Cigars are complex, but understanding what you are detecting, as well as why, doesn't have to be a complicated process. In its simplest form, a cigar is little more than a bunch of fermented tobacco leaves that have been rolled up and aged for a period prior to being deemed ready to smoke. Simple in design and fairly uniform in construction, nobody is reinventing the wheel when it comes to crafting the cigar. They are just modifying what has been done for hundreds of years and making it their own.
It’s in the flavors, aromas, types, and strength levels of a cigar where things can get a bit complicated. Which, in our opinion, is part of what makes exploring cigars so damn fun.
Learning how to smoke cigars is just part of the process. Knowing how to identify various parts of the experience is vital to elevating your stogie-smoking game, and it all starts with learning some stogie lingo. The greater your cigar vocabulary, the easier it will be to describe what you are detecting, and perhaps more importantly, why you are noticing the body, strength, and flavor of a cigar.
Appreciating Nuance
A good cigar blend is tied to how distinctive and unique the smoking experience can be. Not just from what is detected in different types of cigars, but within the various tobacco strains and fermentation methods they are constructed around. The field is wide, ever-changing, and exciting to explore. But it also comes with a bit of a learning curve.
Do you begin analyzing a cigar with the soil where the tobacco plant grew, and what part of the plant the leaves were taken from? Or how long the fermentation process lasted, and how the cigars were rolled? Even the way you cut and light your cigar, or the temperature and humidity of the climate in which the blend is being smoked, can affect your perception.
So, perhaps it is best to begin by discussing the general aspects of tobacco smoke and the jargon commonly used to describe the body, strength, and flavor of a cigar. Bear in mind that there is always some wiggle room when it comes to describing and identifying the unique characteristics of a cigar, especially when it comes to flavor. No two people have the exact same palate, and much of the cigar-smoking assessment process tends to be quite subjective.
Blends and batches of cigars can also vary from crop to crop, year to year. Just like how a wine enthusiast will claim that 2018 was a really good year for a particular grape varietal out of California, so too will stogie snobs often decree that a particular harvest season, or cosecha, from a certain growing region in Nicaragua was superior to other years. Again, it's primarily about personal preference and one's own taste buds, but also about the ever-changing ecosystems and weather patterns that make cigars possible in the first place.
But I digress... Let's break down the differences between cigar body, strength, and flavor into easily digestible tidbits before going into a bit of detail about each. All of which tend to be subcategorized into mild, medium, and full profiles.
Body describes how the smoke itself sits upon the tongue, as well as how it touches the nose and everything around you. The heavier the body, the thicker, heavier, and oilier the smoke. Oftentimes, this can be detected by the way in which the smoke clings to your hands, clothes, hat, and facial hair.
Strength generally refers to the nicotine content of a cigar, but can also be used to describe spiciness, astringency, or bitterness. The overall physical effects tobacco has on the body, from the brain to the esophagus, and downward to the gut, all play a part in discerning cigar strength. This explains why so many people prefer to have a higher-strength cigar after a full meal, as the nicotine serves as a digestive stimulant and causes a flood of dopamine to hit the senses.
Flavor is arguably the most dynamic of the three, especially when it comes to describing the overall experience of smoking a cigar. Different flavor profiles can develop for any number of reasons, from the tobacco’s origin to the fermentation techniques used, or how the age of the blend affects how it all melds together. This is easily the most subjective section of the cigar assessment process, and one that can be cause for great debate between contrasting palates.
The Anatomy of a Cigar
Different parts of the cigar will affect the experience and all three aspects of a cigar, including body, strength, and flavor. These three primary components include the wrapper, the binder, and the filler. Size and shape, or the cigar's vitola as it is commonly called, also play a role in what is perceived when smoking. But that's another Deep Dive dive best saved for another day.
Wrapper
Unlike cigarettes, which use paper to keep tobacco tucked inside, cigar wrappers are made from tobacco leaves. A single piece of tobacco leaf at that, too. Wrappers are widely recognized for providing the primary flavor of the cigar and determining its color designation. Generally, cigars are placed into one of three camps: Natural, sun-grown, or maduro. This categorization helps smokers generalize the flavors they can expect via the use of a broad scale and provides them with a starting point for narrowing down the selection process.
As to be expected, there are dozens upon dozens of different variations of cigar wrapper within each of these categories, often based purely upon fermentation style and tobacco strain. But to keep things concise, we will focus on the trifecta of natural, sun-grown, and maduro today.
