Cigars. Every classy guy should at least know how to pick, smoke and identify one. This week we’ve got a useful and fun compact guide of (almost) everything cigar to appeal to both connoisseur and novice. Bonus: download Fuego’s compact cigar reference card to help you ID cigar shapes, color grades and top brands in the field. Slip it in your wallet for best results.

Every cigar is the result of three elements: body, size and rating.

The body is how strong the cigar is. From “take-your-head-off” extreme to full, medium and mild, pick something that tastes good but isn’t overwhelming. A full-bodied cigar could be considered by some to be strong but not necessarily flavorful — while the opposite could be true. It all depends on taste. But we hear “experienced” cigar smokers prefer full-bodied and flavorful smokes.

As for length, a cigar is always measured in inches and the most common is the 5.5-inch corona. See Fuego’s reference card for all of them. Diameter is measured by “ring,” which is 1/60th of an inch. So that same corona is measured as 5.5 x 42, or 42/60ths of an inch in diameter.

You can find cigar ratings in Cigar Aficionado, where obviously a higher score means a “better” cigar out of 100 points. In the end, a better cigar balances its aromas and flavors to give the smoker the most desirable taste.

A good place to start is Cigar Dave’s Cigar Draft — you’ll find 20 great cigars there.

Get smoking
So now it’s time to light up

There’s a reason why cigar lounges always give you wooden matches — it won’t taint the flavor. Stay away from gas lighters and paper matches for this reason. And you can take the label off once you’ve started smoking.

We’ll smoke a cigar ½ to ¾ of the way – after you’re ¾ of the way through the stick, the flavor starts to change.

There’s more to learn – you should check out this rundown on the parts of a cigar (wrapper, binders, filler) and Cigar Aficionado’s FAQ page.

That’s it. Now get yourself a smoke. And don’t forget to download Fuego’s wallet card for in-the-field intel.