CigarinoCigar glossary
Last updated: August 21, 2026
Cette page existe aussi en français.
Two companion pages go further: ring gauge to millimeters converts the diameters quoted below, and how to store cigars covers what a humidor does.
This page defines the vocabulary used in the cigar sheets of the Cigarino app. The entries follow the order of the app’s own sections: Size & specs, Craft & origin, then Strength & duration. It is terminology documentation, purely descriptive.
Size & specs
- Vitola — in French: vitole
- The name of a cigar’s format, defined by its length, diameter and silhouette. A distinction is made between the vitola de galera, the name used inside the factory, and the vitola de salida, the commercial name printed on the box.
- "Vitola / shape" field in Cigarino
- Shape
- The format category a cigar belongs to, such as corona or robusto. Used interchangeably with vitola in everyday English.
- "Shape" field in Cigarino
- Ring gauge
- A cigar’s diameter expressed in sixty-fourths of an inch. A ring gauge of 50 therefore equals 50/64 of an inch, about 19.8 mm. The higher the number, the thicker the cigar.
- "Ring gauge" field in Cigarino
- Cepo
- The Spanish term for ring gauge, in common use in cigar vocabulary. In French the word bague is sometimes used in the same sense, although it also denotes the paper ring around the cigar.
- Length
- A cigar’s dimension from head to foot, expressed in millimeters in European usage and in inches in Anglo-American usage.
- Diameter
- A cigar’s thickness in millimeters. It is the metric equivalent of ring gauge: a ring gauge of 42 corresponds to roughly 16.7 mm.
- Band
- The printed paper ring placed around a cigar, generally carrying the brand name and sometimes the vitola.
- Head and foot
- The head is the closed end of the cigar, the one placed in the mouth; the foot is the open end opposite. The cap is the small piece of wrapper closing the head.
Craft & origin
- Wrapper — in French: cape
- The outer tobacco leaf that encloses the cigar. It is the most carefully selected leaf, since it determines the cigar’s appearance.
- Wrappers are classified by shade, from lightest to darkest: claro, colorado, maduro, oscuro. The shade results mainly from the tobacco variety, the leaf’s position on the plant and the length of fermentation.
- "Wrapper" field in Cigarino
- Binder — in French: sous-cape
- The intermediate leaf, placed between the wrapper and the filler, whose function is to hold the core leaves together.
- "Binder" field in Cigarino
- Filler — in French: tripe
- The blend of leaves forming the core of the cigar. Long filler uses whole leaves running the full length; short filler uses fragments.
- "Filler" field in Cigarino
- Manufacturer and brand
- The manufacturer is the entity producing the cigar; the brand is the name it is sold under. The two do not always coincide, since one factory may produce for several brands.
- "Manufacturer" and "Brand" fields in Cigarino
- Country of origin
- The country where the cigar is made. The main producers of hand-rolled cigars are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras. A cigar’s country of origin says nothing about where each of its leaves was grown: a wrapper may come from one country and be assembled into a cigar in another.
- "Country of origin" field in Cigarino
- Puro
- A cigar whose tobaccos — wrapper, binder and filler — all come from a single country.
Strength & duration
- Strength
- An indicative classification of a cigar’s intensity. Cigarino grades it from 1 to 5 and groups it into three levels: mild, medium and full. The scale is conventional and varies between sources; it is not a standardised measurement.
- "Strength" field in Cigarino
- Smoking time
- The approximate time needed to consume a cigar, driven mainly by its length and ring gauge. The value shown in the catalog is an estimate.
- "Smoking time" field in Cigarino
Common shapes
The dimensions below are conventions of use, not standards: they vary from one manufacturer to another. Straight-sided shapes are called parejos, shaped ones figurados.
- Corona
- A straight shape of about 140 mm with a ring gauge of 42 to 44. It historically serves as the reference against which other shapes are described.
- Petit corona
- A shortened corona, about 115 to 127 mm with a ring gauge of 40 to 42.
- Robusto
- A short, stocky straight shape of about 124 to 133 mm with a ring gauge of 48 to 52.
- Toro
- A straight shape of about 152 mm with a ring gauge of 50 to 54.
- Churchill
- A long, straight shape of about 178 mm with a ring gauge of 47 to 50.
- Double corona
- One of the longest straight shapes, about 190 to 200 mm with a ring gauge of 49 to 52.
- Lonsdale
- A straight shape of about 165 mm with a ring gauge of 42 to 44, slimmer in proportion than the corona.
- Panetela
- A slim, straight shape with a ring gauge generally between 34 and 38, of variable length.
- Figurado
- A general term for any cigar whose silhouette is not a straight cylinder.
- Torpedo
- A figurado with a tapered, pointed head on a straight body.
- Belicoso
- A shorter figurado with a conical head, generally about 127 to 140 mm.
- Pyramid
- A figurado whose diameter decreases steadily from the foot towards the head.
- Perfecto
- A figurado tapered at both ends, wider in the middle.
- Parejo
- The term for shapes with a straight body and an open foot, as opposed to figurados.
Storage
- Humidor
- A container designed to stabilize the relative humidity around cigars, typically between 65 and 72 percent. They range in size from a desk box to a cabinet.
- In Cigarino, "humidor" also names a subdivision of your collection: a named location that cigars are assigned to.
- "Humidor" field in Cigarino
- Collection
- In the app, your collection is all of your cigars taken together, across every humidor. The French edition calls it la cave.
- "Humidor" tab in Cigarino
This vocabulary in the app
All of these fields appear in the cigar sheets of Cigarino, the cigar humidor and tasting journal app for iPhone and Android.