A 'Havana' is a handmade cigar manufactured in Cuba, from 100% Cuban tobacco.

1. The three parts of a cigar:

Head - The end that is cut and placed between the lips.

Body

Foot/Base - The end that is lit.

2. Ring Gauges. The imperial scale gives the diameter of the cigar expressed in 64ths of one inch (one inch = 25.4 mm). For example Hoyo de Monterry - Epicure No2 has a ring gauge of 50 which means its diameter is 50/64 of an inch. The diameter ring gauge represents the widest part of the cigar (especially where torpedos are concerned).

3. Where shown, metric equivalent measurements are in brackets.

4. What is the name of your Havana? There are potentially three different names for each Havana cigar. These are the Brand name, the Model name (which indicates the commercial shape) and the Galera (gallery/rolling room) production shape name.

The Brand Name. This is given to a specific cigar size for that particular brand. For example, the Partagas Lusitania (brand name) also has the commercial name Double Corona and the galera name Prominente. However, it is quite common for certain brand sizes not to be given specific names: in this case, they are generally known by their commercial shape name.
The Model Name. This refers to the official commercial name, for example Churchill, Corona, Lonsdale. These commercial shapes apply to specific lengths and girths, which may, however, vary slightly from brand to brand.
The Galera Name. The gallery name defines the characteristics of the cigar's length, weight and ring gauge for each model. Thus the gallery name for a Churchill is a Julieta, and for a Petit Corona is Mareva. These names are shown above each cigar illustrated in the Havana Size Guide.

5. Length. Each model's length is expressed in inches and is, of course, approximate. Only a machine can produce cigars of strictly identical length.

6. Shape. Although this is not specifically shown in this list, the shape of a cigar's circumference can vary depending on the box it is packed in. It will be round if packed in a cabinet box and square if packed in a pressed flat box.

7. Presentation. The two classic presentations for Havana cigars are flat boxes and cabinets. The boxes can be varnished, in plain natural wood, or in decorated nataral wood (known as semi-boite nature - SBN).

Boxes may contain 50, 25 or 10 cigars. Cigars sold in cabinet boxes are presented in bundles of 25 or 50 cigars (apart from the Trinidad Fundadores, which is 24 and 50). They are in natural wood, except for Cohiba, which are varnished. There are also different methods of packaging cigars, such as in tubes, small boxes, single sleeves and cellophane (generally indicates a machine-made cigar from Cuba).