Figurado

What is Figurado? Figurado is the umbrella category for premium cigars that break from the straight-sided parejo silhouette, encompassing any shape with a taper, a point, a bulge, or a closed foot. The family includes Pyramid, Torpedo, Belicoso, Perfecto, Salomon, Diadema, Culebra, Presidente, and the modern Chisel. These cigars command higher prices than comparable parejos because they are harder to roll and are typically assigned to a factory's most experienced torcedores. Their changing ring gauge along the length produces a more dynamic, evolving smoking experience that aficionados prize.

A Brief History

Figurados dominated the cigar market in the 19th century, when sculpted shapes were considered the height of the roller's craft. By the 1930s, however, they had fallen out of fashion and all but disappeared from shop shelves, replaced by simpler, easier-to-produce parejos that suited industrial output.

The revival came in the late 20th and early 21st century, as boutique manufacturers and a new generation of aficionados rediscovered the appeal of sculpted vitolas. Arturo Fuente helped push the category into novelty territory, producing extreme figurados shaped like chili peppers, baseball bats, and American footballs, while La Flor Dominicana patented the Chisel — a modern figurado with a flat, tapered cap rather than a rounded one.

The Main Shapes

The Pyramid has a broad foot that tapers uniformly to a pointed cap, typically six inches or longer with a ring gauge that rarely exceeds 54. The Torpedo, in its modern form, pairs a pointed cap with a straight barrel, although the historical torpedo was rolled with both a closed foot and a bulbous center. The Belicoso sits between a parejo and a torpedo: short, sharply tapered, with a rounded rather than pointed cap, often described as a compact pyramid at around five to five and a half inches.

The Perfecto tapers at both ends with a bulged center, its foot finished as a nipple or a gentle taper, and its cap left parejo-style or twisted into a pigtail. The Salomon is a larger figurado built with an elongated shoulder, torpedo-tipped cap, bulging barrel, and a nipple foot — originally seven inches or more, with a ring gauge of 57 or higher. The Diadema is a very large composite figurado, eight inches at minimum, combining features from several shapes and increasingly rare today. The Culebra is unmistakable: three long, pointed cigars braided together, historically handed to factory workers as a daily ration.

Why Aficionados Choose Them

The appeal of a figurado is not only visual. Because the diameter changes along the cigar, the burn passes through different ring gauges as it progresses, shifting the concentration of smoke and the balance of wrapper to filler. The result is a smoking experience that evolves from first light to final inch — fuller in some passages, more focused and aromatic in others.

That complexity, combined with the skill required to roll a clean taper or a symmetrical bulge, is why figurados remain a category for occasions and for smokers who want more than a uniform draw. The price reflects the labor, but so does the experience in the hand and on the palate.