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Tobacco &
Cuban Cigars
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Composition
Cigars are composed of three types of
tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor
characteristics:
Wrappers
A cigar's outermost leaves, or
wrapper, come from the widest part of the plant. The
wrapper determines much of the cigar's character and flavor,
and as such its color is often used to describe the cigar as a
whole. Colors are designated as follows, from lightest to
darkest:
- Double Claro ? very light,
slightly greenish (also called Candela, American
Market Selection or jade); achieved by picking
leaves before maturity and drying quickly; often grown in Connecticut
- Claro ? light tan or
yellowish. Indicative of shade-grown tobacco.
- Natural ? light brown to
brown; generally sun-grown.
- Colorado Claro ? mid-brown;
particularly associated with tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic
or in Cuba
- Colorado ? reddish-brown
(also called Rosado)
- Colorado Maduro ? dark
brown; particularly associated with Honduras
or Cuba-grown
tobacco
- Maduro ? dark brown to very
dark brown
- Oscuro ? black, often oily
in appearance; tend to be grown in Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico,
or Connecticut
Some manufacturers use an alternate
designation:
- American Market Selection (AMS)
? synonymous with Double Claro
- English Market Selection
(EMS) ? can refer to any color stronger than Double Claro
but milder than Maduro
- Spanish Market Selection (SMS)
? either of the two darkest colors, Maduro and Oscuro
Lighter colors are often presumed to
indicate milder flavor; darker colors, stronger and sweeter
flavors due to the presence of sugars and oils, and longer
fermenting. However, the extent of the wrapper's influence on
a cigar's overall flavor is an ongoing controversy among
aficionados.
Fillers
The majority of a cigar is made up of
fillers, wrapped-up bunches of leaves in its interior. Fillers
of various strengths are usually blended to produce unique
cigar flavors. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the
stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the
light-flavored (dry) Seco, through the medium Volado, and on
to the strong Ligero. Large-gauge
cigars have a greater capacity to contain filler, and thus
have greater potential to provide a full body and/or complex
flavor.Fillers can be either long or short;
long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality,
while short filler, also called "mixed," uses chopped up
leaves as well as stems and other bits. Recently some
manufacturers have created what they term "medium filler"
cigars. They do not use whole leaves but part of the leaves.
The quality is usually much better than short filler cigars
because the leaves are not chopped up and there are no stems
and bits in the filler. Short filler cigars are easy to
identify when smoked since they often burn hotter and the
smoker will be spitting out bits and pieces from the smoking
end. Long filled cigars of high quality should burn evenly and
consistently
Binders
Binders are elastic leaves used to
hold together the bunches of fillers
Size and shape
Cigars are commonly categorized by
the size and shape of the cigar, which together are
known as a
vitola.The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its
ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch)
and its length (in inches). For example, most non-Cuban
robustos have a ring gauge of approximately 50 and a length of
approximately 5 inches. Robustos which are of Cuban origin
always have a ring gauge of 50 and a length of 4 7/8 inches
Parejo
The most common shape is the
parejo, which has a cylindrical body, straight sides, one
end open, and a round cap on the other end which is either
snipped off before smoking or a small hole is punched in the
center of the end. Parejas are designated by the
following terms:
- Coronas
- *Petit
Corona (5" x 42)
- *Corona
(5 1/2" x 42)
- *Corona
Extra (5 1/2" x 46)
- *Robusto
(5" x 50), also called Rothschilds after the
Rothschild family
- *Long
Corona (6" x 42)
- *Toro
(6" x 50)
- *Lonsdale
(6 1/2" x 42), named for Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of
Lonsdale
- *Grand
Corona (6 1/2" x 46)
- *Julieta,
also known as Churchill (7" x 47), named for Winston
Churchill
- *Giant
Corona (7 1/2" x 44)
- *Double
Corona (7 3/4" x 49)
- Panatelas ? longer and
generally thinner than Coronas
- *Small
Panatela (5" x 33)
- *Short
Panatela (5" x 38)
- *Slim
Panatela (6" x 34)
- *Panatela
(6" x 38)
- *Long
Panatela (7 1/2" x 38)
Figurado
Irregularly-shaped cigars are known
as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher
quality because they are more difficult to make. Figurados
include the following:
- *Torpedo
- Like a parejo except that the cap is pointed.
