Does size matter?
First_Warrior
Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Cigar 101
I've got a question. Does size matter? A cigar is made of filler, binder and wrapper. This I know. The question is about ring sizes and the taste of a cigar. I am assuming that ideally the different ring sizes of the same cigar are porptionaly the same but that may not be the case. I seem to be getting less taste with the larger ring sizes of 54- 60 which have more filler and binder and more taste with ring sizes of 48-52 which have less filler and binder. Am I tasting the wrapper better because there is more wrapper in the smaller sizes or am I just imagining things?
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here you go ... read THIS
So to answer your question, yes, size does matter. Personally I love PC 40-42rg stuff from Habanos, but not in the NC world, as their wrapper does not compare other then a few examples. For CC the small rings just give me complexity and tons of flavor and body. The larger rings allow for more depth in a delicate way. For the NC world, i prefer 46-50rg and find the most complexity in this range. They have access to more growing regions, soil complexity, and ranges of tobaccos, so this is where the NC world really shines in comparison, when done right of course. The simple amount of space Cuba has to grow pales in comparison to the NC world. Now if only the NC world could catch up and figure out how to blend and cure tobacco with as good of a finish, the world would be complete
Went through a bunch of corona's last year, this year I've been smoking mostly robusto's in the same brands. Think I like the robusto's better, maybe because I do tend to smoke a little fast. Interesting topic, I wondered about this too.
What? No, [snicker] of course not. [giggle] It isn't the size, but the quality of it. [Laughing hard]
Ok, thanks. Wait!! What the H does that mean??
Nothing dear, now go back to playing with your friends on the internet.
ROFL!!
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
-Jay
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
I'm told that those with a highly refined palate can tell the differences between the same blend, but different sizes. They say that there's subtle differences. I could see that, but here's my thing. It's essentially the same BLEND. If I don't like the robusto size, is the taste going to change THAT much in the toro size to make me love it? I can't believe that it would. So, I'd say that surely the size DOES matter (since the make up of the cigar HAS to change with size), but not so much so that it means anything. I've never been inclined to try another size of a blend I didn't like. Grab the size you're comfortable with based on time, feel, and sight.
I hate saving "it depends" but it depends. There are three main types of large cigars, ones that use long filler (whole leaves), some that use a mixed filler (some whole leaves and some cut) and short filler (all cut or chopped). That said, even long filler based on the bunching process may contain some broken leaves but its still considered long filler. Most blends will use one wrapper leaf, one or two binder leaves and anywhere from 2 or 3 up to 10 filler tobacco varieties. (most common is 3). Depending on cigar size and number of fillers dictates less about how many leaves but rather the size of the leaves of even parts of leaves in some cases. Case in point is a small cigar project I am working on wit a cigar that is 3.25 x 34 all 8th cut ligero. It has three fillers and is still considered long filler as we actually cut small strips of long leaf. Not very cost effective and very rare to do with a cigar this size but that is how we arrive at long filler. A 52 ring cigar with say 10 filler varietals would deploy a similar technique. The variance in flavor by size indeed has everything to do with proportion. In any given cigar blend (and again it depends but Im generalizing) the wrapper delivers a bulk of the flavor, the filler drives the body and flavor and binders are selected for durability and combustibility. On a larger cigar, the wrapper may contribute to 20% of a cigars overall weight but on smaller ring gauges it can be as much as 40% or 50%. Being the most flavorful component, this can throw off the balance and consistency among sizes. To account for this and work around it, different primings of wrapper can be used (although it will impact uniformity of color among sizes) but the blend will also be tweaked slightly. Again, a blender will typically "try" to develop a consistent flavor experience among the sizes but there will always be some subtle differences.