Category: Cigar Education
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What Is a Connecticut Cigar? The Wrapper Explained
A Connecticut cigar is named after its wrapper. Not the country it was made in, not the filler inside it. The tobacco in the middle usually comes from Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic, and the band says Connecticut because of the leaf on the outside. That is the simple answer. Two complications follow, and both…
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How a Cigar Is Made, From Seed to Shop
The cigar in your hand took longer to make than most people think, and almost none of that time was spent rolling it. Rolling is the last few minutes. Everything before it is agriculture and patience. The seed and the field Cigar tobacco is grown from seed in a covered seedbed, then transplanted to the…
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Cigar Ring Gauge in mm: Every Size, and What Thickness Actually Changes
Ring gauge is how thick a cigar is. The second number in a 5 x 50 is the ring gauge, and it counts in sixty fourths of an inch. So a 50 is fifty sixty fourths of an inch wide, which is 19.84 mm. That is the whole measurement. Below is the full chart, and…
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Aroma de Nicaragua and Hernan Lopez: Up to a Year in the Pilón, and the Nicaraguan Cigar Built Without the Pepper
By Peter Stefanic, VDG Cigars I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t plan this interview. I smoked the cigars first, which is the wrong way round. Normally there’s an email, a plan, a set of questions before I light anything at all. This time I sat with a small robusto that ran eighty-five minutes, never…
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Robusto vs Toro: Real Smoke Times, Flavor and Which One to Choose
Robusto vs toro. Stand in front of any walk-in humidor long enough and you will face that choice. Two shelves. Two sizes. Often the same band on both. Most guides answer it in two lines. The robusto is short and bold. The toro is long and complex. Pick one. That is not wrong. It is…
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The Leaf That Changes Everything: Why La Flor de Zaida and Medio Tiempo Belong in the Same Sentence
You buy a watch. A good one. You expect a reliable movement. But when you open the case, sitting inside is a hand-finished Swiss caliber. Every gear, every spring, every component touched by human hands. The same one that drives a Rolex Daytona. In every piece. As standard. That is what Antonio Piredda built with…
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The Children Nobody Reaches
One night a year, in a room in Philadelphia, cigars are lit for children who will never see the room A VDG Cigars special report, with the Roberto Martinez Foundation There is a particular way a child sits when there is nothing in their bag. They keep it closed, on their lap, with both arms…
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Cuban Cigars Explained for Beginners
There is a version of this story where someone hands you a Cuban cigar at a party and you have no idea what to do with it. The band looks impressive. The construction feels serious. And you wonder whether you are supposed to already know something you clearly do not. I have been there. Most…
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Why Are Cuban Cigars Illegal in the United States?
By Peter Stefanic, Certified Cigar Sommelier (IACS) — last updated July 2026 Cuban cigars are not illegal because of what they are. They are illegal because of where they come from. There is nothing wrong with Cuban tobacco itself. Nobody in Washington objects to the leaf. What is banned is trading with Cuba at all,…
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No Sugar Added: The Neuroscience of Why Sweet Cigars Rewire Your Brain
You smell it before you light it. Something about the foot of the cigar — earthy, warm, a little dark — registers as familiar. Comfortable. Your body relaxes slightly before you have done anything at all. And when the first draw comes and there is that unmistakable hint of chocolate or dried fruit or something…