Natural wrappers are often lighter in color, and favor tan, beige, or even a greenish- brown khaki color at times. Rarely fermented for very long, and often grown beneath manmade shaded canopies or in heavily clouded countries like Ecuador, these "shade-grown" cigar wrappers are oftentimes milder, milkier, grassier, and nuttier in flavor than their sun-grown brethren. They are also softer in appearance and texture due to not receiving much in the way of direct sunlight.
Sun-grown wrappers absorb as much intensity as they can from the star our planet spirals around, and therefore are typically oilier, more veiny, and darker in color than natural leaf cigar wrappers. This results in a much more robust leaf that focuses on spicier, more leather-like aromatics and flavors, which can also become maltier, tannin-heavy, and tea-like at times.
Maduro wrappers are what cloak the darker cigars on the shelf, and being that the word maduro translates to "ripe" or "mature" in Spanish, it only makes sense that they are fermented, and oftentimes, aged for longer than any other style of cigar wrapper. Richer and often sweeter, the mighty maduro can be associated with notes of coffee and chocolate, as well as things like soil, grilled meats, soy sauce, and even manure.
Binder
The binder is the tobacco leaf that holds the filler in place. While incredibly aromatic, this part of the cigar is far less flavorful than the wrapper because it’s a tobacco leaf that comes from further down the plant, and thus it is exposed to far less sunlight. Binder leaves are also fermented for a shorter period and are prized for their elasticity and toughness, as they determine the tightness of the cigar bunch, which can affect how a cigar draws and burns. An oily, thicker binder, or a cigar with a double binder, might influence how you categorize the body and aroma of a blend; so this often overlooked leaf deserves a ton of credit for accentuating what is detected in a premium cigar blend.
Filler
The filler makes up the heart of the cigar, and this is where a fair share of the body and strength of the cigar blend can be found. While combustion is the primary purpose of the filler blend, aromatics, and to a lesser degree, flavor also play a key role in determining what is stuffed inside.
Unlike the binder and wrapper, the long-filler is not limited to just one strain or another. Here, any varietal is game, with many filler blends containing a leaf (or two) pulled from each part of the tobacco plant. Depending upon which part of the tobacco plant the leaf hails from, flavor, body, and strength can all be influenced in one direction or another.
Additionally, there are two types of cigar filler: Long filler and short filler. Long filler is where the entire leaf is utilized inside. Whereas short filler contains chopped up remnants from the cigar rolling process to make a less expensive cigar. The latter of these is commonly called a "Cuban sandwich" or a "mixed filler cigar" in the biz.
Cigar Body Explained
The body of a cigar pertains to its depth, which is not just how heavy the smoke feels upon the palate or the atmosphere around you, but it also serves as a form of measuring how much can be tasted. Determining body can be a tricky, nuanced endeavor, and is akin to what coffee, wine, and spirits connoisseurs encounter, as what is detected can only be expounded upon by noticing various subtleties through comparison and experience.
Like flavor, as well as strength, there are three general categories used for describing a cigar's body, and those include mild, medium, and full. Naturally, there are sub-categories within each, as those with extensive cigar smoking experience can ascertain whether a blend is mild-medium, or medium-full in nature.
Tobacco Nerd Note: For someone just starting, we recommend smoking a mild-bodied cigar and then a full-bodied cigar back-to-back. Make sure both cigars are categorized as milder in strength, and that they are short in stature to reduce the amount of nicotine hitting your system. For instance, the Oliva Gilberto Reserva Blanc in robusto format and the petite robusto version of Le Bijou 1922 by My Father Cigars are polar opposites when it comes to body.
Mild-Bodied Cigars
On the lightest side of the spectrum are mild-bodied cigars, which have a lighter, effervescent texture, weight, and richness to the smoke they emit. If a mild-bodied cigar were a beer, it would be a pilsner, blonde ale, or even a Belgian white. They can still have pronounced flavors, but they won't be very strong or heavy on the tongue, and oftentimes will lean more heavily upon aromatics in their stead.
What makes a mild-bodied cigar?
Mild-bodied cigars generally prioritize using shade-grown cigar wrapper leaves and favor tobacco leaves pulled, or "primed," from lower down on the plant. Located in the mid-section of the tobacco plant, these leaves are often noted for having milder flavors, good aroma, and make up the broad majority of the filler tobacco used in most cigars. This results in a lighter, far less oily texture within the smoke, which, when combined with milder strains of tobacco everywhere else, results in a stogie that doesn't sit heavy upon the palate.
