Gravitating Towards Smaller Gauge Cigars

I met a fellow herfer at a wedding a couple of months ago and he talked about how he has been going for smaller ring gauge cigars because he felt the flavor was intensified in a smaller stick. I just nodded in agreement thinking that it made sense. Then later, before I lit up a cigar of my own, he handed me a Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu petite corona. I didn’t smoke it there, but once I did get around to smoking it, I thought to myself, Damn! I think Troy was onto something!

From that point on, I’ve been on the hunt for smaller ring gauge cigars. I got some Monte White Label coronas, then when I was in New York City, I got a box of Martinez NYC Blend Queens petite coronas. And I’ve bid on a few others on CigarBid.com to add to my collection.

Not that I’m eschewing larger ring gauge cigars. Some of my favorites, like the CAO America Patomac only come in 5 X 56 size. But I’m at the point now where if a brand has a corona or petite corona available, I’ll go for that first.

And mind you, smoking time has little to do with it. It still takes over an hour for me to finish a Martinez Queens. Granted, the smaller sticks smoke faster than their fatter brethren, but I found that I have to take my time with the smaller sticks because they turn harsh if my puff rate is too fast.

But there is something to that intensity that Troy described to me. It’s akin to drinking wine out of specific types of glasses. For instance, a Pinot Noir glass has a wide body relative to a standard wine glass, and sharply tapers inward at the mouth (as shown to the left). The wide body allows the wine to breathe and open up and the sharp taper directs the wine to the tip of the tongue.

Contrast this with a Bordeaux glass (this is the most well-known shape) which tends to have a thinner body and much less of a taper. Its shape directs the wine to the back of the tongue to avoid the tip detecting the bitterness that often accompanies bold red wines such as cabernet sauvignon. Also, by directing the wine to the back of the tongue, it allows the wine to coat the mouth. This is where you’ll often hear people talk about how “chewy” a bold red wine may be.

What I learned about smaller gauge cigars is that there is much more influence from the wrapper which is where much of the flavor of a cigar comes from. So it stands to reason that the smaller gauge cigar would have more wrapper relative to the binder and the filler and a larger gauge cigar.

Mind you, this is what I’ve read. Personally, I have little experience comparing vitolas of the same brand, except for the Montecristo White Label. My first experience with it was with a couple of Churchills that I received in trade. Those made me fall in love with the cigar. But when I went to purchase them, I ordered the Coronas. I remember getting through the first inch of the Corona and remarking that it was the same flavor I remember from smoking the Churchills, but there seemed to be more of it. Granted, that could be confirmation bias, but it was what I perceived.