plant to further mature.

ProCigar

A group of cigarmakers in the Dominican Republic that throw an annual
festival.

Prominente

The Cuban cigar factory term for a double corona, a big cigar that
generally measures 7 1/2 to 8 inches by a 49 to 52 ring gauge. The most
famous one is the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona from Cuba, which once
scored 99 points in a Cigar Aficionado taste test.

Propylene Glycol

A liquid used to help maintain humidity in a traditional humidification
device such as a Credo and other devices that operate using foam. When
mixed 50/50 with distilled water, it is called Special Solution.

Punch Cutter

A category of cigar cutter that creates a hole in the closed head of a
cigar. Gently twisting and pressing with just the right amount of
pressure removes a small amount of cap, typically in the form of a
circle. This method is especially appealing to those who don’t wish to
have the sensation of the cut cigar in their mouth, as it maintains much
of the cap while allowing smoke to reach the smoker. Care must be taken
not to press too hard, which can damage the cigar. Examples include
bullet cutters, bull’s eye cutters. These cutters work best on parejos,
or straight sided cigars. Creative uses have been employed on figurados,
particularly on the La Flor Dominicana Chisel, where smokers have made
circular cuts in the wedge-shaped head, creating an interesting way of
smoking the cigar.

Purging

The act of blowing smoke from the head of the cigar and out the foot.
Some say it’s a way to prevent the build up of unwanted flavors, others
think it does not help the smoke.

Puro

A Spanish term for a cigar. Modern usage refers to a cigar blended with
tobaccos from a single country. All Cuban cigars use 100 percent Cuban
tobacco, so all Cuban cigars, according to modern usage, are puros.

Pyramid

A sharply tapered cigar with a wide, open foot and a closed head.

Q

Quisqueya

Less sophisticated than a curing barn, quisqueya are structures used to
cure tobaccos in certain fields in the Dominican Republic. They have
open sides and provide far less protection from the elements than a true
curing barn, or casa de tabaco.

R

Regional Edition

A program officially begun in Cuba in 2005 to create small-batch cigars
for sale only in specific geographic areas. These cigars, known as
regional editions, are sold with two bands, the lower one bearing the
word “Exclusivo,” or exclusive, followed by the country or region for
which the cigar was made.

Retail Tobacco Dealers of America

The former name of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers
(IPCPR), the leading trade association for retail tobacconists. Often
Initialized as RTDA.

Ring Gauge

A measurement for the diameter of a cigar, based on 64ths of an inch. A
40 ring gauge cigar is 40/64ths of an inch thick, a 64 ring gauge cigar
would be one inch in diameter. Cigars have grown very fat in recent
years. Diamond Crown, made by Tabacalera A. Fuente for J.C. Newman Cigar
Co. in the mid- 1990s, made headlines in year 1995 when it debuted with
all 54 ring gauges, considered quite fat at the time. Today it is not
uncommon to see cigars with ring gauges of 60 or more.

Robusto

A substantial, but short cigar; traditionally around 5 inches long by a
50 ring gauge. Robustos have become the most popular cigar size in the
world.

Roller

A worker in a cigar factory who makes a cigar. In factories where the
rolling and bunching is divided, rollers put the outer wrapper leaf on a
cigar.

Rolling Gallery

A name for the area in a cigar factory where cigars are made by hand.
The production is often split between cigar rollers and cigar bunchers.
Bunchers work with filler and binder to create the bunch, rollers wrap
the cigar leaf around the finished bunch, creating the cigar.

Rolling Method

The way a cigar is rolled by hand. There are three main styles: booking,
which involves laying each leaf atop one another, as pages of a book
would lie; the accordion method, which involves layering each leaf in a
wavy pattern that resembles an accordion when finished; and entubado, or
entubar, where each component filler leaf is rolled like a straw or tube
before being wrapped in the binder and then the bunch.

Rolling Table

The station, typically made of wood, where a cigarmaker sits and works.

Rosado

A Spanish term that means “rose-colored.” It is used to describe the
reddish tint of some Cuban-seed wrapper.

