Length is usually given in inches or centimetres. Ring gauge is the diameter, measured in sixty-fourths of an inch — so a ring gauge of 50 means fifty sixty-fourths, a shade under 20 mm. The convention is old and awkward, but it is universal, and once you know that 50 is the modern middle of the road you can place any cigar from the number alone.

Thickness matters more than length. A wider cigar holds more filler leaf relative to its wrapper, so the blend's core comes through and the smoke arrives cooler. A narrow cigar is dominated by its wrapper and burns hotter and faster. This is why the same tobacco genuinely tastes different rolled as a lancero and as a gordo — it is not connoisseur mythology.

Length mostly decides how long you will be sitting down. As a rough guide, reckon on four to five minutes per centimetre for a cigar of average thickness. The estimates on our product pages are calculated that way, from each cigar's own dimensions.

The formats we stock

All nine drawn against one scale, longest first.

Lancero

192 × 15.1 mm

Long and very slim, and the format most rollers regard as the hardest to make well. Often finished with a twisted pigtail cap rather than a cut one.

60–80 min typically · 25 in stock

Churchill

178 × 18.7 mm

A long cigar of moderate thickness, named after Winston Churchill, who smoked them. Reckon on an hour and a half, which makes it an after-dinner size rather than an afternoon one.

75–100 min typically · 36 in stock

Piramide

156 mm

A cigar with a tapered head rather than a straight one. The taper is harder to roll well, which is why figurado shapes are usually made by more experienced rollers.

60–75 min typically · 33 in stock

Gordo

152 × 23.8 mm

The thickest format we stock, and a New World invention rather than a Cuban one. Very wide cigars hold a lot of filler, which lets a blender use more leaf varieties in one cigar.

80–110 min typically · 51 in stock

Toro

150 × 20.6 mm

A robusto's thickness with more length, which buys roughly another twenty minutes. The extra time is the point: a blend that shifts as it burns has room to do so.

60–75 min typically · 68 in stock

Corona

142 × 16.7 mm

The traditional benchmark, and the size against which the others were historically described. Slimmer than a robusto and a little longer, at around three quarters of an hour.

40–55 min typically · 28 in stock

Robusto

124 × 19.8 mm

The default modern cigar, and the most common size in almost any shop. Thick enough to show what a blend is doing, short enough to finish in under an hour. If you are unsure where to start, start here.

45–60 min typically · 185 in stock

Petit Corona

110 × 15.9 mm

A short, slim cigar of about half an hour. Worth reaching for when you genuinely have half an hour, rather than lighting something larger and abandoning it.

25–40 min typically · 44 in stock

Cigarillo

100 × 9.9 mm

The shortest thing we stock, finished in ten to twenty minutes. The format people reach for when the occasion is short rather than ceremonial.

10–20 min typically · 15 in stock

Which to choose

If you have not bought many cigars before, a robusto is the sensible starting point, and it is the most common format for a reason: enough volume to show what a blend does, over about three quarters of an hour. If you have twenty minutes, look at a petit corona rather than cutting something larger short — a cigar put down half-smoked and relit is a worse experience than a small one finished.

For a long evening, a churchill or toro gives the blend room to change as it burns, which is much of the point.

Cigar sizes and ring gauge