Formats and Tobacco-Leaf Sizes
The fascination “cigar” is no doubt due to the myriad of shapes and sizes available on the market, a variety that has developed out of practicality. Apart from differences in burn duration, each individual format of cigar exhibits it’s signature flavor. It is a very common mistake to believe that a fat cigar is stronger than a thinner one. This is simply not true. A cigar’s aroma and strength is dependent upon the blend of it’s filler (in Spanish called tripa) - the melange of the Volado, Seco and Ligero leaves - as well as it’s length and diameter.
The Criollo tobacco plant supplies three leaf types:
Ligero: The structure-rich and densest leaves uppermost on the tobacco plant, which have been most intensely exposed to the sun. The Ligero leaves contribute strength to the taste of a cigar.
Seco: Leaves that are slightly thinner and found in the middle region of the plant, bestow a refinement to the taste and flavor.
Volado: These are found on the lower part of the plant, and are the mildest of leaves, which provide good burn characteristics to a cigar.
A major factor which influences the particular taste of a cigar is determined by the wrapper (Capa), which stems from Corojo plants in Cuban cigars. Experts believe that up to 50% of a cigar’s taste can be credited to it’s “Capa”.
The mixture of tobacco in larger and fatter cigars flaunts the characteristics of a blend much more advantageously than a thinner cigar with the same filler, the thinner format becomes too hot too quickly and, therefore burns up before it’s flavors can properly unfold.
Thus a fat cigar is fuller in aroma than a thin cigar of the same blend and often has proved that, due to it’s thickness and it’s high oxygen flow, each draw is milder and less biting.
For these reasons, there is a wide palette of sizes from which one can choose a smoke. A small Corona with a relatively short burn can be smoked more quickly than a larger format like a Lonsdale or a Churchill, which requires time, peace and leisure. There is an old saying that one does not simply smoke, one enjoys; a small, but subtle difference.
Fortunately, a large variety of shapes and sizes exists so that a suitable cigar can be found for every appetite. In this connection, it must be mentioned that, when discussing the subject of format, especially with the Habanos, this matter becomes extremely complicated. For Habanos alone, there are 72 different factory names - the “vitolas de galera”; furthermore there are an infinite number of names under which cigars are marketed, the “vitolas de salida” (for example: Cohiba Espléndido). Even though it is hardly possible for one soul to know each and every designation, let alone remember them all, there are about a dozen universal, “popular” format styles. It must also be implied that accuracy is rather rudimentary as to length and diameter; among 72 vitolas sharing a good dozen names, precision will definitely fall to the wayside. Nevertheless, the connoisseur maintains perspective and that is what counts.
The most common formats of current and ancient Habanos
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Listed below are all factory-cigar sizes officially produced in Cuba, the so-called Vitolas de Galera. The cigars in each group have identical sizes. This allows to hold cigars-tastings with cigars of homogeneous size. In everyday's life by far not all of these vitolas can be found. Often cigars with similar sizes are pooled under one Vitola to simplify things. A Vegas Robaina Famoso then becomes a Robusto rather than a Hermoso No. 4. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
