While some cigar smokers become attached to one specific cigar size, many lovers of the leaf enjoy different cigar sizes based on the specific smoking situation. While most serious cigar enthusiasts enjoy the traditional range of larger cigar sizes, the cigarillo will always have it’s place in the humidor. The cigarillo size provides a variety of benefits for every cigar lover, and the right cigarillo smoked at just the right time can be a perfect smoking experience just like smoking a large cigar.
About Cigarillos
Premium cigarillos, or small cigars, are cigars enclosed with dried tobacco leaf and are filled with chopped tobacco leaves, typically utilizing the leftover smaller pieces from the same blend’s larger cousins. Machine made cigarillos sometimes utilize a brown tobacco-based paper as the wrapper. A cigarillo contains about three grams of tobacco with its length typically checking in between three and four inches and its diameter around six millimeters.
Just like premium cigars, most cigarillos are filter-free, although some of the flavored machine-made cigarillos do utilize filters and can also be referred to as “tiparillos”. Just like a larger cigar, when one lights a cigarillo, the smoke is not meant to be inhaled but rather should be drawn into the mouth and then puffed out.
When To Smoke A Cigarillo
The most common reason for a smoker to opt for a cigarillo is time. When someone only has a short break or a brief window to smoke, lighting up even a Robusto or Corona sized stogie can feel like a waste. With a cigarillo, a smoker can get their flavor-burst and enjoy the break given by smoking a cigar, but finish it in 20 minutes or less and not feel like they just threw away most of a $10 smoke.
Newer smokers often enjoy cigarillos as well, as a full-sized Toro or Churchill can often be intimidating for someone just taking up the hobby. Smoking cigarillos can help a newcomer become accustomed to smoking and enjoy the flavors without becoming overwhelmed.
In case you are wondering, cigarillo is Spanish for cigarette, however, unlike cigarettes, they contain a lot more tobacco and as earlier described, have tobacco containing paper or even tobacco leaves as wrappers. This special ‘type’ of paper is made from tobacco pulp and is the sole cause of the difference in burning characteristics of cigarillos. For a smoker, this makes the experience even more worthwhile and that’s why cigarillos are very popular.
For premium brands, diversity is a priority and therefore varieties of tobacco are carefully incorporated as fillers and on their wrappers. Long filler cigars for example, are top notch cigars which use long leaves throughout. They use a unique variety of tobacco known as “binder” which is between the filler and the main wrapper. This paves way for the manufacturers to use more delicate and attractive leaves as a wrapper. These premium brands are loved for how they smoothly blend varieties of tobacco into a smoker’s delight. Some brands would go further and come up with different flavors of cigars allowing the smoker to be spoilt for choice.
When all is said and done, cigars are ultimately a source of satisfaction to smokers. Large cigars as well as cigarillos have slow burns that satisfy your craving to its maximum. No matter which size is a smoker’s favorite, every good cigar collection should include sizes and shapes for all occasions, and that certainly includes cigarillos.