Sizes and shapes
Cigar vitolas, one by one
A vitola is a cigar's size and shape: its length, ring gauge and form. These pages take the common ones one at a time, with where the name comes from and how each one smokes.
Short and thick at 4 7/8 x 50. The size existed for decades before its 1989 name.
ToroSix by fifty, give or take, and the size US shops sell most.
ChurchillSeven by 47, named by Romeo y Julieta for its most famous customer.
CoronaThe 42-ring yardstick behind the petit corona, corona gorda and double corona.
LanceroLong, thin and wrapper-forward, first rolled at El Laguito with Cohiba.
TorpedoA shaped cigar with a pointed head. Where you cut the cone sets the draw.
GordoThe 6 x 60 fat cigar, and what a wide ring does to draw and burn.
PerfectoTapered at both ends, fat in the middle. How to light its narrow foot.
Lonsdale6 1/2 x 42, factory name Cervantes, named for the 5th Earl of Lonsdale.
Petit coronaThe 5 1/8 x 42 Marevas: a full cigar for under an hour.
Corona gordaThe fat corona at 5 5/8 x 46, and why it gets called a toro.
PanatelaLong and thin at 6 x 38, with more wrapper in every puff.
BelicosoA short, rounded taper at the head. How it differs from a torpedo.
Double corona7 5/8 x 49 Prominentes: is it twice a corona, and how long it lasts.