The Oregon Man Cigar 101 Color and Sizes

If you're like me, you pace back and forth in front of the humidor or display at your local tobacconist, scratching your head, trying to make sense of the cigars there. What often happens if you wind up buying the sticks with the coolest band or color or worse, the sales person disguised as a tobacconist talks you into something you really didn't want or shouldn’t smoke depending on your pallet and tolerance.

Let me help you avoid some of the mistakes I made when I first started enjoying handmade cigars.

Let’s start out with the basics

Color

Color refers to the shade of the outer wrapper leaf. There are six major color grades in use. Wrappers are grown mostly in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Cameroon and of course Cuba. Here are the six basic shades:

Claro claro: light green and often called candela. The leaves are cured with heat to fix the chlorophyll in the leaf.

Claro: a light tan color, usually grown under shade tents.

Colorado: brown to reddish-brown.

Connecticut: light brown to brown. It is most often sun-grown.

Maduro: From the Spanish word for "ripe," it refers to the extra length of time needed to produce a rich, dark-brown wrapper.

Oscuro: Meaning dark, it is also called negro or black in tobacco producing countries.

Cigar Size

The length of the cigar is always printed first, the gage is the circumference of the cigar (example 5.25x42)

To me the size of a cigar has to do with how long you give yourself to smoke it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lit a cigar only to have to leave it because I didn't give myself enough time to smoke the damn thing or I realized I was getting light headed or just got plain bored of smoking it. It’s important to select the right size for the occasion. For instance, if you’ve carved out an hour by yourself then choose a Toro or a Gordo they’ll last an hour. Otherwise choose a Corona if all you have is 30 minutes to smoke with your guests before dinner.

Here is a chart to help you find the right size cigar for the right occasion: We’ll discuss shapes in another Oregon Man Blog.

I hope this information will help you to navigate the humidor of your cigar shop. I encourage you to be open to trying out different wrapper colors, different sizes and even different shapes.