Vitola
Churchill cigar size and its namesake
A Churchill is a 7 inch cigar with a 47 ring gauge in its Cuban form, about 178 by 18.7 mm. General size lists stretch the ring as far as 50.
A prime minister's name on a Havana size
The Churchill takes its name from Sir Winston Churchill, the most famous customer of the Cuban brand Romeo y Julieta. Wikipedia calls him "perhaps the brand's most famous devotee" and says the brand named its flagship size, a long 7 x 47, in his honor.
The brand itself goes back to 1875. Inside the factory, the size never was a Churchill. Its working name is Julieta No. 2, the vitola de galera that tells a roller exactly what to make. Churchill is the shop name. The Romeo y Julieta brand guide has the rest of that company's story.
The name escaped the brand long ago. Today almost every maker sells a cigar called a Churchill, and most of them have never been near Havana.
Is a Churchill 47 ring or 50?
Both, depending on who rolled it: the Cuban factory size is 7 x 47, and general size lists give the Churchill as 7 inches with a 47 to 50 ring. So a box marked Churchill can mean either.
Three ring points sounds like nothing. It's about 1.2 mm of diameter. In the fingers a 50 feels noticeably meatier, and on our model it adds a few minutes, from about 67 to about 70. Check the box before you assume.
Churchill against the toro and the double corona
The Churchill sits between two neighbours: an inch longer than a toro, and a little over half an inch shorter than a double corona. Figures here use the site's standard sizes.
*Our estimate at a relaxed pace, not a measurement. It assumes about 10 minutes per inch at a 50 ring, scaled by width.
Against the toro, the Cuban Churchill trades width for length. Slimmer, longer, more time. A lonsdale is the slimmer, shorter route to a long smoke. Against the double corona, it's the same idea with less of it: the Prominentes size runs 7 5/8 x 49. If a double corona feels like a commitment, the Churchill is the shorter version of that evening.
Want them drawn side by side? Load any two in the cigar size chart.
Few shops call it their top seller
The Churchill is a classic that most smokers buy occasionally, not daily. In Cigar Aficionado's retailer survey published in January 2026, not one shop named the Churchill its top-selling size. Toros dominated.
That fits the size. Seven inches is an hour plus. It suits a long dinner, a porch at dusk, a game on the radio. It doesn't suit a fifteen-minute gap between meetings. Before you light one, run your pace through the smoke time calculator and see whether the evening is long enough.
Short and wide Churchills
The Churchill name now heads a small family of spin-offs. Wikipedia's list of Romeo y Julieta sizes includes a Short Churchill and a Wide Churchill beside the original. Other makers use the word freely. As with every vitola name outside the factory system, the numbers on the box are the only reliable part.
What smokers ask about the Churchill
Who is the Churchill cigar named after?
Sir Winston Churchill, the British prime minister. Romeo y Julieta, the Havana brand that counts him as its most famous fan, named its flagship 7 x 47 size in his honor.
Is a Churchill bigger than a toro?
Longer, yes. A Churchill is 7 inches against the toro's 6, though the Cuban Churchill is a little slimmer at 47 ring against 50.
How many minutes is a Churchill cigar?
About 67 minutes on our estimate for a 7 x 47 at a relaxed pace, and about 70 for a 7 x 50. Both are models, not measurements.
What is a Julieta No. 2?
Julieta No. 2 is the Cuban factory name for the 7 x 47 size. Churchill is the name it carries on the band and in shops.