Vitola
The corona, and every size named after it
A corona is 5 5/8 inches long with a 42 ring gauge in the Cuban factory system. It is the classic medium cigar, and the size half the cigar world takes its names from.
The yardstick for every other cigar
The corona is the traditional reference size: Wikipedia notes that straight cigars are sometimes called coronas outright, and that they have long been the benchmark other formats are measured against. Petit, gorda, grande, double. Each of those names is a corona with something changed.
The factory names held outside Cuba for a while too. Wikipedia says makers set up abroad by Cuban exiles after the revolution kept to the Cuban factory-name system into the 1970s. After that, each company invented its own sizes, and the names drifted. Through all of it, general size lists kept the corona at a 42 ring.
Corona is Spanish for crown. Why a crown? Nobody agrees. Wikipedia says only that "various theories abound." We won't add another.
5 1/2 or 5 5/8: which corona size is right?
The Cuban factory size called Coronas is 5 5/8 x 42, and that's the figure our size chart uses. General size lists, Wikipedia's among them, round it to 5 1/2 x 42. Both are fair. The difference is an eighth of an inch.
What doesn't move is the ring. A 42 is the corona's signature, about 16.7 mm across. Go fatter and the name changes. Check any ring in millimeters with the ring gauge converter.
The corona family, from short to long
Five common sizes carry the corona name, and they split by what changed: length, ring, or both. Figures come from the Cuban factory list where a factory size exists.
- Corona, 5 5/8 x 42. Factory name Coronas. About 49 min on our estimate.
- Shorter Petit corona, 5 1/8 x 42. Factory name Marevas. Same ring, less length.
- Longer Corona grande, 6 1/8 x 42. No factory name. Same ring, half an inch more.
- Fatter Corona gorda, 5 5/8 x 46. Factory name Coronas Gordas. Same length, four ring points wider.
- Both Double corona, 7 5/8 x 49. Factory name Prominentes. Named, per Wikipedia, for using twice the tobacco.
The Churchill sits close to the double corona and is sometimes filed with it. It has its own story: see the Churchill page. The corona gorda, meanwhile, overlaps the toro: Cigar Aficionado's retailer survey counts them together.
Why don't more shops lead with coronas?
Because American buyers moved to thicker cigars: in Cigar Aficionado's survey published in January 2026, only 3.1% of retailers named the corona their top seller. Toros and corona gordas took 66.2%.
The corona still has a following. Simple geometry helps it: a slim cigar carries more wrapper surface for each bit of filler inside, so the wrapper leaf gets more say. And 49 minutes, our estimate, fits where an hour-plus toro won't.
Smoke a corona slower than you think
A thin cigar has less tobacco in each inch, so it goes faster per inch than a fat one on our model. Puff about once a minute and let it rest between draws. Rushing a narrow cigar is the quickest way to make it run hot.
Plug a corona into the smoke time calculator at your own pace to see the window. Then log how it went in the tasting journal. Compare it against a robusto in the cigar size chart and the difference in width is obvious at a glance.
Corona size questions answered
What ring gauge is a corona?
A corona is a 42 ring, about 16.7 mm across. Coronas Gordas and other fatter cousins go to 46 and beyond, but the plain corona stays at 42.
Is a corona the same as a petit corona?
No. A petit corona keeps the 42 ring and is shorter, about 5 1/8 inches against the corona's 5 5/8. Its Cuban factory name is Marevas.
Why is a double corona called that?
Wikipedia says the double corona is named for using twice as much tobacco as a corona. It is 7 5/8 x 49 in Cuban factory terms.
Is a corona a good first cigar?
It is a short commitment: about 49 minutes on our estimate at a relaxed pace. Size is only part of the choice. Strength comes from the blend, not the shape.