Cigars
21 entries. What a cigar is — what one is like stays with the room.
Term
- RetrohaleStartTo retrohale is to push smoke out through the nose rather than the mouth. It is done because most of what is loosely called flavour is smelled rather than tasted, and the nose reaches aromas the tongue cannot register at all.
- Long fillerStartLong filler means whole leaves running the length of the cigar. Short filler is chopped offcuts. It is the clearest single line between premium and machine-made production.
- Box pressStubA box-pressed cigar is square-sided rather than round, a shape produced by pressing after rolling — traditionally by the pressure of a tightly packed box, and today usually deliberately, in a press.
- DrawStartDraw is the resistance a cigar offers when air is pulled through it. Too tight and it is hard work and burns hot; too loose and it burns fast and unevenly. It is set at rolling, by how the filler is bunched.
- Wrapper shadesStartWrapper shades run from the pale claro to the near-black oscuro. They describe colour and nothing else — the shade says something real about how a leaf was grown and fermented, and remarkably little about how strong the cigar will be.
- VitolaStartVitola is the Spanish term for a cigar's shape and size. It is used in two distinct senses: the vitola de galera is the factory's internal name for a size, and the vitola de salida is the commercial name a brand sells it under.
- Ring gaugeStartRing gauge is a cigar's diameter in 64ths of an inch. A 50 ring gauge is 50/64 of an inch — just under 20 millimetres.
- CellophaneStartThe clear sleeve on many cigars is cellophane, a film made from wood pulp. It is slightly permeable, so a cigar inside one still exchanges moisture with the humidor — leaving it on does not seal the cigar off.
- Tobacco beetleStartThe tobacco beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is a small insect whose larvae bore through cured tobacco. Round pinholes in a wrapper and fine dust in the box are the signs, and warmth is what triggers a hatch.
- Relative humidityStartCigars are kept at roughly 62–70% relative humidity and around 18–21 °C (65–70 °F). The familiar "70/70" is a convention rather than a specification, and the lower half of that range is the more forgiving one.
- Plume vs mouldFeaturedPlume is a crystalline bloom of oils that can appear on aged wrappers; mould is a fungal growth that damages the cigar. They are frequently confused, and the difference is visible.
- MaduroGood articleMaduro is a wrapper shade — a dark leaf produced by longer fermentation at higher temperature, not by a different plant or a later harvest alone.
Process
- Cutting a cigarStartA cigar is cut to open its closed head. The aim is to remove enough of the cap to draw freely without cutting past the shoulder, which is where the wrapper stops being held down.
- RestingStartResting is leaving a cigar in stable humidity before smoking it, most often after it has been shipped. Two weeks to a month is the usual convention, and the reason is moisture equalisation rather than ageing.
- Seasoning a humidorStartSeasoning is bringing a new humidor's Spanish cedar lining up to its working humidity before any cigars go in. Untreated, kiln-dried wood pulls moisture out of cigars faster than the humidification device can put it back.
- FermentationStartFermentation is the controlled heating of stacked tobacco after curing, which removes ammonia and other compounds and determines much of a leaf's final character.