S

Salomon

A member of the diadema group of cigars, a Salomon is a very large
figurado with pointed, tapered heads and bulbous feet with a nipple tip.
The Cuaba Salomon measures 7 1/4 inches by 57 ring gauge. Due to their
curves and the size, they are very hard cigars to roll, demanding a lot
of skill and time. A top roller can make only about 50 or 60 in a day.
The modern Salomon was the brainchild of Christopher Wolters, an
energetic cigar merchant from Dusseldörf, Germany. The Partagás factory
discreetly made a limited production of the cigars in the mid-1990s.
Only 5,000 of the large figurados were produced. They were sold in
individually numbered, specially designed wooden humidors (all different
in style), each with two bundles of 25 cigars each. They retailed for
about $10,000 in the beginning. The shapes, which are known in the
plural as Salomones (sahl-ah-moan-ays), have begun to make their way
into the non-Cuban world also. La Flor Dominicana makes some Salomones.

San Andres Negro

A stalk-cut variety of tobacco grown in Mexico’s San Andres Valley. It
makes superb maduro leaf and is used around the cigarmaking world.

San Vicente

A tobacco hybrid grown in the Dominican Republic. San Vicente plants
yield more leaves than Piloto Cubano (Cuban seed) plants, but purists
say San Vicente lacks the flavor of Piloto.

Sand Leaf

The tiny leaves that grow at the lowest level of tobacco on a plant.
Sand leaf is often not used, and discarded. It also goes by the name
libre de pie.

Santiago

The heart of Dominican cigar production.

Sarta

A string used to hold tobacco in place in less sophisticated tobacco
curing barns.

SCHIP

The $32.8 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Care
Initiative, which was funded by an increase in the federal excise tax on
cigars, the tax paid to the U.S. government on cigars as they are
brought into the United States. Signed into law in 2009, the SCHIP
expansion went into effect in April 2009, and boosted the federal excise
tax on large cigars from less than five cents per cigar to 40.26 cents
per cigar. Some cigar companies didn’t increase prices, but most did.

Scissors

An elegant tool for cutting cigars. A pair of fine cigar scissors lacks
portability, and can be hard to master at first, but when used properly
it delivers a precision cut with style. They are typically made of
stainless steel, with long arms ending in small, curved blades with
blunt ends. These are quite specific tools: a normal pair of scissors is
not an acceptable substitute and can destroy your cigar.

Seco

Seco is the mildest grade of filler tobacco. It is also the thinnest.
Viso is stronger and thicker, and ligero is the strongest, thickest
grade of tobacco.

Seedbed

The part of a farm where tobacco seedlings are grown. These are also
known as canteros. Traditionally seedbeds were planted directly in the
ground, and they still are in some areas of the world, but now many
tobacco seeds are planted in trays and/or on raised beds, or within
greenhouses. This provides protection from the elements. Tobacco farmers
often grow far more seedlings than they need, and the extra seedlings
can be used in case portions of a farm need to be replanted due to
extreme weather or other unforeseen setbacks in growing.

Seedling

Tobacco seeds are planted to create seedlings. In about 60 days, a seed
will turn into a seedling a few inches tall that’s ready to plant. The
crudest form of seedling plot is planted directly in the ground. When
it’s time to move to the field proper, the tiny plant is dug up and then
replanted, a traumatic process that results in great mortality of
seedlings. Raised beds provide better results, and planting in trays
makes it better still, for the root balls slip fairly effortlessly from
the trays and are ready to go into the ground. At that stage, cigar
tobacco grows at a furious pace. It takes about two months for a
seedling to grow into a mature plant, depending on the type of plant.
Once harvested, it spends another 40 to 60 or so days in a curing barn.
After that, it’s time to ferment, and then to age.

Semi Boite Nature

A plain cedar cigar box that has two rear hinges and a brooch style
clasp.

Semilla

The Cuban term for tobacco seed.

Shade grown

Wrapper leaves that have been grown under a tent, also known as tapado.
The filtered sunlight creates a thinner, more elastic leaf. The practice
of growing under shade originated in the Connecticut River Valley in
1900. The original tents were made of cheesecloth, but today nylon is
the preferred material.

Short Filler

Used mainly in machine-made cigars, short-filler tobacco (also known as
picadura, or chop) consists of chopped scraps of leaf. Short filler
burns quicker and hotter than long filler. A small number of cigars are
made by hand with a blend of short and long-filler tobaccos. These are
known as mixed-fill cigars or Cuban sandwiches.

