Does Cigar Shape Matter?

Does the shape of a cigar actually change the flavor?

Short answer: yes, it can.

One of the things I love about cigars is that you can take the exact same blend, make it in two different sizes, and end up with two different smoking experiences.

The reason is pretty simple: ratios.

Every cigar is made up of wrapper, binder and filler tobacco. When you change the size of the cigar, you change the ratio of those tobaccos you’re tasting with each puff. Even when blenders adjust the filler from size to size to create a similar experience, they can’t control the wrapper-to-filler ratio.

Take a Lancero compared to a 60-ring gauge cigar. The Lancero has considerably more wrapper in relation to the amount of filler tobacco. With the larger cigar, you’re smoking a much greater percentage of filler.

That doesn’t automatically make one better than the other. It just makes them different. How different they taste often depends on how dominant the wrapper is in that particular blend.

Length matters too.

A longer cigar gives the smoke more tobacco to travel through before it reaches you. As the cigar progresses, heat, oils and combustion can change the experience. That’s one reason a Churchill can develop differently than a Robusto, even when they’re technically the same blend.

Then you have shapes like Torpedos, Perfectos and Diademas. Those can change the concentration of smoke hitting your palate and, depending on how they’re blended, can create a cigar that evolves quite a bit from beginning to end.

This is also why I always tell people to buy the size that fits their preferences and the amount of time they have to smoke. But when you find a blend you really like, try it in another vitola too.

Personally, I tend to gravitate toward smaller ring gauges. I think you often get a little more character and a better opportunity to taste what the wrapper is bringing to the blend. But that’s a preference, not a rule.

Next time you find a cigar you really enjoy, try it in a completely different size.

You might be surprised how different the same cigar can taste.

See you at Renegade.