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Learn · Sizes & ShapesFigurado Shapes
A figurado is any cigar that isn't a straight-sided cylinder... if it tapers, points, or bulges anywhere, it belongs to this family.
The shapes
- Belicoso: a standard body ending in a short, rounded taper at the head. One has been reviewed here... the Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Belicoso (5⅜ × 52), which landed a Hand-Me-One (2/4).
- Torpedo: a longer, sharper taper to a real point.
- Pyramid: tapers along its whole length, from a wide open foot up to a pointed head.
- Perfecto: tapered at both ends, usually with a rounded belly and a closed foot.
- Salomon: the showpiece... a large perfecto-style vitola with both ends worked, often finishing in a small nipple at the foot.
In practice, "torpedo" and "belicoso" get used almost interchangeably by makers and shops. The names blur; the shapes are cousins. Dimensions still read length × ring gauge, but on a figurado the ring is quoted at the widest point and keeps changing as you smoke.
What the taper actually does
- At the head, a taper funnels smoke onto a smaller patch of your palate. People describe it as concentrating or focusing flavor.
- At the cut, you choose how much of the point to take off, which tunes the draw... cut a little, test, cut more only if it's tight.
- At the foot, a closed or tapered foot means the first few puffs are mostly wrapper, so a perfecto opens on a different note than it settles into.
- Along the body, the changing ring gauge shifts the wrapper-to-filler balance as you go, so the cigar evolves by geometry alone.
Figurados are also genuinely harder to roll than parejos, which is why factories hand them to their most experienced rollers... and part of why they tend to sit at the pricier end of a line.
Keep reading
Reviewed at WSA since this page was written
Ashton VSG Torpedo Review
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La Aroma de Cuba Noblesse Viceroy Review
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Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story Review
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La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull Review
The La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull is a Hand-Me-One (2/4) at about $25 street... the best-constructed cigar I've ever had in my hand, wrapped...
Arturo Fuente Añejo No. 77 "The Shark" Review
The Arturo Fuente Añejo No. 77 "The Shark" is a Box Buy (4/4) at about $23 street... complex, layered, and phenomenal start to finish, and I'll be...
Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado Review
The Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado is a Hand-Me-One (2/4) at about $14 street... nothing bad, nothing good, just nothing, the most forgettable cigar...
Foundation 10 Year Aniversario Salomon Review
The Foundation 10 Year Aniversario Salomon is a Box Buy (4/4) at $35 street... a Mexican hot chocolate of a cigar that stays excellent start to finish...
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Torpedo Review
The My Father Le Bijou 1922 Torpedo is a Five-Pack (3/4) at $11.75 to $12.25 street... for this stick, on this night, and just barely over that line.