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Appendix
Glossary
Terms that return throughout the almanac. Chinese pages keep the English word beside a Hong Kong reading. The English page keeps the same vocabulary.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Band | The paper ring on the cigar. |
| Bloom / plume | White oil crystals on the leaf; not the same as mold. |
| Box-pressed | Squared in the box. |
| Bunch | Filler plus binder before the wrapper. |
| Cap | The small leaf that closes the head. |
| Chaveta | Half-moon rolling knife. |
| Draw | How open or tight the smoke path is. |
| Figurado | Any non-straight shape. |
| Foot | The lighting end. |
| Guillotine | Straight cutter. |
| Habano | Cuban-seed sun-grown style of leaf. |
| Humidor | A humidity-controlled box. |
| Ligero / seco / volado | Leaf positions from strong to mild. |
| Long filler | Whole leaves running the length of the cigar. |
| Maduro | Darker, longer-fermented wrapper style. |
| Nub | A very short vitola, or the last stub. |
| Parejo | Straight cylinder. |
| Plug | A tight spot that ruins the draw. |
| Ring gauge | Diameter in 64ths of an inch. |
| Shade-grown | Grown under cloth for thin wrapper. |
| Tunneling | The core burns ahead of the wrapper. |
| Vitola | Shape plus size. |
| Wrapper / binder / filler | The three layers. |
Related chapters
Frequently asked questions
Short answers on age, health, storage, Cuba versus the New World, strength, and price.
Cigar anatomy
Wrapper, binder, filler, cap, foot, band, and ash: the structure of a cigar from the outside in.
Shapes, vitolas, and ring gauge
What a vitola is, how ring gauge is measured, and typical sizes for Corona, Robusto, Churchill, Torpedo, and Perfecto.