FAQ Cuban cigars - The fascinating world of vitola, storage & ageing

✅ Briefly: Vitola de galera = Factory format (technical standard designation). Vitola de salida = trade/model name (this is how it appears on the shelf and on the box).

👉 Vitola de galeraUsed in the factory (rollers, quality control, Habanos catalogues). Standardised Format heading for all brandsdefined Length (mm) and Ring size. Often in the Plural (e.g. Robustos, Marevas, Dalias, Laguito No. 1).

👉 Vitola de salida: Commercial name for the sale; Brand and model-related. Stands on Box, price lists, websites. In the German language it is called Format. In other languages, however, this term is unknown; there it is generally referred to as Vitola.

✅ The Sick period (often called the „sick phase“ in German) describes a temporary phase in the maturation of a cigar in which its flavour drops significantly. This phase usually occurs several weeks to months after production usually occur between the 3rd and 9th month after the box date. The cause is that the tobacco continues to „work“ after rolling:

✅ Residual fermentationMicrobiological processes continue to take place in the leaves, releasing ammonia and other gases.

✅ Unbalanced flavoursThe individual tobacco leaves have not yet fully harmonised; flavour notes appear angular or unbalanced.

✅ Typical impression when smokingThe cigar can taste „hard“, bitter, sour or even flat - often accompanied by a slightly pungent odour when cold drawn.

✅ After this phase, the flavours stabilise again and the cigar gains depth, complexity and harmony with further ageing.

✅ I often hear the complaint that Cuban cigars have too much draw resistance. In my experience, this happens so rarely that I hardly want to think about it. In most cases, the cause lies in excessively moist storage.

✅ Cuban cigars feel most comfortable at a relative humidity of 69 % - 65-69 % at around 16 °C is optimal. I know that these conditions cannot be realised in a humidor at home, especially when it comes to temperature.

✅ If a cigar does have too tight a draw, place it outside the humidor for 1-2 hours (not in the sun). During this time, it will release some moisture and the draw resistance will improve significantly.

✅ You can store Cuban cigars in the original closed box or in a complete bundle in the humidor. Individual cigars belong in a sealed aluminium tubo, which you then place in the humidor. If you don't have a tubo, pack the cigar in a cling bag, add a 69% Boveda pack, close the bag tightly and place it in the humidor. (Keep-fresh bags are not permeable to air and keep the moisture constant).

The reason: Without this protection, cigars lose a lot of their flavour within a few days to weeks - an effect that I have clearly noticed in my own experiments.

✅ This is not a fault of the cigar. Cuban tobacco is not matured for so long and the cigars are often sold with young tobacco. If you smoke them around 2-4 months after the box date, they can already taste excellent. After that, however, they need a maturing phase - depending on the brand and vitola, between 1 year and over 3, 5 or even more years.