Cigarillo vs Cigar: What's the Difference?

Have you ever found yourself looking at a cigar and a cigarillo and wondering how they’re different? At first glance, a cigarillo looks a lot like a miniature cigar. While they have some similarities, there are also some big differences. Both cigarillos and cigars have their time and place for smokers. In this guide, we’ll help you become an expert in the similarities and differences between cigars and cigarillos.

What is a Cigarillo?

A cigarillo is a small cigar that typically uses short-filler tobacco filler and either a tobacco leaf wrapper or a reconstituted tobacco leaf wrapper. They may have flavoring, a filter, or a tip. Cigarillos often come in packs or tins. Cigarillos offer a mellow, short smoke lasting around 10 minutes.

Similarities Between Cigarillos and Cigars

• They’re both made from tobacco. Cigarillos and cigars are both made from tobacco, though as we’ll see the types of tobacco are different. While cigarillos may have flavors, tips, and filters, they are otherwise made entirely of tobacco - just like cigars.
• They can both include flavoring agents. Most cigarillos are flavored with non-tobacco flavors, though not all. Most cigars are not flavored, but some are. Flavors that could be found in some cigars and some cigarillos include fruits, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, and many more. Neither cigars nor cigarillos need to be flavored, though both can be flavored.
• They often have similar shapes. Cigarillos are almost always the same shape, and that shape looks a lot like a parejo cigar: a cylinder with straight sides, a rounded head, and an open foot.

Differences Between Cigarillos and Cigars

• Cigarillos are smaller. Cigarillos are thin and short compared to cigars, with most cigarillos coming in at 3-4 inches and under 30 ring gauge. Cigars are longer, with lengths upwards of 7 inches or more in some cases. Ring gauges are almost always above 30 for cigars.
• They use different types of tobacco. Most cigars are made with whole tobacco leaves, or parts of entire leaves. In the filler, the leaves aren’t chopped up into short filler in most premium cigars. Cigarillos, however, are normally made of these short-filler leaves. The wrappers are also different. A cigar is wrapped with a whole tobacco leaf for its outside wrapper.

Cigarillos are often wrapped with reconstituted leaf, which makes for a very consistent wrapper but is not a single leaf. Because of these differences in tobacco, a cigar will be more complex than a cigarillo and it will hold a better ash.

• They’re made differently. Most premium cigars are hand-rolled, while cigarillos tend to be machine-made. Machines make them very consistently, so cigarillos are quite a consistent product. Cigars are rolled by skilled artisans, adding a craft nature to the product.
• They take different amounts of time to smoke. Cigarillos can typically be smoked in around 10 minutes, which makes them easy to fit into a short break. Cigars, by contrast, usually take 45 minutes or longer to smoke. Think of a cigarillo like a quick snack, while a cigar is more like a full-course meal.
• They’re stored differently. Most cigarillos are dry-cured, which means they don’t need to be humidified. Most cigars are not, so they must be stored in a humidor. Some cigarillos do need to be humidified, so check when you buy them to make sure you won’t store them improperly.
• Cigarillos are cheaper. A small, machine-made cigarillo made with short filler tobacco is much cheaper than a larger hand-made cigar made with whole tobacco leaves. The tobacco in a cigar costs more, and there’s more of it. And having it rolled by a skilled roller is more expensive than having a machine do the work. That makes a cigarillo much cheaper than a cigar.
• Cigarillos may have filters or tips. Cigars don’t include filters or tips, but some cigarillos do.

Which to Choose: Cigarillo or Cigar

If you’re short on time, a cigarillo is a great choice. Most people wouldn’t want to light up a cigar and toss it away after 10 minutes. You may have a series of short breaks throughout the day where you’d like to smoke. Cigarillos will fit perfectly into your schedule and provide exactly what you’re looking for.

If you like a short smoke or a flavored smoke, give cigarillos a try. There are a lot of different flavors, so you’ll likely find one that matches your preferences.

When you have a longer block of time to relax, a cigar would be a good choice. Or if you’re looking for a stronger or more complex flavor experience, cigars will fill that desire perfectly.

Many smokers enjoy both cigars and cigarillos, depending on the amount of time they have available and what kind of smoking experience they’d like at that moment. There’s no reason you have to pick just one or the other! Try both and see which suits you best.