The Corona cigar size you probably know. Now it’s time to meet its much bigger brother, the Double Corona.
The standard corona is one of the most popular cigars on the market. In fact, lots of people start off with this friendly and fun-sized smoke. Even if you don’t have a ton of time, you can probably enjoy a corona and get back to your regularly scheduled programming pretty quickly. They’re easy to hold and draw on and are a low-commitment way to get your cigar fix. The size typically is around 5.5 inches long with a ring gauge of 42. Nothing funny is going on with the shape here – a corona is a standard parejo cigar with straight sides and a simple rounded head that resembles a dome.
Now, the Double Corona isn’t twice as long, but it does add some serious size.
Double Coronas are also referred to as “prominentes,” and land somewhere around 7.5 or 8 inches long, with ring gauges around 50. This gives you a much bigger cigar than the familiar corona and will have you in your smoking seat reveling in the tobacco blend for closer to an hour, as opposed to that quick little half-hour offered by the traditional corona.
This is a storied cigar, of course. The Cigar Aficionado rating scale goes all the way up to 100, but no cigar has ever scored that high after reviews. It’s probably interesting to debate whether any cigar should hit the top score, but for now, we’ll leave it aside. There has been one cigar to score a 99. Just one (at the time of this writing): the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona (made in Cuba). Described as “near perfection,” Cigar Aficionado’s Marvin Shanken smoked one in 1992 that had been aging since 1955! For those of you who can barely keep a cigar in smoking condition for a month, consider what it took to bring that Double Corona through the decades intact. His review praised the smooth and rewarding flavor of the blend, along with notes of nutmeg, earth, and spice.
Perhaps the next Double Corona you clip and light up will be similarly sublime? It’s hard to imagine, but if your humidor has been handed down at least one generation, there’s always a chance you will ascend into smoking heaven a few draws in.
Please browse our selection of Double Corona cigars at your leisure.
