Cigar words, in plain English

Walk into a cigar shop for the first time and the vocabulary can feel like a test. It is not. Five ideas cover most of it.

Vitola

The cigar’s shape and size. A robusto is short and thick. A churchill is long and slim. A toro sits in between. Size changes how long you will sit with it more than it changes the flavor.

Ring gauge

How thick the cigar is, measured in 64ths of an inch. A 50 ring gauge is 50/64 of an inch across. A thicker cigar holds more tobacco and usually smokes slower and cooler.

Wrapper

The outside leaf, and a big part of what you taste. A Connecticut shade wrapper is light and creamy. Maduro and oscuro wrappers are darker, sweeter and richer. If you write down one thing about a cigar you liked, make it the wrapper.

Draw and burn

Draw is how easily air pulls through. Burn is whether the ash line stays even. Neither is flavor, but both decide whether the next hour is pleasant.

Strength is not flavor

Strength is the nicotine kick. Body is how heavy the smoke feels. Flavor is what you taste. A cigar can be full of flavor and still mild, which is good news for beginners.

Where to try one

Our story on cigar rooms near Coeur d’Alene explains why you can smoke indoors in Post Falls but not in Spokane.

ESPOstogie, the free cigar journal where this list started, is made by Accelerated Experiences LLC, the company that owns Kcounty.Media. No business here paid to be included. You must be 21 to buy tobacco.