Vitola names are marketing; sizes are facts
One brand’s robusto is another brand’s corona gorda. Record the numbers.
There is no standards body for cigar size names. "Robusto" describes a rough neighbourhood — around 5 inches by 50 — and brands place themselves in it wherever they like.
How far the drift goes
A robusto can be anywhere from 4¾ × 48 to 5½ × 54 depending on the maker. Toros range wider still. Some brands invent names entirely — "Gordito", "Magnum", "No. 4" — that mean nothing outside that catalogue.
None of this is deceptive; it is just the absence of a standard. The problem only appears when you use the name as if it were data.
What to record instead
Length in inches and ring gauge. Two numbers, unambiguous, comparable across every brand and every country. If you write "robusto" in a note and read it back in two years, you have recorded a category; if you write 5 × 50, you have recorded a cigar.
Do this: when a blend disappoints in one size, check the numbers before blaming the blend. Half the "I prefer their toro" opinions are really "I prefer 52 ring to 50", which is a much more portable preference.
The names that are still useful
- Corona family: reliably narrow (42–44 ring), whatever the length.
- Lancero: almost always long and thin, near 38.
- Petit: a real signal that something is short.
- Figurado names — torpedo, perfecto, belicoso — describe shape, which is harder to fudge than size.
The Cuban exception
Cuban factory vitolas are internally consistent: a Mareva is a Mareva across brands. That is a real standard, but it is a production standard and not the name on the box, which is why the same cigar has two names and only one of them is precise.
Numbers arrive with the scan
When the sommelier reads a band it fills in the format alongside the brand and line, so entries carry the actual size rather than whatever the label called it. Comparing across brands becomes possible because the thing being compared is the same kind of fact.
Read next
Ring gauge, explained by what it changes in your mouth
More filler, cooler smoke, and a shift in what you actually taste.
Formats & vitolasCuban vitola names and their factory equivalents
Every Cuban cigar has two names: the one on the box and the one in the factory.
Buying & authenticityReading a cigar band
Brand, line, factory marks and the words that are there purely to sell.