Vitolas
Vitola shapes and sizes
How ring gauge and length change burn time, concentration, and how a blend shows itself.
Vitola is the cigar’s format: length and ring gauge, plus named factory shapes (robusto, corona, belicoso, lancero, and so on). Larger ring gauges generally cool the smoke and can soften perceived strength; smaller formats concentrate oils and often finish faster. Factory names are not universal: a “robusto” in one house may differ slightly from another. Captaincy reviews always record the smoked vitola so scores stay comparable within format, not across wildly different smoking times.