That said, just because a cigar has a light-colored shade-grown wrapper, it does not mean that it will be light in body. Heavier, sun-grown tobacco varietals can just as easily be bunched up and rolled as the milder-bodied leaf, so bear that in mind when shopping. Here at Klaro, we try to offer a wide array of mild smokes, all of which are available in the Klaro monthly cigar subscription, as well as via individual 5-packs, mixed cigar bundles, and full box format.
Some stellar, mild-bodied cigars to sample.
Oscar Valladares Island Jim Connecticut No. 2
Medium-Bodied Cigars
Next up and stronger in body are the medium-bodied cigars. Just because they sit somewhere between mild and full-bodied doesn't mean you have to compromise. Medium-bodied cigar options are vast and are considered to be the most popular style of smoke, as they provide the best of both worlds. To continue with the beer analogy from earlier, medium-bodied cigars are the IPA, amber, and brown ale of the tobacco world. Rounder in mouthfeel, but still far from heavy, these types of stogies are the preferred crowd-pleaser when it comes to body.
What makes a medium-bodied cigar?
Medium-bodied cigars use a host of different internal blends and wrappers to achieve a desired level of body. Popular medium-bodied cigar wrappers include the mighty corojo and the classic habano, as well as the maduro, which is typically associated with full-bodied cigars. Again, it's what is on the inside that counts when it comes to a cigar's body.
As for the blends themselves, those often favor a mixture of leaf from the center and top of the tobacco plant, often in a 50/50 split. There truly is something for everyone in this category, so smoke around as much as possible to determine what fits you and your palate best.
A medley of medium-bodied masterpieces.
AJ Fernandez New World Cameroon
German Engineered Cigars Raumzeit
Full-Bodied Cigars
The greater the impact you feel in the mouth and nose, the oilier and denser the smoke, the closer you are getting to a full-bodied cigar. Since a full-bodied cigar will sit heavy upon the tongue and tends to linger for a long time, many people find themselves having to work their way up to this sort of smoking experience. If full-bodied cigars were beer, they would be the imperial stout, Belgian strong ale, triple IPA, and doppelbock on tap.
Even routine cigar smokers often wait until later in the evening before sparking up a fuller-bodied cigar, as these types of blends are best reserved for pairing with a post-meal adult beverage. This not only prevents the palate from being overwhelmed by the cigar’s body, but also by its nicotine levels. More on this later...
What makes a full-bodied cigar?
Full-bodied cigars will often include far more filler leaves from the top of the tobacco plant than what is found in mild and medium-bodied cigars. These are the leaves that are exposed to the most sunlight and therefore have the most oils, tannins, sugars, and resins. This explains why many full-bodied cigars rely upon a wide range of sun-grown or maduro wrappers, along with a filler mixture that is loaded with higher, nicotine-rich primings off the tobacco plant.
Speaking of nicotine. Let’s transition our discussion over to cigar strength, which is related to, but should never be confused with body.
A few full-bodied cigar faves.
Curivari Reserva Limitada Café Noir
Rocky Patel Edge Barrel-Aged Black
Cigar Strength Explained
So while strength and body are related, body has more to do with the texture of the smoke emitted from a lit cigar, whereas strength is the term used to describe a cigar’s nicotine content levels and the effects this stimulant has on the human body. Nicotine is a complex topic of conversation, for even if made from the exact same blend, no two cigars are exactly alike.
Furthermore, the speed at which you smoke can influence what is perceived as strength, and being that everyone has different tolerances, nicotine doesn’t always affect a smoker the same way that a certain beer might. Remember, alcohol is brewed, fermented, or distilled to reach a certain percentage. A cigar blend's strength sits in a generalized range, and is one that can vary stick-to-stick.
Like flavor and body, cigar strength is categorized on a mild, medium, and full scale. While there is some wiggle-room within each category, these three ranges provide a broad target within which the cigar-smoking public can generalize and categorize. It is also worth noting that, to an extent, cigar strength does correlate to the body of a cigar. Which explains why full-bodied, full-strength cigars are so commonplace.
What determines the nicotine level in a cigar?
The concentration of nicotine in a cigar has everything to do with the tobacco plant. Everything from the seed varietals used, the length of fermentation, and the heat levels used, to how much sunlight the leaf or entire plant receives influences nicotine content. Generally speaking, though, it is the amount of direct sun that a leaf receives that causes nicotine levels to spike the most. So if you see a premium cigar blend with the word "ligero" listed anywhere, note that this is the potent priming from the top of the plant, and that the cigar will likely have a higher nicotine content inside.