Shoulder

The slightly curved or rounded area of a cigar where the cap meets the
body. If you cut into or below the shoulder, the cigar will begin to
unravel.

Single

An individual cigar. Buying cigars as singles, rather than by the box,
has become increasingly common since the early 1990s.

Slide Lid Box

Slide lid boxes, also known as cabinet selection boxes, are wooden boxes
with sliding tops, designed to hold 25 or 50 cigars, often wrapped with
a ribbon. Cabinets are often much taller than dress or semi dress boxes,
and the cigars are often packed with greater amounts of air between each
cigar. Some connoisseurs who age their smokes prefer cigars packed in
cabinet style, believing the increased amount of air allows for better
aging.

Smoking Time

A five-inch long cigar with a 50 ring gauge, such as a robusto, should
provide anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes of smoking pleasure. A double
corona, a 7 1/2-inch cigar with a 50 ring gauge, may give over an hour’s
worth of smoking time. A thinner cigar, such as a lonsdale, smokes in
less time than a cigar with a 50 ring gauge.

Spanish Cedar

The type of wood that is used to make most cigar boxes and humidors.
Spanish cedar is a marketing name for cedrela, a tree that belongs to
the mahogany family. It grows throughout the tropics and is not a true
cedar. It’s quite different from red or aromatic cedar, which should
never be used in humidors or cigar boxes.

Special Solution

A solution of 50 percent water, 50 percent propylene glycol used to
recharge traditional humidification devices such as Credos and other
devices that operate using foam. Its presence will keep water from
evaporating beyond 70 percent relative humidity.

Spill

A strip of Spanish cedar used for lighting a cigar in a very
fashionable, formal way. A spill is lit, using a candle, match, lighter
or other flame, and then used to slowly toast the foot of a cigar.
Spills burn slowly, and in some cigar bars a member of the waitstaff
might use one that is more than a foot long to light a cigar. Spills can
create very long, thin, messy ashes, so care must be taken when using
this method.

Stalk Cut

A variety of tobacco harvest where the entire plant is cut, rather than
the leaves being removed a few at a time, as in priming. Connecticut
broadleaf and Mexican San Andres Negro are two varieties of cigar
tobacco that are stalk cut.

After cutting, the plants are allowed to wilt, then are speared on
lathes that are tipped with sharp spear heads.

The spears piece the stalks and hold the tobacco plant in place. They
are then hung upside down in tobacco curing barns, or casas de tabacos,
and allowed to cure.

Stemming

The stem of a tobacco leaf is very thick, and need to be completely or
partially removed before the leaves can be rolled into cigars. For
binder and wrapper tobacco, workers remove the entire stem, either by
hand or by using a machine made specifically for such an action. For
filler tobacco, a worker strips the bottom two thirds or so of the stem,
leaving a leaf that somewhat resembles a frog looked at from above, so
such leaves are known as frog’s legs. Stemming is also sometimes called
destemming.

Stogie

A slang term for any type of cigar, often used to describe cheap or
roughly made cigars. The term comes from the long, thin cigars smoked by
drivers of Conestoga wagons in the 1700s and 1800s.

Suckers

Undesired shoots that grow from tobacco plants. Suckers can be removed
by hand by workers in tobacco fields. The growth of suckers robs the
plant of nutrients that would normally be directed to the flower or the
tobacco leaves. Removing the suckers allows the leaves to grow bigger
and better.

Suggested Retail Price

The price suggested by a cigar brand owner or distributor for their
product. The price includes the federal excise tax charged on cigars,
but does not include state tobacco taxes or sales taxes, thus the price
can vary greatly on the same cigar sold state-to-state. Cigar Aficionado
magazine publishes suggested retail prices in its ratings.

Sun Grown

Tobacco grown in direct sunlight, which creates a thicker leaf with
thicker veins. All filler tobacco is sun grown. Today many types of
wrapper tobacco are grown in the open sunlight, which results in fuller
flavor and darker leaves. In some regions of the world, such as Ecuador
and parts of Indonesia, cloud cover negates the need for shade.

