Cigar Glossary

Every form of art or science has its own verbiage – its own language if you will.

Here are some basic terms you will find in the cigar world.

• Amatista — A glass jar usually containing 50 cigars (sometimes 25), sealed and sold “factory fresh
• Band – A ring of paper wrapped around the closed head of most cigars, often bearing the name of the brand, country of origin, and/or indication that the cigar is hand-rolled.
• Barrel – The body of a cigar.
• Binder leaves – the intermediate leaves that hold the leaves of the filler tobacco together.
• Blend – The mixture of different types of tobacco in a cigar, including up to five types of filler leaves, a binder leaf and an outer wrapper.
• Bloom – A harmless white film caused by tobacco oils rising to the surface of the cigar wrapper. Usually indicates a strong taste.
• Bouquet — Used to describe the smell of a fine cigar and, of course fine wine, but strangely not the smell of a fine bunch of flowers.
• Bunch – The intermediate cluster of filler tobacco in a cigar.
• Cap – The small flag of wrapper leaf and vegetable gum-based glue that a cigar roller uses to seal the head of a cigar.
• Chaveta – The knife used in a cigar factory for cutting the wrapper leaf.
• Cigarillos – Thin, three-inch cigars, popular in Europe, generally machine-made, and often with homogenized wrappers.
• Credo – A humidification device that chemically regulates the environment of a humidor. Now a generic term, Credo was the brand name of a manufacturer of PG-based humidification devices for humidors.
• Draw – The amount of air that gets pulled through a lit cigar.
• Flag Leaves – Used instead of a cap. Flags are sometimes tied off in a pigtail or a curly head.
• Hot – A cigar draw that is too easy, often because it has been under-filled during rolling.
• Inhale – The big No-No of cigar smoking. Do you inhale? Don’t’!
• Long Filler – The bunch of tobacco found at the center of the cigar, which contains the whole leaf running from head to foot. (See also Short Filler)
• Foot – The end of the cigar that you light.
• Head – The end of the cigar that you put into your mouth. (see Cap)
• Humidor – A cigar storage box with controlled humidity. Humidor is most likely used for wooden boxes with unfinished interiors. (See also Igloodor and Tupperdor)
• Hygrometer – A device to measure relative humidity (no good humidor should be without one).
• Igloodor – An insulated storage container for cigars, usually somewhat large.
• Long Filler – Tobacco leaf that is long enough to run the entire length of a cigar’s bunch.
• Piercer – Used to cut/pierce a small hole in the end of a cigar (also called a ‘lance’)
• Plugged – A cigar draw that is too tight, (A little massaging of the cigar may relieve a plugged draw)
• Propylene Glycol (PG) – Employed in the humidification of tobacco products.
• Ring Gauge – The diameter of a cigar’s barrel, expressed in 64ths of an inch. A half-inch cigar would be a 32 ring. (32/64)
• S.A (Sociedad Anonyma). – The Spanish-language equivalent of Incorporated – Inc. that is likely to appear on any box of cigars
• Short Filler – The bunch of tobacco found at the center of the cigar comprised of scraps of tobacco sometimes the trimmings of long filler. (See Long Filler)
• Shoulder – Where the head of the cigar meets the barrel.
• Tobacco Beetle – Hopefully not found in your humidor. Unfortunately, the Tobacco Beetle does not discern between your expensive and inexpensive cigars – it will go after anything – often destroying your humidors entire contents.
• Tunneling — The uneven burning of a cigar
• Tupperdor – An airtight plastic container used for storing cigars.
• Vuelta Abajo – A valley in Cuba that arguably produces the best cigar tobacco in the world.
• Wrapper – A leaf of (usually) high quality tobacco wound around the center of the cigar. The wrapper leaf is chosen for its texture, veining, elasticity and complexion.