Cigar World Education
From beginners to experts, we have educational content nearly anyone can find useful.

The Best Small Cigars for Every Occasion
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Cigars 101
Big cigars are eye-catching, sure, but they’re not always the best choice for the moment. Indeed, small cigars (thin cigars, short cigars, etc.) are often perfectly suited for social gatherings and celebrations. Here, we’ll highlight some of our favorite small cigars and explain the best times to have a quicker smoke.
Guide to Cigar Sizes and Shapes: 2025
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Cigars 101
Cigars come in many — *many* — shapes and sizes. From the traditional to the common, to the downright peculiar, today we’re covering all cigar sizes and shapes in one handy guide. Plus, we’ll explain why these different shapes and sizes matter (i.e., how they affect the smoking experience).
What are Primings and How do They Influence the Smoking Experience? 2025 Edition
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Cigars 101
Cigar blenders have many techniques they can use to influence the flavor profile of a cigar. One such way is to assemble cigars with tobacco leaves taken from certain primings. What are primings? Primings refer to the process of harvesting tobacco leaves in a pre-determined order.
Let’s break that down further here.
The Best Cigars to Smoke While Grilling Out
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Best Of
Whether you plan on chilling, grilling, or some combination of the two this summer, a backyard cookout is a great occasion to light up a few cigars. Smoking outdoors can be a wonderful way to pass the time. However, you should probably select cigars that boast bold flavor profiles if you plan to smoke at a BBQ. Cigars with subtle nuances aren’t ideal for these settings because you could miss some of the flavors due to factors like wind, other aromas, etc. To that point, here are our picks for the best cigars to smoke while grilling out.
How to Rehydrate Cigars: 2025 Edition
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Cigars 101
Have you suffered from a bad smoking experience lately? The reason might be poor humidification. Thankfully, we’re here to explain how you can rehydrate dried-out cigars. Let’s break it down.
How to Pair Cigars and Drinks: 2025
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Pairing Guides
What is the best drink to have with a cigar? The answer is subjective, of course, but as a general rule, the drink should complement the cigar, not the other way around.
Cigars and Horse Racing: Our Top Picks
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Best Of
The Kentucky Derby is one of the finest spectacles in all of sports. While the race only lasts around 2 minutes, the day is filled with pageantry, partying, and plenty of cigars! Indeed, horse racing is a fantastic occasion for lighting up a premium cigar. So whether you’re headed to Kentucky for the “Run for the Roses,” or you’re just looking for a great cigar for horse racing, we’ve got you covered.
Cigar World Explains Cigar Ratings
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Cigars 101
What makes a great cigar a great cigar? At a certain level, enjoying a cigar is subjective. You may love a cigar because it was a gift, or because of an occasion, or any number of sentimental reasons. However, cigar ratings look to measure and rank cigars based on “objective” factors like taste, draw, burn, “dynamism”, consistency, and, occasionally, appearance and price. Here, we’ll delve into cigar ratings, explain what they mean, and help you make sense of the various awards and accolades that cigar brands value so much.
Ecuadorian Sumatra vs. Ecuadorian Habano Tobacco
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Cigars 101
Ecuador is one of the best places in the world to grow tobacco. With its warm climate, volcanic soil, and unique cloud coverage, Ecuador offers cigar manufacturers a unique set of favorable conditions to explore. Ecuadorian tobacco often makes for exceptional cigar wrapper leaves, and as a result, a number of sub-varieties of Ecuadorian tobacco exist. Today, we’ll take a deep dive into a few of them and explore Ecuadorian Sumatra, Ecuadorian Habano, and Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade tobacco — along with a few cigar recommendations to keep things interesting.
Cigar World’s Top Gigante Cigars
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Best Of
Less is not more; more is more. If you believe in this maxim, then you’ll love today’s article highlighting our favorite gigante cigars. Thicker ring gauge cigars have only grown in popularity over the past few decades, and these big, powerful smokes consistently prove to be crowd (and critic) pleasers. Check out our top gigante cigars for 2025.
The Best Cigar Gift Sets
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Best Of
Cigars make a tremendous gift for just about any occasion. Holidays, birthdays, promotions, and anniversaries all present great opportunities to get the cigar lover in your life a little something special. If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, though, you’re in good hands. We’ve scoured the internet to find the best cigar gift sets to fit any budget. Check out these fantastic cigar gifts here.
The Best Cigar Lighters & Torches
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Best Of
A quality torch lighter is an essential item for any cigar lover. While you can *technically* light up a cigar with just about any flame, the best cigar lighters and torches will enable you to get an even, consistent burn going time after time. If you’re new to the cigar hobby — or if you’re in the market for a new cigar lighter — you’ve come to the right place. We’ve sifted through the reviews and the ratings, so you don’t have to! Check out the best cigar lighters and torches as vetted by Cigar World.
Top 5 Large Cigar Humidors
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Best Of
Besides the cigars themselves, no purchase is more important to a cigar lover than a cigar humidor. Cigar humidors come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges, but if you’re looking for the best of the best, you’re in the right place. We’ve sifted through the reviews and ratings and uncovered the best large cigar humidors on the market to make your life a little easier. Check out our top large cigar humidors that make the perfect home for any sizable collection of premium cigars.
