Glossary

The words of the trade, plainly defined — and the variants you will meet elsewhere.

Binder sous-cape · sous-capes: The middle leaf, which holds the filler in a bundle and gives the cigar its shape before the wrapper dresses it. You never see it.
Filler tripe · tripes: The heart of the cigar: the leaves folded accordion-fashion inside. That is where most of the taste is decided, and it is also what settles the draw.
Wrapper cape · capes: The outer leaf, the one you see. It is chosen for its look as much as its taste: it is the only leaf on the cigar that a blemish disqualifies on sight.
Entubado entubado: A way of rolling the filler: each leaf is rolled into a small tube rather than folded. Slower, and held to give a more even draw.
Galera galera · galeras: The rolling room, where the torcedores work in rows facing one and the same lectern.
Lector lector · lectores: The workshop reader, paid to read aloud while the others roll. The custom is Cuban and dates from the nineteenth century.
Pilón pilón · pilon · pilones: The stack of leaves piled up to ferment. Its heat rises on its own; it is turned when it reaches the desired temperature.
Torcedor torcedor · torcedores · torcedors: The one who rolls. The word is Spanish and comes from “to twist”: the gesture consists of turning the wrapper in a spiral around the cigar.
Ligero ligero · ligeros: The leaves from the top of the plant, most exposed to the sun. Thick, powerful, slow to burn — you measure them out, you do not pile them up.
Medio tiempo medio tiempo: The two leaves right at the top of the plant, when the sun has been generous enough for them to grow. Some years there are none.
Seco seco · secos: The leaves from the middle of the plant. It is from them that the aroma comes, more than the strength.
Viso viso · visos: Between seco and ligero. A compromise of aroma and body that blenders use to tie the two together.
Volado volado · volados: The leaves from the bottom, the least filled with sun. Little taste, but they burn well: that is what keeps a cigar alight.
Box-pressed box-pressed · box-press: A cigar squared off by the tightness of the box. It is not a way of rolling but a way of packing — and yet it changes the draw.
Figurado figurado · figurados: A cigar that is not a straight cylinder: tapered, bellied, spindle-shaped. Harder to roll, and its draw changes as it burns down.
Perfecto perfecto · perfectos: A figurado closed at both ends and swollen in the middle.
Vitola vitole · vitoles · vitola · vitolas: A cigar's format: its length, its diameter, and the name the house gives it. Two vitolas of the same blend do not smoke alike.
Claro claro · claros: A pale wrapper shade, blond to golden. That of tobaccos grown under cloth, less exposed to the sun.
Maduro maduro · maduros: A dark wrapper shade, obtained from a longer or hotter fermentation. The word says “ripe”, not “strong”: the colour comes from the process, not the power.
Oscuro oscuro · oscuros: Darker still than maduro, to the point of near-black.