Common Cigar Terms

Barrel: This is the body of the cigar sometimes called the canon.

Binder: The cigar leaf that holds the cigar filler and wrapper together.

Box Press: An old way of pressing cigars by rolling them in one process and then after placing them in the box simply nailing the box shut. This provides a square shape that has been made popular by Padron, also known as a Prensado.

Filler: The cigar leaf that is rolled and blended to provide the bulk of the cigar.

Hand: A grouping of about 20 cigar leafs of the same harvest. This is how wrappers and binders are often sold.

Plume: A formation of oil crystals collecting on the wrapper. This is a natural process that occurs when the cigars are stored in dark humid conditions and is considered to be beneficial.

Puros: A cigar whose wrapper, binder, and filler all come from the same country.

Ring Gauge: A cigar is measured by ring gauges which is 1/64 of an inch of the diameter of the thickness of a cigar. Hence a cigar with a 49 ring gauge would have the diameter in thickness of 49/64 inches.

Sticks: A vulgar term for how many cigars in a grouping.

Wrapper: The outside cigar leaf that is visible at first glance.