Cigar Sizes Chart: Length, Ring Gauge, and Smoke Time

Ring gauge is the cigar's thickness, and it is measured in 64ths of an inch. A 64 ring gauge cigar is one inch across. A 32 is half an inch. So a 50 ring gauge, which is about as common as it gets, is 50/64 of an inch thick, a hair under three quarters of an inch.

That is the whole math. The bigger the number, the fatter the cigar. Most modern cigars live between a 42 and a 60, with the 50 to 54 range being the fat middle where a lot of today's popular shapes sit.

Why do you care? A thicker cigar holds more filler tobacco, so it tends to burn cooler and a touch slower, and it gives the blender more room to mix leaves. A thinner cigar puts more wrapper against less filler, which can push the wrapper's character forward. Thickness changes the experience, but it does not set the strength. A skinny cigar can hit harder than a fat one.

Because ring gauge is just 64ths of an inch, you can convert it without any special table. Divide the ring gauge by 64 and you have the thickness in inches. Multiply that by 25.4 and you have it in millimeters. So the shortcut is: inches equals ring gauge divided by 64, and millimeters equals ring gauge times 25.4 divided by 64, which works out to roughly ring gauge times 0.397.

A couple of worked examples. A 42 ring gauge is 42/64, about 0.66 inches or 16.7 mm. A 50 is 50/64, about 0.78 inches or 19.8 mm. A 60, the fat Gordo size, is 60/64, about 0.94 inches or 23.8 mm. The numbers below are rounded to one decimal place, so treat them as close enough rather than laboratory-exact.

If you have ever seen a cigar measured purely in millimeters and wondered how it maps to the ring gauge on the band, this is the bridge. Most premium cigars sold in the US still lead with the ring gauge number, but the metric figure is handy when you are comparing against a European listing or just want a feel for the actual width.

Vitola is the trade word for a cigar's shape and size combined. When someone says the vitola is a Robusto, they mean roughly five inches long by a 50 ring gauge, in a straight-sided parejo shape with a rounded head.

Think of the vitola as the cigar's silhouette. The same blend, the same tobaccos, can be rolled in several vitolas, and each one smokes a little differently because the ratio of wrapper to filler changes with the dimensions.

Shapes split into two broad families. Parejos are the straight-sided cigars with a rounded cap, which is most of what you see. Figurados are the shaped ones: tapered heads, pointed feet, bulging middles. Torpedo, Belicoso, Perfecto, and Lancero all live closer to the figurado side.

Length and ring gauge are two separate dials, and they do different jobs. Length is the long measurement, given in inches. Ring gauge is the thickness, given in 64ths. A cigar can be long and thin, short and fat, or anything in between.

Length mostly affects how long the cigar lasts and how the flavor develops, since a longer cigar gives the smoke more tobacco to travel through and more time to change as you go. Ring gauge mostly affects the draw, the burn temperature, and how much filler is in the blend.

That is why two cigars with the same length can feel nothing alike. A seven inch Churchill at a 48 ring gauge and a seven and a half inch Lancero at a 38 are both long, but the Lancero is a narrow, wrapper-forward smoke and the Churchill is a rounder, fuller one. When you read the chart below, hold both numbers in your head.

Here are the shapes you will run into most, each with a typical length, a typical ring gauge, a rough smoke time, and who it tends to suit. Remember these are catalog averages, not fixed specs.

Petit Corona. About 4.9 inches by a 42 ring gauge. Roughly 30 to 45 minutes. The classic short smoke. Good when you want a real cigar but only have a coffee break to give it, and a friendly size for trying a new blend without committing an evening.

Robusto. About 5 inches by a 50 ring gauge. Roughly 45 to 60 minutes. The most popular size in the modern world, and for good reason. Long enough to develop, short enough to finish, fat enough to burn cool. If you are not sure what to buy, buy the Robusto.

Corona. About 5.5 inches by a 44 ring gauge. Roughly 45 to 60 minutes. The traditional benchmark size that older blends were built around. Slimmer than a Robusto, so the wrapper speaks up more. A great size for tasting a blend the way it was originally judged.

Toro. About 6 inches by a 52 ring gauge. Roughly 60 to 90 minutes. The Robusto's bigger sibling and arguably today's default premium size. More tobacco, more time, more room for the blend to move through its acts. A safe pick when you have an hour or more to sit.

Churchill. About 7 inches by a 48 ring gauge. Roughly 60 to 90 minutes. Long and stately, named for the man who smoked them. The length gives you a long, evolving smoke at a manageable thickness. Best when you have real time and want the flavor to travel.

Lonsdale. About 6.5 inches by a 44 ring gauge. Roughly 60 to 75 minutes. Long and lean, an old-school elegant shape that has been quietly making a comeback. The slim ring keeps the wrapper in the conversation while the length gives it room to develop.

Gordo. About 6 inches by a 60 ring gauge. Roughly 90 minutes or more. A genuinely fat cigar, sometimes called a Sixty. All that filler burns slow and cool and pushes the blend's body forward. Great for a long session, though new smokers sometimes find the wide draw a lot to manage.

Torpedo and Belicoso. Around 5.5 to 6 inches by a 52 ring gauge, with a tapered head. Roughly 60 to 90 minutes. These are figurados: the pointed head concentrates the smoke and lets you control the draw by how you cut. Belicoso usually runs a little shorter with a rounder taper than a true Torpedo.

Lancero. About 7.5 inches by a 38 ring gauge. Roughly 60 to 75 minutes. Long and pencil-thin, the connoisseur's shape. The high wrapper-to-filler ratio makes it the most wrapper-forward size on this list, which is why blenders use it to show off. Rewarding, but it asks for a slow, attentive smoke.

Rothschild. About 4.5 inches by a 50 ring gauge. Roughly 30 to 45 minutes. Essentially a stubby Robusto. Same satisfying thickness, less length, so it is a shorter sit without giving up the cool draw of a fatter cigar.

The times above are estimates, and the biggest variable is you. Puff too often and you will burn hot and finish fast, and the cigar will taste harsh for it. Puff every minute or so and let it rest between draws, and the same cigar can run well past the top of its range.

A few other things move the clock. A cigar stored a touch wetter burns slower. Wind and heat outdoors burn it faster. A tight draw drags the time out, a loose one shortens it.

The practical takeaway: match the size to the time you have, then smoke slow. A Robusto is your reliable under-an-hour cigar. A Toro or Churchill is your sit-down-and-relax cigar. A Petit Corona or Rothschild is your I-only-have-a-few-minutes cigar.

If you are new, start with a Robusto or a Corona. Both finish in under an hour, both are forgiving to light and keep lit, and both come in nearly every blend, so you can taste a cigar in the shape its maker probably expects you to.

Hold off on the big 60 ring gauge Gordos at first. The wide draw takes a little practice to manage, and a slow-burning monster is a long commitment if you find out halfway through that the blend is not for you.

Skip the thin Lanceros early on too, not because they are bad, the opposite, but because their wrapper-forward character is easier to appreciate once you have a few cigars behind you. Build up to them. The fun of sizes is that the same blend becomes a slightly different cigar in each one, and that is a rabbit hole worth falling into slowly.