Glossary of Cigar Terms part #2

[docruger]

Half-wheel (media ruedas)-- A bundle of 50 cigars. Cigar rollers usually use ribbon to tie the cigars they produce into half-wheels.
Hand-- Individual leaves of tobacco that are hung together after harvest and tied at the top. These hands are piled together to make a bulk for fermentation.
Handmade-- A cigar made entirely by hand with high-quality wrapper and long filler. All premium cigars are handmade. Hand-rollers can generally use more delicate wrapper leaves than machines.
Hand-rolled-- A cigar made entirely by hand with high-quality wrapper and long filler.
Havana-- Capital of Cuba. The traditional center of manufacturing of Cuban cigars for export, and a term widely used to designate Cuban cigars. Also refers to the tobacco types grown from Cuban seed in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. Also known as Habana.
Head-- The closed end of the cigar; the end you smoke.
Holder-- Cigar holders are an interesting affectation and collectible, but true aficionados let nothing come between their lips and the head of a cigar they're smoking.
Homogenized Binder-- Binder made of chopped tobacco leaf and cellulose. Scorned by purists, it facilitates machine production and can facilitate the burn of certain products.
Hot-- Describes a cigar that is underfilled and has a quick, loose draw. Can cause harsh flavors.
Humidor-- A room, or a box, of varying sizes, designed to preserve or promote the proper storage and aging of cigars by maintaining a relative humidity level of 70 percent and a temperature of approximately 65°F to 70°F.
Hygrometer-- A device that indicates the humidity, or percentage of moisture in the air; used to monitor humidor conditions.
Inhale-- What you don't do with cigar smoke.
Lance-- A cutter used to pierce a small hole in the closed end of a cigar. Also called a piercer.
Lector-- Traditionally, the person who reads to the cigar rollers while they work.
Ligero-- One of the three basic types of filler tobacco. The name means light in Spanish, but this aromatic tobacco lends body to a blend.
Long Filler-- Filler tobacco that runs the length of the body of the cigar, rather than chopped pieces found in machine-made cigars.
Lonsdale-- A long cigar; generally 6 to 6 3/4 inches by a 42 to 44 ring gauge, but there are many variations.
Machine-made-- Cigars made entirely by machine, using heavier-weight wrappers and binders and, frequently, cut filler in place of long filler.
Maduro-- A wrapper shade from a very dark reddish-brown to almost black. The word means ripe in Spanish. The color can be achieved by sun exposure, a cooking process or a prolonged fermentation.
Media Ruedas-- See Half-wheels
Mini Cigarillo-- Another term for cigarillo.
Mold-- 1. The wooden form used in cigar making to give shape to a finished bunch. It has two parts, which, when assembled, are placed in a press. 2. A potentially damaging fungus that forms on a cigar when it is stored at too high a temperature.
Oil-- The mark of a well-humidified cigar. Even well-aged cigars secrete oil at 70 to 72 percent relative humidity, the level at which they should be stored.
Olor-- A variety of Dominican cigar tobacco known for its big leaves; it is used as filler tobacco and especially as binder tobacco.
Oscuro-- A black shade of wrapper, darker than maduro, most often Brazilian or Mexican in origin.
Panetela-- A long, thin cigar shape.
Parejos-- Straight-sided cigars, such as coronas, panetelas and lonsdales.
Partido-- A prime tobacco growing area in Cuba.
Perfecto-- A distinctive cigar shape that is closed at both ends, with a rounded head; usually with a bulge in the middle.
Piercer-- A cutter used to pierce a small hole in the closed end of a cigar. Also called a lance.
Piloto Cubano-- A popular variety of Cuban-seed tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic.
Planchas-- Boards on which tobacco leaves are spread before fermentation.
Plug-- A blockage that sometimes occurs in the tobacco that can prevent a cigar from drawing properly. A plug can sometimes be alleviated by gently massaging the cigar.
Plume (also called Bloom)-- A naturally occurring phenomenon in the cigar aging process, also called plume, caused by the oils that exude from the tobacco. It appears as a fine white powder and can be brushed off. Not to be confused with mold, which is bluish and stains the wrapper.
Pre-Castro Cigar-- A Cuban cigar made before Fidel Castro's rise to power in January 1959.