T

Tabaquero

A Cuban term for a tobacco grower.

Tapacalvo

A sticker or seal affixed on the edge of the box’s lid right over the
nail. Part of the Tapaclavo is found stuck to the top of the outer lid
while the rest of it wraps down to the front section, known as the
larguero. It must be sliced with a tool in order to open the box.

Tapado

A Spanish term for the tent under which shade-grown wrapper leaf is
cultivated. The cover was traditionally made of cheesecloth, today it is
made of nylon. It takes some 5,000 yards of shade to cover an acre of
tobacco.

Tasting Coordinator

The person at Cigar Aficionado who buys cigars at retail, removes them
of their identifying bands, and codes them for blind testing. The
Tasting Coordinator is the only person who knows the code, and is not a
taster.

Tax

Cigars are taxed at various rates, which are typically passed onto the
consumer. All cigars sold in the United States are accessed a federal
excise tax when imported. The federal excise tax on large cigars used to
be modest, less than five cents per cigar, until April 2009 when the
$32.8 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Care Initiative
(SCHIP) caused the federal excise tax to balloon to 40.26 cents per
cigar. Some companies didn’t increase prices, but most did. Most states
charge a tobacco tax, which is assessed at the cash register. Taxes are
one of the reasons why cigars may seem more expensive at the cigar shop
than they appear in Cigar Aficionado magazine.

Temsco

A hand-powered bunching machine device consisting of a leather pad,
metal handle and guides that aids in the creation of the bunch. These
devices are used practically everywhere in the Dominican Republic, but
are rare in Central America and not used in Cuba. The devices are also
known as Liebermans.

Tercios

Large, palm bark-wrapped bales used for aging fermented cigar tobacco in
some cigar factories.

Thirteen Toppers

A popular type of flat, rectangular cigar box with 13 cigars on top and
12 on the bottom, with a spacer. The boxes are typically closed with a
brass nail. These boxes are also known as flat tops. They are part of
the group of cigar boxes known as dress boxes or semi plain boxes, which
are wood or cardboard, and are finished with overlays of decorative
embossed paper, usually emblazoned with logos, seals and crests.

Three-Seam Cap

A Cuban-style of cigar head, also known as a mounted head or triple cap.
These heads are flat, and have three seams. This method is being found
in a variety of other countries now, including the United States, some
factories in Nicaragua and Honduras, and in very rare instances the
Dominican Republic.

Tobacco Beetle

A tobacco beetle is the scourge of cigar smokers. The beetles eat cigar
tobacco, and although they are very small they can ruin a cigar very
easily. Beetles begin as eggs, and when the temperature inside a humidor
rises above 72 degrees, the eggs can hatch and form beetles, which will
burrow out of a cigar. If you see a tiny, perfectly circular hole in a
cigar, or little canals, it’s a sure sign of a beetle problem.

Tobacco Bike

The name given to a bicycle used to roll up the cloth runner that
stretches between rows of tobacco plants in certain Connecticut shade
tobacco fields. A worker pedals the bike, which retrieves the cloth
running, bringing in freshly harvested tobacco. This method minimizes
the amount of travel between tobacco rows, reducing breakage of tobacco
leaves.

Tobacco Seed

A tiny object the size of a candy sprinkle, from which a tobacco plant
will grow. A bottle cap worth of seeds can plant an entire cantero, or
seed bed, measuring 90 feet long by three feet wide. The seeds are so
small that many need to be pelletized, coated with an inert substance
such as clay for easier handling. (The coating melts away when watered.)
Many tobacco growers get their seeds by selecting their heartiest plants
and harvesting the seeds from the flower that grows at the top of the
plant. The seeds are planted to create seedlings. In about 60 days, a
seed will turn into a seedling a few inches tall that’s ready to plant.
At that stage, cigar tobacco grows at a furious pace. It takes about two
months for a seedling to grow into a mature plant, depending on the type
of plant. In weight, a tobacco seed grows by a factor of 20 million in
only 90 days. Once harvested, it spends another 40 to 60 or so days in a
curing barn. After that, it’s time to ferment, and then to age.

