Let's have a Cigars Wine and Cheese Night

How to choose a good Cigar

Corona, Robusto, Macanudo, Perfecto... are you after a good cigar or selecting a wine? So many names, so little time. Well, if finding a good cigar is your goal, you can best begin by knowing a little of the basics.

Cigars vary in brand, shape and size, color and that strongly individual characteristic: taste. None of these is entirely independent of the others, so selecting a cigar based on only one would be a mistake.

Macanudo, Montecristo and a few others are leading brands. They achieved this distinction by consistently making fine cigars. Both those from Cuba (illegal in the U.S., but still widely smoked) and those with similar names from Honduras are fine, aromatic blends. Growing conditions are similar and, in many cases, the very men who grew tobacco in Cuba took their knowledge with them after the Castro revolution.

Size and shape are much easier to define objectively. Length is listed in inches (mostly in the U.S.) or centimeters (used everywhere else). The ring gauge (to use the common term for diameter) is measured in 64ths of an inch (in the U.S.).

For those of you who need a little refresher, don't confuse diameter with circumference. Diameter is the width of a circle, circumference is the distance walking all the way around the circle.

Shape is also divided into categories, parejos (straight sides) and figurados (no straight sides). Parejos come in three types: coronas, panatelas and lonsdales. Cigars can also be categorized by the way the leaf is wrapped around, whether it encloses the end (the 'foot') or the top (the 'head').

Putting all these together, a corona may be 6 x 44, or 6 inches long and 44/64ths of an inch in diameter and straight, rather than tapered. They have an open foot and a closed head.

Be careful not to confuse any of these numbers or categories of individual cigars with the way cigars are packaged. For example, a cigar may be wrapped or unwrapped, tubed or boxed. For those boxed, some manufacturers and retailers will say they are 8-9-8.

But that specifies only that they are stacked three rows high, eight on the bottom, nine in the middle and eight on top. It says nothing about the size or shape of the cigars themselves, and certainly nothing about quality.

Tubos, similarly, are simply those packed in aluminum or glass tubes. Occasionally, you may find a truly fine silver or wooden tube. That certainly helps keep individual cigars fresh, but it can also be deceptive since the cigar may have been manufactured months earlier. Like any agricultural product, the newer the better. Except in those rare cases where aging will actually enhance the flavor.

But the bottom line on any cigar is how it tastes when you smoke it, and that is often a very individual affair. If you prefer a thin lonsdale to a thicker macanudo, then more power to you. There are definitely good cigars and better cigars, but the best cigar is the one you enjoy the most.

Wine - How to Serve Wine  here >> 

Cheese - How to Choose a Good Cheese  here >>

Beer   -  How to Store Beer  here >>

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Cheese - How to judge a fine cheese, How to serve cheese, Cooking with cheese, Low fat cheese, Cheese storage tips, Goats milk cheeses +++++

Cigars- How to light a cigar, How to smoke a cigar, Cutting a cigar, Ageing to perfection, Tobacco growing regions, Humidor selection tips +++++

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