Cigar Glossary
From Cigar Wiki
This glossary is based on An Enthusiast's Guide to Habanos (1st. Ed. 2002) and 5th AVENUE Products Trading GmbH.
Anilla
- The Cuban word for a cigar band or ring (known in Spain as a ‘vitola’).
Aporque
- Action of piling up earth around the tobacco plant in order to obtain stonger roots.
- The cylindrical bunch formed when the filler leaves are wrapped in the binder leaf (q.v. Cigar Manufacturing, Anatomy of a Habano).
Boquilla
- The foot of the cigar.
- The outside wrapper leaf of a cigar (q.v. Anatomy of a Habano).
- The binder leaf. Selected from the largest and finest volado leaves grown on the lower part of the plant (q.v. Anatomy of a Habano).
Casa de Tabaco
- Tobacco House or barn on a plantation where the leaf is cured.
Casquillo
- Literally a ‘cartridge’. The cylindrical punch used to cut a small section from the wrapper to complete the cap.
Catadores
- The tasters who daily test cigars at the factories.
Cedros
- Cedars used to wrap cigars and as dividers between rows in boxes.
Cepo
- The template used to check the ring gauge and length of a finished cigar (q.v. Shapes).
Chaveta
- The semi-circular blade used by the torcedores (q.v. Cigar Manufacturing).
- The description of a light brown coloured wrapper on a finished cigar.
Colorado
- The description of a dark brown wrapper on a finished cigar (also Colorado Claro (mid brown) and Colorado Maduro (darker brown)).
Cuje
- A pole over which the leaves sewn in pairs are hung in the Casa de Tabaco.
Curación (Curing)
- Curing. The drying process that the leaves (q.v. Cuban Tobacco) undergo in the Casa de Tabaco.
Desbotonar
- Action of removing the top bud to concentrate growth on the development of additional leaves (q.v. Cultivation of Tobacco).
Deshije
- Removing the side shoots after the Desbotonar.
Despalillo
- The Stripping House where selected binder and filler leaves have the stems part-stripped and where the second fermentation takes place (q.v. Cigar Manufacturing).
Despalilladoras
- The women who strip the binders and fillers at the stripping houses and the wrappers in the factories.
Escaparate
- The conditioning room where cigars are stored at 16 to 18°C and between 65 and 70 percent humidity to recover from the rigours of the making process.
Escogida
Figurado
- A cigar with an irregular shape pointed at one end or double-figurado pointed at both ends (q.v. Shapes).
Fortaleza
Galera
- The factory workshop where cigars are made by hand. Literally the galley.
Gavilla
- A bunch of graded tobacco leaves tied by their stems for handling (q.v. Cultivation of Tobacco).
Goma
- Tasteless and odourless vegetable gum, usually tragacanth, used by torcedores to secure the wrapper leaf and cap on a finished cigar (q.v. [Cigar Manufacturing]).
- Spanish for ‘Havanas’. The term is used as the denomination of origin for the finest cigars made in Cuba.
Habanos SA, Corporación
- The Havana-based company jointly owned by the Cuban industry and the Franco-Spanish corporation, Altadis S.A., that markets all Cuban tobacco products worldwide.
Habilitaciónes
- The colourful dressings used to decorate the traditional labelled boxes of Habanos.
Hecho en Cuba
- Made in Cuba.
Ligador
- The Master Blender in a cigar factory (q.v. Cigar Manufacturing)
- One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. The word translates as ‘light’ although it is used to describe the leaves taken from the top of the plant that are the richest in flavour and usually the darkest in colour (q.v. Cuban Tobacco, Cultivation of Tobacco).
Maduro
- The description of a very dark brown wrapper on a finished cigar.
- Machine made.
Media Rueda
- Literally a ‘half wheel’, the description of 50 cigars tied into a bundle.
Moja
- The process of moistening tobacco leaves (q.v. Cultivation of Tobacco).
Pacas
Parejo
- A cigar with straight, parallel sides (q.v. Shapes).
Perilla
- The head of the cigar (q.v. Enjoying a Cigar).
- One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. This one describes the leaves of medium flavour taken from the middle of the plant, which contribute much to the cigar’s aroma (q.v. Anatomy of a Habano).
Tabaco
- Spanish for tobacco but in Cuba it also means a cigar.
Tabaco Negro Cubano
- Cuban Black Tobacco. The indigenous tobacco plant discovered on the island by Christopher Columbus.
Tabacuba
- The Cuban corporation that manages the agricultural and manufacturing functions of the Cuban tobacco industry.
Tabla
- The wooden board on which torcedores make cigars.
Tapado
- Literally ‘covered’. The term is used to describe the method of growing tobacco for wrappers in the shade under sheets of muslin cloth (q.v. Cultivation of Tobacco).
Tercio
- Bales made from yagua in which wrapper leaves are aged.
Tiempos
- The same as Fortalezas. Different grades the filler leaves need for the various purposes required in blending the Habano.
- Cigar roller. The word translates as ‘twister’, but that is the last thing a roller should do when making a cigar.
Totalmente a mano
- Totally by hand. A description created in Havana to differentiate between the Cuban methods of making cigars by hand and the semimechanised techniques used elsewhere that can legally be described as ‘Hecho a Mano’ or ‘Hand Made’.
Tripa
- Filler, the blend of two or three different types of leaves that form the heart of a Habano and dictate its flavour (q.v. Anatomy of a Habano).
- Short filler. Filler that is made from pieces of chopped tobacco leaves sometimes known as picadura.
Tripa larga
- Long filler. Filler that is made from complete tobacco leaves.
- Individual fields on farms in registered Cuban tobacco regions that are approved by the Tobacco Institute to grow leaf for Habanos.
- A word with many meanings. In Cuba it refers to the size and shape of a cigar (vitola de galera factory name, vitola de salida market name) and also to a particular size of cigar in one type of packing. In Spain it means a cigar band or ring (vitolfilia cigar band collecting). To some it has an almost spiritual meaning encapsulating every aspect of their cigar of choice.
- One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. This one describes the lightflavoured leaves taken from the lower part of the plant, which help the cigar to burn (q.v. Anatomy of a Habano).
Yagua
- The loose part of the bark of the Royal Palm, Cuba’s national tree, that is used to make bales (tercios) in which wrapper leaves are aged.
Zafado
- The gentle loosening of tobacco leaves after they have been unpacked in gavillas from bales.