The most old-fashioned way of planting seed is directly in the ground.
When it’s time to move to the field proper, the tiny plant is dug up and
then replanted, a traumatic process that results in great mortality of
seedlings. Raised beds provide better results, and planting in trays
makes it better still, for the root balls slip fairly effortlessly from
the trays and are ready to go into the ground.

The seeds’ size make them quite easy to smuggle, one reason why Cuban
seed has made innumerable trips from the island to such places as
Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Some companies, such as
A.S.P. Enterprises Inc. in Miami, keep their seed locked in safes and
grow sterile plants to ensure that competitors can’t steal the product.

Tobacconists’ Association of America

A group of cigar shop retailers.

Tooth

The grain pattern characteristic of less smooth wrapper leaf, such as
leaf from Cameroon. The tooth appears as tiny, fine bumps, which are
pockets of oils. Tobacco with tooth is called toothy wrapper.

Top 25

Cigar Aficionado magazine’s annual ranking of the 25 best cigars of the
year.

Topping

The act of removing the flower, and sometimes the entire upper portion
of a tobacco plant. This causes the tobacco plant to redirect its
energies from creation of the flower (which contains tobacco seeds) to
the tobacco leaves. Cigar tobacco plants that have been topped is
referred to as desflorado. Topped tobacco is stronger than tobacco that
has not been topped. Check out the video below for more.

Torcedor

A Spanish term for a cigarmaker.

Torch Lighter

A type of lighter that uses a jet of very hot flame to light your cigar.
These are very handy for lighting outdoors.

Toro

An increasingly popular cigar size, toros or corona gordas (which
literally translates to fat coronas) are fatter than coronas and
sometimes also longer. The typical Cuban standard size is 5 5/8 by 46,
but today it’s not uncommon to see many with ring gauges well over 50.

Torpedo

A cigar shape that features a closed foot, a pointed head and a bulge in
the middle.

Totalamente a Mano

Made totally by hand; a description found on cigar boxes. Much better
than “Hecho a Mano” (made by hand, which can mean it is filled with
machine-bunched filler), or “Envuelto a Mano” (packed by hand).

Transplanter

A mechanized device that enables a farmer to plant large amounts of
tobacco in a relatively short amount of time. As a driver moves the
transplanter, which is often pulled behind a tractor, the worker drops a
tobacco seedling into a hopper. The transplanter digs a furrow for the
seedling, puts it into the desired depth, adds water and then digs it
into place. Some transplanters are set up several workers abreast, to
plant a very large amount at one time. These devices are common in the
Connecticut River Valley and Ecuador, but are far less prevalent
elsewhere. They cannot be used on hilly plots of land.

Trim

The decorative trimming that runs along each edge of a cigar dress box.
Also called filete.

Tripa

The Spanish term for filler, the individual tobacco leaves used in the
body of the cigar. The filler leaves are held together by the bunch. A
fine cigar usually contains between two and five different types of
filler tobacco. Handmade, premium cigars are typically made entirely
from long-filler tobacco, which are whole leaves. Machine-made cigars
are made from short- filler tobacco, chopped up leaves, which are the
leftovers from handmade cigar production.

Triple Cap

A Cuban-style of cigar head, also known as a mounted or three-seam cap.
These heads are flat, and have three seams. This method is being found
in a variety of other countries now, including the United States, some
factories in Nicaragua and Honduras, and in very rare instances the
Dominican Republic.

Trumpet

A form of figurado where the foot is the thickest point and the cigar’s
girth gradually narrows to the head. The shape is more common in Central
America than anywhere else.

Trunk Pressed

Trunk pressing takes box pressing to the extreme. Cigars are placed in
wooden containers, with a wooden slat between each cigar. Pressure is
applied from above, and the cigars are pressed, then later rotated. This
pressing and rotation squares off the edges of a cigar to a dramatic
degree, giving the cigars a very square shape. The process was
popularized in the United States by Padrón Anniversary cigars. The
practice is commonly called box pressing, which is technically
incorrect.

