This is your go-to guide for cigar fundamentals, the place to start when questions come up. As part of our Cigar Academy, these articles focus on the basics that help you understand cigars with confidence. From common questions and cigar sizes to wrapper types and smoking basics, these articles break things down clearly and practically, no filler, no jargon, just useful knowledge that helps you get more out of every cigar.
A diadema is a large, handmade figurado cigar, often up to eight inches, tapered at both the head and the foot with a fuller center, prized for the way that shape reshapes the draw, the burn, and the flavor as...
Cigar size boils down to two numbers, ring gauge (the diameter, measured in 64ths of an inch) and length (in inches), while shape splits into just two families: parejos, the straight-sided classics, and figurados, the tapered and irregular showpieces. That's...
Cigar flavor is everything you taste, smell, and feel as the smoke rolls across your palate, built from the tobacco's origin, fermentation, and years of aging. It isn't just about what hits hardest. It's character. Every draw is shaped by...
Cigar strength is the nicotine hit, the physical jolt you feel in your chest and your head as you smoke, while cigar body is the richness and weight of the flavor sitting on your tongue, and the two are not...
A cigar wrapper is the single outer tobacco leaf that finishes the cigar, holds it together, and drives most of what you taste, especially early in the smoke. If you're lighting up without knowing what leaf is in your hand,...
Look, we’re not here to make you memorize cigar parts like it's biology class. But if you care about how your cigar draws, burns, and tastes? Then yeah, anatomy matters You don’t need a master’s degree in “tobaccology.” You just...
Cigar 101 is your starting point: the four skills every smoker needs, choosing, cutting, lighting, and storing, plus the anatomy, the strength tiers, the shapes and sizes, and how to pair a cigar with the right pour. Welcome to After...
If you’re going to take the time to light up, you damn well better make sure it’s worth lighting. Per Cigar Aficionado, the price-quality relationship isn't linear, well-rated cigars exist across the price spectrum, including Gran Habano Habano No. 3...
This section brings together cigar education and cigar fundamentals that help you understand what your smoking, compare cigars against others, and make better choices with confidence.
You’ll find articles that break down cigar sizes and shapes, wrapper types, strength and body differences, and the small details that influence how a cigar actually smokes. We also cover commonly asked cigar questions, from burn issues and draw problems to how flavor develops from the first third through the final stretch.
Every article is written from hands-on experience, not theory. The goal isn’t to tell you what to like, but to give you the context to understand what you’re smoking, why it behaves the way it does, and how to choose cigars that fit your taste, your pace, and the moments you smoke them.
Scroll through, explore what stands out, and take your time. Good cigars, and good understanding, are built, not rushed.
