Cigar Terms Glossary

Cigar Terms Glossary

  • Amatista – Glass jar containing 50 (or 25) cigars, sealed and sold "factory fresh”
  • Band – Ring of paper wrapped around the closed head of most cigars
  • Binder – Portion of a tobacco leaf that holds the filler leaves, the bunch, together
  • Blend – The mixture of different types of tobacco in a cigar, including up to five types of filler leaves, a binder leaf and an outer wrapper
  • Bloom – Harmless white film caused by tobacco oils rising to the surface of the cigar wrapper. Often indicates a strong taste. (Also called Plume)
  • Bouquet – Used to describe the smell of a fine cigar and, of course, fine wines  
  • Bunch – Filler tobacco used to create the body of a cigar
  • Cap – Circular piece of wrapper leaf used to secure the wrapper at the cigar head
  • Cigarillos – Thin, three-inch cigars, popular in Europe, generally machine-made
  • Draw – Amount of air that gets pulled through a lit cigar. Easy/hot or tight/plugged
  • Flag – Instead of a cap, flags are an extension of the wrapper leaf used to finish the head of a cigar. Sometimes tied off in a pigtail or a curly head
  • Foot – The end of the cigar that you light. Often pre-cut
  • Head – The closed end of the cigar that you put into your mouth
  • Hot – A cigar draw that is too easy, often because it has been under-filled
  • Hygrometer – Device used to measure humidity or percentage of moisture in the air
  • Long Filler – Whole tobacco leaves used to fill a cigar; these leaves are long and can run the length of the cigar’s bunch. Long filler should burn evenly and consistently
  • Piercer (or lance) – Used to cut/pierce a small hole in the end of a cigar
  • Plug – A blockage that prevents a cigar from drawing properly. (Gently massaging the cigar may relieve a plugged draw.)
  • Ring Gauge - Diameter of a cigar's barrel, expressed in 64ths of an inch. A half-inch cigar would be a 32 ring (32/64)
  • Short Filler – Cigar bunch comprised of scraps of tobacco (parts of leaves and twigs)
  • Shoulder – Where the cap of the cigar meets the barrel. Cigar will unravel if cut
  • Tunneling –Uneven burning of a cigar which occurs when a wrapper does not ash
  • Wrapper – High-quality tobacco leaf wound around the finished bunch and binder

*Some excerpts from CigarSecrets.com