What is the Difference between Body and Strength?

When searching for a cigar you will come across descriptions of strength and body of the smoke. Strength and body often get mistaken for each other, but you can have a cigar that isn’t very strong in terms of strength but be very strong in body - otherwise known as full bodied. So what is the difference you ask?

Body -

The body of a cigar refers to the depth of its flavour - meaning how much of the flavour can be tasted and how intense it is. If you compare the body of cigars to wine, a full bodied wine will be very rich on the palate with bolder notes and more texture whereas a mild-bodied wine will be light and zesty. So a full bodied cigar is full of flavour with many different tasting notes and a mild bodied cigar has less flavour or maybe just one standard flavouring throughout.

Strength -

The strength of a cigar is based on the nicotine content. It gives you an idea of how intense the nicotine level will be in your smoke and it is up to you whether or not your body can cope with high levels. Mild strength cigars won’t have much effect whereas full strength may give you a bit of buzz that you may or may not enjoy. This buzz can go negative as if your body can’t handle the strength, it may reject the nicotine which will result in sickness. 

One misconception about the strength of cigars is that dark cigars are stronger than light ones. This is not necessarily true as most of the strength comes from the filler, however means the colour of the wrapper won’t affect the strength, however some strong cigars do have a dark wrapper, so it is always good to do your research if you are concerned about the strength.

Despite body and strength being two different things they do relate somewhat - The tobacco leaves that contain the most nicotine are also considered to be the most flavourful and therefore that cigars strength and body falls under the same description. A great example is the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion range, it is a medium strength cigar but is a full bodied cigar giving you some great flavours of black pepper and brown sugar, which you notice more than the strength itself.

Written by Oliver Partington