Pre-embargo Cigar-- A Cuban cigar made before President Kennedy enacted the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba in 1962.
Primings-- The rows of leaves on a tobacco plant. The number of primings varies, but six is average. The first priming is closest to the ground, the sixth is near the top. The higher the, priming the stronger the tobacco.
Puro-- A Spanish term used to distinguish a cigar from a cigarette. Modern usage refers to a cigar blended with tobaccos from a single country. (All Cuban cigars use 100 percent Cuban tobacco, so all Cuban cigars, according to modern usage, are puros.)
Pyramid-- A sharply tapered cigar with a wide, open foot and a closed head.
Ring Gauge-- A measurement for the diameter of a cigar, based on 64ths of an inch. A 40 ring gauge cigar is 40/64ths of an inch thick.
Robusto-- A substantial, but short cigar; traditionally 5 to 5 1/2 inches by a 50 ring gauge.
Rosado-- A Spanish term that means "rose-colored." It is used to describe the reddish tint of some Cuban-seed wrapper.
Seco-- The Spanish word for dry, seco is a type of filler tobacco. It often contributes aroma and is usually medium-bodied.
Shade-grown-- Wrapper leaves that have been grown under a cheesecloth tent, called a tapado. The filtered sunlight creates a thinner, more elastic leaf.
Smoking Time-- A 5-inch cigar with a 50 ring gauge, such as a robusto, should provide anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes of smoking pleasure. A double corona, a 7 1/2-inch cigar with a 50 ring gauge, may give over an hour's worth of smoking time. A thinner cigar, such as a lonsdale, smokes in less time than a cigar with a 50 ring gauge.
Shoulder-- The area of a cigar where the cap meets the body. If you cut into the shoulder, the cigar will begin to unravel.
Short Filler-- Used mainly in machine-made cigars, it consists of chopped scraps of leaf. Short filler burns quicker and hotter than long filler.
Special Solution-- A solution of 50 percent water, 50 percent propylene glycol. Added to your humidification device every three to six months, its presence will keep water from evaporating beyond 70 percent relative humidity.
Spill-- A strip of cedar used to light a cigar when using a candle or a fluid lighter, both of which can alter the taste of the cigar.
Sugar-- Sugars occur naturally in tobacco. Darker wrappers, such as maduros, contain more sugar, making them sweeter.
Sun-grown-- Tobacco grown in direct sunlight, which creates a thicker leaf with thicker veins.
Tapado-- A cheesecloth tent under which shade-grown wrapper leaf is cultivated.
Tercios-- The large, palm bark-wrapped bales in which fermented tobacco is shipped to cigar factories.
Tooth-- The grain pattern characteristic of less smooth wrapper leaf, such as leaf from Cameroon.
Torcedores-- Cigar rollers.
Torpedo-- A cigar shape that features a closed foot, a pointed head and a bulge in the middle.
Totalamente a Mano-- Made totally by hand; a description found on cigar boxes. Much better than "Hecho a Mano" (made by hand, which can mean it is filled with machine-bunched filler), or "Envuelto a Mano" (packed by hand).
Tubos-- Cigars packed in individual wood, metal or glass tubes to keep them fresh.
Tunneling-- The unwelcome phenomenon of having your cigar burn unevenly. To prevent it, rotate your cigar now and then.
Vega-- A tobacco plantation.
Vein-- A structural part of a leaf; prominent veins can be a defect in wrappers.
Vintage-- When a vintage is used for a cigar, it usually refers to the year the tobacco was harvested, not the year the cigar was made.
Viso-- A glossy wrapper leaf grown under cover.
Vitola-- A factory term for a cigar shape. Robusto and corona are two examples of vitolas.
Vuelta Abajo-- The valley in Cuba that many believe produces the best cigar tobacco in the world.
Volado-- A type of filler tobacco chosen for its burning qualities.
Wrapper-- A high-quality tobacco leaf wrapped around the finished bunch and binder. It is very elastic and, at its best, unblemished.
Wedge Cut-- A V-shaped cut made in the closed end of a cigar

[tx_tuff]

Not trying to be an a$$ but there are a couple sticky threads in the "Cigar Question Section" like this one. There may be some stuff here that is not there, I know there is some stuff there that is not here. Maybe you could check it out and add a post there with the stuff that already isn't there. In the mean time I am moving this to that section.