Cigar World Spotlight: European Tobacco & Cigars
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Best Of
Europe has long been an important market for cigar manufacturers, and many famous Europeans have harbored a profound love of cigars over the years (none more so than Winston Churchill). However, recently, cigar brands have begun to feature European tobacco in premium cigars. Let’s explore European tobacco and explain what makes it an exciting new player in the cigar industry.
2025 Cigar Madness is Back!
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Cigars 101
Everyone’s favorite bracket-based competition has returned for 2025! It's time for another year of Cigar World Cigar Madness. This year fourteen of the most popular brands in the industry are set to battle it out to see who will hoist the Cigar World Cigar Madness Championship trophy! It's time for you to decide who wins! Make sure to follow us on our Instagram and cast your vote for your favorite smokes all month long.
The Top 5 Everyday Cigars
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Cigars 101
A great cigar is a great cigar all the time, right? Well, not necessarily. Some cigars are simply too expensive, too big, or too rare to enjoy on a regular basis. Such cigars will make quality special occasion smokes, but they’re unlikely to be a wise choice for enjoying Monday through Friday. Instead, today, we’ll focus on a few sticks that are excellent everyday carry candidates. Here are our favorite everyday cigars.
Cigar Smoking Basics: Tips for Enjoying Your First Cigar
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Cigars 101
You never get a second chance at a first impression. Smoking a cigar should be an enjoyable experience, but, unfortunately, too many people don’t like their first forrays into cigar culture. If you’re new to the cigar hobby — or you have a friend who wants to start trying cigars — be sure to read this article ASAP! Here, we’ll share some cigar-smoking basics and pass along a few key tips for enjoying your first cigar and smoking experience.
The Rise of Women Smoking Cigars
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Cigars 101
There are many many common misconceptions about the cigar industry. But, one of the biggest fallacies over the last several years is that cigars are a male-dominated pastime. Now, historically, there’s no question, that’s true. But over the last 5 to 8 years we’ve seen a tremendous rise of empowered women smoking cigars as not only a hobby, but embracing the full lifestyle as well.
Top Cigars With Vanilla Tasting Notes for 2025
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Best Of
Vanilla is a core tasting note in many cigar flavor profiles. Indeed, the best Connecticut Shade cigars often produce creamy, smooth, and vanilla-heavy smoking experiences. However, cigars with vanilla tasting notes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. So whether you’re new to the cigar game or looking for a recommendation, you’re in the right place. Check out the best cigars with vanilla tasting notes — updated for 2025.
In all seriousness, a vanilla cigar is any cigar with flavor notes reminiscent of vanilla. Think creamy, smooth and mellow. We’re going to drop some of our favorite cigars with vanilla notes at the bottom, but first, let’s break down what exactly constitutes a vanilla cigar.
The Best Cigar Bars in Charlotte
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Cigars 101
What’s not to love about Charlotte? It has pro sports, delicious BBQ, and, of course, the best cigar bars and lounges. If you’re looking for a place to grab a drink and light up a smoke, then you’ve got a lot of options (and a tough choice to make). Luckily, we’ve narrowed down the list for you. Here are our favorite cigar-friendly spots in the Queen City.
The Best Cigar Bars in Denver
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Cigars 101
Ready to take things up a level in the Mile High City? Today, we’re spotlighting some of our favorite cigar bars and lounges in Denver. Whether you’re in town for the weekend or looking for a new spot to kick back with a premium smoke, we’ve got the best places to smoke cigars in Denver covered here.
Top Rated Mellow Cigars For 2025
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Cigars 101
While mellow cigars are occasionally classed as “beginner cigars,” the truth is that cigars with lighter wrappers and mellower bodies can still impart tons of flavor and produce extraordinary smoking experiences. So whether you’re a newbie or a long-time cigar lover, you’ll find some excellent recommendations on our list of the top-rated mellow cigars for 2025.
Top Cigars with Chocolate Tasting Notes for 2025
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Cigars 101
Check out some of the best cigars with chocolate tasting notes. Learn about chocolatey cigars.
Top 5 Cigars with Honduran Tobacco
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Cigars 101
Honduras is one of the leading producers of premier tobacco and fine cigars in the world. Indeed, some of the most acclaimed cigars in the industry are Honduran puros (meaning they only feature Honduran tobacco). True, some other countries and growing regions may get more attention from the cigar community, but this list will prove that Honduran smokes can still deliver the goods — and then some! Check this out if you’ve been sleeping on Honduran cigars.
The Top Humidifiers for Your Humidor
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Cigars 101
Cigars left outside of a humidified environment, though, typically won’t last longer than a few days before they become brittle, cracked, or unsmokable. That’s why it’s so important to have a quality humidor to store your cigars and to have effective humidifiers in your humidor. Today, we’ll list the top humidifiers for your humidor so you can make your next purchase with confidence.