The Real Value Of the 6 X 60 Size
The Question:
Compared to the 6 X 50 is the 6 X 60 worth paying up to the extra $1 that the manufacturer charges?
What I think will happen (Written before the Experiment began):
I think that the thicker of the 2 cigars with burn slightly slower than the thinner. In the end I expect that if a Gordo is $.50 or less more than the Toro in that same line that it will be a good value to spend the extra money. If the difference is $.51 or more than it will no longer be a value to spend the extra. You don’t always get what you pay for.
The Experiment:
This experiment was conducted while I was working and waiting on customers. The purpose is to satisfy my curiosity in as fair a way as I can. Rather than pick the cigars out my self I asked a member of my staff to select 2 cigars from the same brand that are the same length, to take any preconceived notions about different brands out of the equation. I can tell you that the cigar was a shade wrapped mild to medium cigar. One cigar was a 50 ring gauge (Toro) and the other a 60 (Gordo). A single ring gauge, as you may remember, is 1/64 of 1 inch making the difference between the 2 cigars 10/64 of an inch or 10 ring gauge. A typical Toro cigar is rolled with 5 leaves of tobacco and a Gordo uses about 8 leaves. I cut both cigars using my Colibri Deep V cutter($39) and lit them both with my Vertigo Cyclone II ($15). I smoked them side by side with alternating puffs every 30 seconds or so. I also alternated which one I puffed on first to make up for the difference in the draw on each cigar. In total I smoked both cigars for a little over an hour with about 140 puffs. As noted in the photos I drew a line around each of them at the same spot as a reference.
Other Notes:
The burn on the Toro was straight and true while the burn on the Gordo was very uneven throughout this experiment. I did not want to compromise the experiment by accelerating either cigar’s combustion so I didn’t touch up any burn issues. The Gordo corrected itself each time it burned crooked.
The Findings:
Since to dawn of time man has been lead to believe that bigger is always better especially when it comes to value. There is no detectable difference between the burn times of a standard Toro and a Gordo. This puts the true value in the Toro if all things are equal. With the Gordo you are paying for 3 extra filler leaves that adds little if anything to the flavor of your cigar. In this case there was a noticeable difference in the flavors of the two cigars. The Toro had flavors that were bright and sharp while the Gordo’s flavors were muted and vague. You should buy what you like because you like it. If 60 ring gauge cigars feel, taste, and they make you happy, then lightem up, lightem up, lightem up…because there is nothing wrong with paying a little extra for a happy ending.
