Despite what many people think, there are only two base types of cigars, these being the figurado and the parejo. The parejo is easily the most common and constitutes any cigar with a round head and even sides whereas the figurado is any other type of cigar. The three primary types of figurados are torpedoes, pyramids and belicosos. The torpedo figurado is easily discerned by it’s gradually diminishing head which ends in a sharpened point, they are generally fat and relatively short, though this is not always the case. Another very similar type of figurado is the pyramid, though it also tapers towards the head of the cigar it does so throughout the entire length of the cigar, from head to foot, whereas the torpedo only tapers from around the end of the band. This gives the cigar a triangle shape and hence the name, “pyramid.” The last type of figurado is the belicosos. The belicosos is somewhat hard to distinguish from the torpedo in that they are very similar in terms of construction, however there is one major difference. This being, the belicosos taper from just below the cigar band towards the head but they taper extremely quickly, usually to a much finer point.
It’s important to remember that the term, torpedo, pyramid and belicoso are just general outlines for cigar shapes, more like guidelines, than a extremely specific type. Also, any of the aforementioned cigar shapes may be applied to the parejo cigar archetype, however. The important point to remember about all of this is that though parjeo torpedoes, parjeo belicosos and parjeo pyramid will share similarities to those of the figurado variety they will still be radically different in overall shape.
It’s also very key to keep in mind that there are all sorts of exceptions to these rules and many of these are based on the judgement of the company’s marketing department. For instance, one company might label a figurado torpedo as a belicoso while another company might put out something which does not even fall into any of the aforementioned categories (such as the perfecto, a uniquely shaped cigar type which features extensive tapering on both the head and foot of the cigar). The best way to approach this diversity of definitions is to do a little research on the company’s website or in the company’s smoke shop to see exactly what and how they define the figurado’s various different shapes.