Choosing a cigar can be an overwhelming task when you are confronted with hundreds and maybe even thousands of choices. What color do you look for? What size do you want? Are there tell tale signs to watch out for when buying a cigar?
COLOR
Without getting into too much detail, let’s look at the most obvious aspect of a cigar: color. The shade of the wrapper usually is an indication of the flavor of the cigar. The darker the cigar, the more likely it will be spicier. This is more of a rule of thumb than a hard fast rule. Most new cigar smokers will appreciate a lighter color. These are the general categories of color:
Double Claro – Known to have a greenish tint on its wrapper. It’s a light cigar that has had limited aging.
Claro – Typically signifies that the cigar will be mild. It has a light brown color.
Natural – (also called English Market Select) light brown to brown. These are most often sun grown, meaning they are not protected by canopies like shade grown leaves. Fuller bodied flavor than shade grown leaves, but still very smooth.
Colorado Claro – This wrapper is your standard brown color. Slightly stronger than the Claro but still considered mild.
Maduro – These wrappers are dark brown and give off an excellent aroma. They are considered medium to strong cigars.
Oscuro – The Oscuro has a very dark brown, practically black wrapper and is strong in flavor.
The darker the color, the sweeter and stronger the flavor is likely to be, and the greater the oil and sugar content of the wrapper. Darker wrappers will normally have spent longer at the tobacco plant or come from higher altitudes: the extra exposure to sunlight produces both oil (as protection) and sugar (through photosynthesis). They will also have been fermented for longer.
SIZE & SHAPE
The size is measured by length and ring gauge (cigars diameter). One ring is equivalent to 1/64 of an inch. Some of the most common are:
- Panatela (6 1/2 x 35)
- Robusto (4 1/2 x 50)
- Churchill (7 1/4 x 48)
- Corona (5 3/4 x 42)
- Double Corona (6 1/2 x 48)
A cigar with a larger ring gauge will have a fuller and more complex flavor and produce more smoke compared to the smaller ring gauge cigars. The larger a ring gauge the more a cigar maker can blend and combine different types of leaves. Color also plays an important part in choosing your cigars. What you see when you look at a cigar is the wrapper and it plays a role in the flavor of your cigar. Usually the wrapper is described by the country of origin or color.
- Claro (light tan)
- Maduro (darkest brown)
- Oscuro (black)
- Colorado (reddish dark brown)
- Colorado Maduro (dark brown)
- Colorado Claro (mid brown)
Also when you look at the wrapper make sure it is not too dry or too firm or too soft. Before you buy check for cracks or defective wrapper although when you buy from TheCigarStore.com we do this for you.
The finest cigars in the world vary in size from about a 9X64 (which is one inch wide) down to approximately 4X30. The first number refers to the length of the cigar, in inches; the second is the ring gauge, or the thickness of the cigar, measured in sixty-fourths of an inch. Most cigar smokers gravitate to a particular size, so when considering the quality and consistency of taste and aroma of a cigar, your sense of comparability can be confused and it will be difficult to judge fairly unless you are smoking the size you are accustomed to. The same cigar blends in different sizes taste different, sometimes vastly different, because of the different ring sizes and lengths. A big ring gauge, 50 or 52, produces an immense volume of smoke compared with a 28, 36 or even a 42.
- Heavy Ring Gauge – All cigars with a ring gauge of 45 and up.
- Standard Ring Gauge – All cigars with a ring gauge of 40 to 44 inclusive.
- Slender Ring Gauge – All cigars with a ring gauge of 39 and under
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