Tobacco Nerd Note: Nicotine doesn’t just cause that “woozy” feeling that makes your head spin, though. A strong cigar can produce a pleasant buzz that causes the body to release dopamine in large quantities, which in turn causes relaxation. So even though nicotine is classified as a stimulant, its ability to aid in gastric digestion has long been recognized. However, some people don't react kindly to nicotine strength, with an acid reflux feeling stemming from the esophagus being one of the most common side effects.
Cigar Flavor Explained
Now, as for the act of tasting the smoke produced from burning tobacco, that requires describing the overall cigar flavor profile. This is a complex process, and will require much comparison to gauge the magnitude, aroma, and taste location to describe how a cigar's flavors might influence the olfactory senses.
Similar to how a sommelier tastes wine, or a cicerone samples beer suds, comparing the flavors found within a cigar to easily understood descriptors is best. This means everything from various foods and beverages, to nuts, plants, topography, minerals, spices, and everyday aromatics found around the household is fair game for describing the flavors being detected.
Magnitude can also be used to describe the level of flavors being detected, and like strength and body, it too can be grouped into categories ranging from mild to full. This explains why you will often hear a cigar review describing the flavor of a cigar as having "light notes of cedar." Gauging the magnitude of the tastes being detected aids in both explanation and comprehension when it comes time to assess a certain cigar flavor profile.
What is a cigar flavor profile?
Speaking of which, what is a cigar flavor profile, anyway? Essentially, any unique nuance that the taste buds and nostrils can detect as "flavorful" can be categorized as a cigar flavor profile. Like the five main categories of food flavors (bitter, sweet, sour, savory, and salty), so too do cigars have a select few categories that their flavor profiles tend to fall into.
However, while the five food-tasting categories can be applied to tobacco tastes, they don’t always align with a specific nuance, or aroma, for that matter. Remember, aroma and taste are linked together via your olfactory senses, so smell as much as possible when smoking.
But let's get back to categorizing cigar flavor profiles, because instead of using the typical tasting graph, cigar smokers and critics tend to compare the flavors and corresponding aromas of the cigars we smoke to known ingredients. This explains why descriptors like "Notes of honey and cedar...” or "Milky mocha and cashew nuts..." are so common. Of course, many of us have no idea what cedar or leather scrap tastes like, but we sure as hell know what it smells like, and that leads us back to our olfactory senses.
In fact, it is not uncommon to encounter cigar tasting wheels and flavor profile charts constructed for the sole purpose of helping people group certain cigar tastes and aromatics into easily recognizable categories. By using these descriptors, we can communicate the unique flavors and sensations being detected by the 5,000-10,000 taste buds and countless smell receptors in our body. A few examples of what you might find in these include, but are not limited to:
Fruits - raisin, fig, cherry, orange zest, lemon, dried dark/tropical fruits
Nuts - almond, walnut, cashew, peanut, pecan, etc.
Flowers - rose, lavender, honeysuckle, potpourri
Plants - grass, hay, tea, vegetable, hardwood, tree sap, cedar, resinous
Herbs & spices - cinnamon, clove, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, allspice, mint, oregano, marjoram, basil
Mineral - salt, mineral, metallic
Animal - grilled meat, manure, jerky, leather
Sweet - honey, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, caramel, nougat
Chemical - ammonia, charcoal, cleaning solvent, permanent marker, tar
Woody - Spanish cedar, firewood, mixed sawdust, BBQ smoke, alcohol cask/barrel, mesquite, hickory
Spicy - chili pepper, ginger, Szechuan pepper, smoked chilis, mixed peppercorns, paprika
Earthy - soil, grass, hay, barnyard, rainforest terroir, dust, peat, fermented compost
Non-flavors - bitter, dry, spicy, astringent, sharp/harsh, sour
Parting Puffs
So spark that stogie with a mixture of confidence and curiosity, knowing full-well that this passion of yours will surely continue to surprise and impress. And don't feel stressed if you are new to all of this and feel a wee bit overwhelmed. Like wine, whiskey, craft beer, music, and any other age-old form of enjoyment, premium cigars are a complex, ever-evolving affair.
Hopefully, this little Deep Dive has helped in some way, and please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions via email or on the Klaro Cigars Members Facebook Group. For even though we love cigars and smoke a mess-load of them, we are learning right along with you.