Short answer: stogie is slang for a cigar. It comes from the Conestoga wagon, whose drivers smoked long, cheap, roughly rolled cigars in the 1800s. Today people use it casually for any cigar, though it still carries a whiff of the inexpensive end.
Where the word came from
Conestoga wagons hauled freight across Pennsylvania and westward. The drivers smoked long, thin, hand-rolled cigars made locally, and the cigars picked up the wagon's name — shortened over time to stogie.
Does it mean a cheap cigar?
Historically yes. In use now it is mostly affectionate, and plenty of smokers call a Padrón a stogie without meaning anything by it. If you are in a shop and want to be precise, ask about a cigar by its size: robusto, toro, churchill, corona.
Cigar terms worth knowing
- Vitola: the size and shape of a cigar.
- Ring gauge: diameter in 64ths of an inch. A 50 ring is just under an inch.
- Parejo: a straight-sided cigar. Figurado: a shaped one.
- Wrapper, binder, filler: the three parts of the blend.
- Puro: a cigar whose tobacco all comes from one country.
Where to start
If you are buying a first cigar, see our beginner guide, or call the lounge at 928-276-3500 and describe what you like to drink.
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