Tube

Many cigars come packed in individual wood, metal or glass tubes. Metal,
particularly aluminum, is the most common type of tube (or tubo), and
the tube can be painted or unpainted. A tube can keep cigars fresh
(although it’s hard to trust the seals on tubes, so Cigar Aficionado
advises putting even tubed cigars in a humidor) and provides an
attractive and protective covering for your cigar. Tubed cigars are
particularly good for cigar smokers on the go. Most tubes come with a
cedar sleeve so as to better preserve the flavor of the tobacco, thereby
avoiding any metallic flavors that the aluminum may impart. Tubes come
in two varieties: pull-top or screw cap.

Tubo

The Spanish word for tube.

Tunneling

The unwelcome phenomenon of having your cigar burn unevenly. To prevent
it, rotate your cigar now and then.

U

Underfilled

A cigar that was bunched without enough tobacco. Underfilled cigars will
burn hot, and will give you a substandard smoke.

V

V Cutter

Also known as a wedge cutter or a cat’s eye cutter, a v cutter has a
v-shaped blade that gauges an opening in the head of a cigar. These
cigar cutters were far more popular in the early 1900s, and many antique
models are designed for the smaller cigars of that era.

Vega

A tobacco plantation.

Vein

A structural part of a leaf. Prominent veins can be a defect in
wrappers. Many cigar rollers strip part of the vein when rolling a
cigar, to minimize the effect of the veins showing to the smoker. Cigars
should also be rolled with the veiny side of the wrapper up, so the
heaviest veins end up on the inside of the cigar.

Vertical Brand Tasting

A comparative tasting of every size, or vitola, within a particular
cigar brand. Each size and shape is taste-tested and rated . The purpose
is to determine which vitola is the top performer for a particular blend
of tobaccos and how each compares to one another, as even though the
blends may be identical on paper the difference in each size plays a
role in how the final cigar performs. Such tastings are typically done
for new cigar brand releases, and can be found in the newsletter Cigar
Insider.

Vintage

When a vintage date is used for a cigar, it usually refers to the year
one of the tobacco components (typically the filler) was harvested, not
the year the cigar was made. Vintage dating is far rarer in the cigar
world than it is in the world of fine wine.

Viso

A grade of filler tobacco. Viso leaf is more powerful than seco and less
powerful than ligero. It also tends to be thinner than ligero and more
thick than seco. In some countries, this type of leaf is known as
volado.

Vista

The inner lid of the box, usually depicting brand art, crests or logos.

Vitola

A cigar factory term for a cigar shape. Robusto and corona are two
examples of vitolas.

Volado

A grade of filler tobacco. Volado leaf is more powerful than seco and
less powerful than ligero. It also tends to be thinner than ligero and
more thick than seco. In some countries, this type of leaf is known as
viso.

Vuelta Abajo

The valley in western Cuba that many believe produces the best cigar
tobacco in the world.

W

Wedge Cutter

Also known as a v cutter or cat’s eye cutter, a wedge cutter has a
v-shaped blade that gauges an opening in the head of a cigar. These
cigar cutters were far more popular in the early 1900s, and many antique
models are designed for the smaller cigars of that era.

Wheel

A bundle of 100 cigars. Cigar rollers usually use ribbon to tie the
cigars they produce into wheels. These are also known as ruedas.

Wilting

Allowing stalk-cut tobacco to sit on the ground in the sun after
chopping. The wilted tobacco is then speared on a lathe and hung in a
curing barn.

Wooden Match

The best type of match for lighting a cigar. The longer the wood, the
easier it is to light your smoke. In this video, Gordon Mott explains a
simple way to light your smoke using only three matches.

Wrapper

A high-quality tobacco leaf wrapped around the finished bunch and binder
of a handmade, premium cigar. Wrapper leaves need to be coddled and
treated with the utmost care to avoid blemishes and tears. Wrappers,
when purchased, are the most expensive type of tobacco. Wrapper can be
grown in many countries from a wide varieties of seeds. The Spanish term
for wrapper is capa.

Y

Yankee Hinge

Long, narrow boards on the side of a tobacco curing barn that run
vertically and are hinged at the top. These are found on tobacco barns
in the Connecticut River Valley, which is why they are called Yankee
hinges. They are swung open to lower the temperature in a barn and
increase air flow when needed.

Z

Zafadores

The Cuban term for workers who sort cigar tobacco. In a cigar factory,
tobacco leaves are sorted in many ways, including type of tobacco, size
and color.