Aficionado: A cigar enthusiast or connoisseur.

Aging: The process of letting cigars mature in a controlled environment to enhance their flavor over time.

Air Curing: A process where harvested tobacco leaves are allowed to dry naturally in controlled environments.

Band: The paper ring around a cigar displaying the brand and variety.

Belicoso: A tapered cigar with a rounded head.

Binder: The leaf that holds the filler tobaccos together inside a cigar, right under the wrapper leaf.

Blend: The mix of different tobaccos used in a cigar.

Bloom/Plume: A fine white powder that forms on the wrapper, usually praised as a sign of proper aging. This is currently a highly controversial topic amongst cigar enthusiasts and I recommend anyone wanting more information to search it thoroughly.

Blue Mold: A fungus that damages tobacco crops, most notably resulting in the transition of Connecticut shade from the United States to Ecuador.

Box-Pressed: Cigars that are rectangular or square due to having been pressed into molds after the rolling process.

Bunch: The filler leaves rolled inside the binder and set into a mold before being finished with a wrapper.

Bunchero: A cigar roller that creates the bunch. Rollers usually work in pairs with one creating the bunch and the other applying the wrapper. 

Bundle: A group of cigars wrapped together. Typically, bundle cigars are more affordable than boxed cigars but not always. With the rise of boutique cigar brands in the last 15-20 years, it is becoming more common to produce limited editions inside bundles for ultra small batch projects.

Candela: A green cigar wrapper, also known as "double claro”. Once upon a time, Americans smoked a significant amount of candela cigars as the curing process is much faster.

Cap: A piece of tobacco leaf used to close the head of a cigar.

Chaveta: A knife used by cigar makers to cut tobacco leaves.

Churchill: A large, straight cigar size, typically 7 inches by 47 ring gauge.

Cigarillo: A small, thin cigar approaching the size of a cigarette.

Claro: A light-colored wrapper.

Cold Draw: Drawing air through a cigar before lighting to taste the flavors.

Colorado: A reddish-brown cigar wrapper.

Corojo: A type of tobacco leaf used for wrappers, known for its spicy flavor.

Criollo: A variety of Cuban tobacco, often used for both wrappers and fillers.

Culebra: Three cigars braided together, then separated before smoking.

Curing: The process of drying tobacco leaves after harvesting.

Cut: The act of clipping the end of a cigar before smoking.

Cutter: A tool used to cut the end of a cigar.

Diademas: An extra-large, tapered cigar.

Double Claro: Another term for a candela or green wrapper.

Double Corona: A large cigar size, usually measuring around 7.5 x 54 or so.

Draw: The act of pulling smoke from a cigar into your mouth. A cold draw, however, is performed before the cigar is ignited.

Fermentation: A process of heating and aging tobacco to develop flavor. This is usually accomplished by placing tobacco leaves on top of each other in pilones, using its natural weight to create heat. 

Figurado: An irregularly shaped cigar (e.g., torpedoes, pyramids, belicosos).

Filler: The inner tobacco in a cigar.

Flag: An extension of the wrapper leaf that is used to finish the head of a cigar. This method of finishing a cigar is called the Flag and Cap method.

Foot: The end of the cigar that is lit.

Gran Corona: A large cigar format, generally longer than a Churchill.

Guillotine Cutter: A tool with a straight cut, used to clip the end of a cigar.

Habano: A term used to describe cigars from Havana, Cuba. It is also a tobacco varietal grown all over the world from Cuban seeds.

Head: The top end of a cigar, which is cut and smoked.

Herf: A gathering of cigar enthusiasts.

Humidor: A container designed to maintain a constant humidity to protect your cigars.

Hygrometer: An instrument used to measure relative humidity. We highly suggest using a digital hygrometer instead of analog.

Lancero: A long, slim cigar size.

Ligero: The top leaves of the tobacco plant, known for strong flavor and slow burning.

Long Filler: Whole tobacco leaves used as filler in a cigar.