- *Pyramid
- Has a broad foot and evenly narrows to a pointed cap.
- *Perfecto
- Narrow at both ends and bulged in the middle.
- *Presidente/Diadema
- shaped like a parejo but considered a figurado
because of its enormous size and occasional closed foot akin
to a perfecto.
- *Culebras
- Three long, pointed cigars braided together.
- *Tuscanian
- The typical Italian cigar, created in the early nineteenth
century when Kentucky tobacco was hybridized with local
varieties and used to create a long, tough, slim cigar
thicker in the middle and tapered at the ends, with a very
strong aroma. It is also known as a cheroot, which is the
largest selling cigar shape in America.
Arturo Fuente, a large cigar
manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic, has also
manufactured figurados in exotic shapes ranging from chili
peppers to baseball bats and American footballs. They are
highly collectible and extremely expensive, when publicly
available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are
often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgeable
cigar smokers. Min Ron Nee, the Hong Kong-based cigar expert
whose work "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution
Havana Cigars" is considered to be the definitive work on
cigars and cigar terms, defines Torpedo as "cigar slang." He
adds, "In the old days, [torpoedo] could mean a perfecto or a
pyramid shape cigar. After the [Cuban] Revolution the meaning
leans toward the pyramid rather than the perfecto. Some cigar
authorities insist that the correct meaning of a torpedo
should be referring to a perfecto and not a pyramid. The
majority of people [who use torpedo to mean pyramid] have got
it wrong. I find it rather funny that a slang word can be
incorrectly misunderstood by the majority." In other words,
Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by
majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.
Cigar Shapes
Flavor
Virtually all cigar aficionados enjoy
the practice because of the rich and varied flavors one
observes when smoking, although some eschew the connoisseurial
qualities in favor of other factors. For those drawn by taste,
each brand and type of cigar carries different qualities of
taste. Generally, cigars with lighter colored wrappers are
milder in flavor and have less of a smoky aftertaste. Darker
wrappers are typically richer in flavor, although the specific
flavors are not unique to any particular style or type of
tobacco. Flavors of cigars whether mild, medium, or strong are
not indicators of quality. Like all kinds of flavors they are
highly personal.Unlike cigarettes, cigars taste very little of
smoke, and usually very much of tobacco with overtones of
other tastes. A fine cigar--especially one of Cuban origin
prior to 1990--can have virtually no taste of smoke
whatsoever.
Some of the more common flavors one
observes while smoking a cigar include:
- *Spice
- *Cocoa
/ chocolate
- *Peat
/ moss / earth
- *Coffee
- *Nut
- *Wood
Many different things affect the
scent of cigar smoke: quality of the cigar, added flavors,
tobacco type, cigar age, cigar humidity, production method
(handmade vs. machine-made) and more.Non-smokers subjected to
second-hand cigar smoke have many different opinions about the
scent of cigar smoke. Some enjoy the cigar smoke, noticing the
difference between cigar smoke and the more common scent of
cigarette smoke. However, other non-smokers do not appreciate
or enjoy the scent of cigar smoke.The most ardent enjoyers of
cigar smoking will sometimes keep personal journals of cigars
they've enjoyed, complete with personal ratings, description
of flavors observed, sizes, brands, etc. The qualities and
characteristics of cigar tasting are very similar to those of
wine, Scotch, beer, cognacs and tequila. Within a given
specification, there are endless varieties. This dynamic is
part of the appeal to which cigar smokers are continually
drawn.
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