Cigar sizes and modules

Cigar sizes and modules

Le Cepo THE size Vitola de Salida Vitola de Galera Usage names - modules

The most common way of categorizing different types of cigar is by shape and size. Although this sounds simple, it can be more complex than it seems. For many years, the cigar industry has used terms such as Corona and Panatela, which refer to the approximate length and width of the cigar, not the manufacturer or brand.

Although most manufacturers use commonly accepted size names to describe their cigars, the actual size of a cigar bearing a particular name can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

What you need to know about cigar size:

The different types of cigar

Let's start by keeping things simple: we distinguish between parejos, which are straight cigars, and figurados, which are basically anything that isn't straight.

For example, a Bolivar Royal Coronas is a parejo: cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

While his colleague, the Bolivar Belicosos Finosis a figurado: cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

There are several types of figurados, for example:

  • Belicoso
  • Pyramid
  • Torpedo
  • Culebras

Cigars and modules

The module, or vitola in Spanish, which gave us our "vitole", designates all the characteristics of a cigar in French:

  • Its length
  • Its diameter (or cepo) or ring
  • Its weight

These "modules" all have a name, such as :

  • Corona
  • Small Corona
  • Panatela
  • Robusto
  • Etc.

In everyday language, the word is also used to designate the cigar as an object, as we would use "vitola", which doesn't help simplify matters. It's important to understand that "module" refers to the combination of size, diameter, or cepo.

Cigar size and cepo - Cigar size

Size and cepo (ring) can be expressed through the name of a module, like the Robusto, but also simply, often in English, by juxtaposing the size in inches with the cepo, for example 6 × 60.

Cigar size is usually expressed in millimeters or inches. Since there are 2.54 centimetres in an inch, you' ll need to multiply the size in inches by 25.4 to find the corresponding size in millimetres.

Cepo

The cepo is expressed in 1/64 of an inch.

So one unit of cepo is worth about 0.4 millimeters. Here, there's no need to look for the diameter in millimeters: everyone speaks in sixty-fourths of an inch.

For Cuban cigars, cepos range from 26 to 57, but some manufacturers from other regions go up to cepo 80!

Asylum, for example, offers an 80×8, i.e. 20.3 cm with a diameter of 31.75 millimetres! cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

Can you trust the name of a cigar?

We gave an example above: Bolivar Royal Coronas... is a Robusto! That's right, it says "Coronas" on it.

That's because a cigar's trade name is no indication of its dimensions, even if it contains a name for the size.

We need to differentiate between three things:

La vitola de galera, the cigar's production name
La vitola de salida, the cigar's commercial name
The common name for the format, which designates a range of sizes and cepo.

In our case, the vitola de salida is "Royal Coronas", but the vitola de galera is "Robustos". And the format ... Robusto, singular.

Let's delve into the history of cigars to understand all this.

What is Vitola de Galera?

The name vitola de galera may seem strange in the 21st century. The galera actually refers to the cigar production room.

A little cigar history

When Cuban cigars gained popularity in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, production had to be stepped up, and labor had to be found.

At the time, labor was scarce in Cuba, and factory owners were reluctant to use slaves to produce cigars.

This left only one category of population available: convicts.

The former prisoners found the work hard and the conditions difficult, so they decided to name the rooms "galeras", to echo the hard life of the unfortunate men condemned to row on the galleys.

That's why a cigar's production name is vitola de galera. Vitola, for the module, galera, for the factory.

cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules
cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules
Why do we need a vitola de galera?

Let's take a look at the cigar production chain. Let's take a brand (Cuban or otherwise) that decides to produce a new cigar. Once the blend has been decided, the next step is to determine the format(s) in which it will be produced .

If you can designate formats by their dimensions, it's not the most obvious thing to do. That's why there are many production names, or vitola de galera, which allow torcedores, the cigar rollers, to know what they have to make.

Cuban vitolas de galera

In Cuba, vitolas de galera are no laughing matter. In all, there are over 200 vitolas de galera. Some are confused with the trade names of cigars.

For example, the 56×125 vitola de galera "Topes" is used exclusively for the Trinidad Topes, a 2016 limited edition welcomed into the range's regular production in 2019.

We've included a table of all the Cuban names at the end of this article, so that you can find your way around. Each vitola de galera designates a cepo and a length to the nearest millimeter, so there's no room for error!

Outside Cuba

Outside Cuba, things are less rigorous: there are no standards. As a result, you'll find different galera vitolas, and often the information won't be articulated: most will talk about the format (Robusto, Toro, etc.).

The vitolas de salida, or trade names

As you can see, the trade name of a cigar says nothing about its size.

For example, the vitola de galera Coronas, like the Montecristo No.3, is 42 × 145 : cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

But a H. Upmann Half Corona, for which it would be hard to imagine a size halved given the name, is 44 × 90.

Certainly not half the size of a Montecristo No.3, but not even the same cepo!

Yes, because the H. Upmann Half Corona has its own vitola de galeracalled Half Corona. cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

The trade names are therefore driven byHabanos S.A.'s marketing rather than anything else, which makes sense.

When a new cigar is announced, you'll easily find its exact listing on the official "L'Amateur de Cigare" website.

And what about the names we use all the time?

You may have noticed, when talking about Montecristo No.3, that the vitola de galera was "Coronas". And yet, "Corona" is always used in the singular. The same applies to "Robusto", which is always used in the singular.

That's because, to top it all off, there's a third type of name - usage names:

  • Corona
  • Grand Corona
  • Robusto
  • Grand Robusto
  • Double Robusto
  • Perfecto
  • Small Corona
  • Half-cup
  • Etc.

These names allow different vitola de galera to be grouped together under a single name, for simplicity's sake.

For example, the Cohiba Lanceros is often referred to as a Grand Panatela. cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

So we have :

  • Vitola de salida: Cohiba Lanceros
  • Vitola de galera: Laguito No.1
  • Common name: Grand Panatela

Second example with the Romeo y Julieta Cedros de Luxe No.3known as a Petit Corona. cigar cepo,cigar sizes,cigar modules,cigar formats,cigar sizes and modules

  • Vitola de salida: Romeo y Julieta Cedros de Luxe No.3
  • Vitola de galera: Marevas
  • Common name: Little Corona

While the size and cepo of vitolas de galera are given in millimeters, the common names allow for wider ranges, making it easier for aficionados to find their way around.

How about a recap?

For each cigar, the format is expressed with two components:

The cepo, or diameter of the cigar, expressed in 1/64 of an inch.
The length, expressed in millimeters or inches.

Each cigar has 3 names:

  • Vitola de galera: the production name for a very special format and size
  • Vitola de salida: the cigar's trade name
  • Common name: the common name of the format (Robusto, Panatela, Corona etc.).

If you're talking to a friend who's asking you what size a particular cigar is, or to a wine merchant who wants to advise you, you'll use the common name, which refers to a common size, not to a specific cigar.

If you're looking for cigars in particular, then the vitola de galera is useful, as it allows very fine distinctions.

Last but not least, the vitola de salida is the cigar's trade name - the most useful of all!

Table of Vitolas de salida, cepo, sizes and common names