Maduro: A dark, richly flavored tobacco that has undergone extra fermentation to achieve its color and break down sugars.

Mareva: Another term for the Petit Corona size.

Medio Tiempo: The topmost leaves of a tobacco plant. Not every plant will grow these leaves, yet the ones that do produce the concentrated nicotine and flavor due to receiving the most sun. Some factories sort these with ligero leaves, others separate them for consistency in the blending process or to use in special blends. This is also a controversial topic amongst enthusiasts since not every factory treats these leaves as a separate priming.

Nub: The last portion of a cigar before it’s time to put it in the ashtray. Smoking a cigar down to the nub is considered high praise as only the best tobaccos and smoking pace will yield the most pleasant last thirds of a cigar.

Oscuro: The darkest color of wrapper, achieved by extra fermentation of the top primings of tobacco.

Panatela: A long, thin cigar size measuring around 6-7” x 36 or so.

Parejo: A traditionally rolled cigar, parejos are round with the same ring gauge throughout. Anything that isn’t a parejo is considered a figurado.

Perfecto: A cigar with both ends tapered.

Pilón: A pile of tobacco used for fermentation.

Piloto Cubano: A variety of tobacco leaf from the Dominican Republic.

Plug: An obstruction in a cigar that impedes the draw. Usually expressed as saying this cigar is plugged.

Pre-Embargo: Cuban cigars made before the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Priming: The process of harvesting tobacco leaves at different times. This is usually done by harvesting layers starting from the bottom up: volado, seco, viso, ligero, and sometimes medio tiempo.

Punch Cutter: A tool that removes a small circle from the cigar’s cap.

Puro: A cigar whose components all come from the same country.

Pyramid: A tapered cigar with a pointed head. This size often tapers from the foot to the head, but sometimes resembles a traditional roll with a pointed head like a torpedo.

Ring Gauge: The diameter of a cigar, measured in sixty-fourths of an inch.

Robusto: A cigar size that usually measures somewhere close to 5 x 50.

Seco: The second priming of a tobacco plant between volado and viso.

Shade Grown: Tobacco grown under a cheesecloth to protect it from direct sunlight. Ecuador is known for producing shade grown tobacco naturally with heavy cloud cover and an extended growing season.

Shoulder: The part of a cigar where the cap meets the body.

Short Filler: Chopped tobacco usually saved for less expensive cigars. Most often, scraps from their most premium offerings are saved to create a less expensive cigar with a similar flavor profile.

Spanish Cedar: The preferred wood for making humidors and cigar boxes, although many cigar boxes these days are made with okoume wood instead.

Spill: A strip of cedar used to light a cigar in a traditional manner.

Stogie: Slang for a cigar, originating from the cheap cigars wagon drivers were often seen enjoying on the road.

Straight Cut: A flat cut made on the cigar's head, usually with a guillotine cutter.

Sun Grown: Tobacco grown in direct sunlight instead of under cheesecloth or natural cloud cover, producing more oils and nicotine for more intense flavor.

Torcedor: A cigar roller. Typically rollers work in pairs, with one creating the bunch (also known as a Bunchero) while the other applies the wrapper to cigars that have already been bunched.

Torpedo: A cigar shape with a pointed head.

Totalmente a Mano: A Spanish term meaning "totally handmade".

Triple Cap: A finishing technique where three caps are used to close the head of a cigar.

Tubo: A cigar packaged in a tube, often aluminum or glass.

V-Cut: A wedge-shaped cut made in the cigar's cap.

Viso: A flavorful priming of tobacco between seco and ligero.

Vitola: The size and shape of a cigar.

Volado: A priming of tobacco closest to the ground, resuling in amicable burning properties and milder flavor.

Wrapper: The outermost leaf of a cigar, crucial for flavor and appearance.

Yard Gar: Slang for a cheap cigar, typically smoked casually or while working outdoors.

Zigarren: German for cigars, sometimes used in English-speaking countries to refer to European-style cigars.