7 Best Small Cigars (All Tastes and Budgets)

Sometimes, you don’t have time to sit down and dedicate 2 hours to stogie. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

I always keep some shorties in my humidor for when the situation demands:

• Bad Weather – Particularly in Winter, I need something I can wrap up in 20 – 30 minutes before my fingers freeze off.
• Morning Coffee – I like to enjoy a smoke in the morning, but I’m not going to get up 3 hours before work to make it happen. I need something that matches the length of a cup of coffee.
• Non-smoker Friends – People who aren’t used to cigars don’t want to gorge themselves on a fat stogie. They’ll either suffer through the whole thing and start to feel ill, or just waste half of one of my cigars.

Luckily, the best small cigars can be a good stop-gap when you still want the premium cigar experience without giving up a chunk of your day.

My top pick is Cohiba Pequenos, which are absolutely as good as their bigger brothers. Shades of chocolate, pepper, and espresso deliver a level of balanced complexity that I’m not used to finding in such a small package.

They last about 25 minutes, so if you want something that can hang in there just a little longer, check out Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story. They last 45 minutes, so they’re more suited for killing a lunch hour with a good book.

In this guide I’ve tried to cover a range of budgets and tastes, so let’s get into it.

The 7 Best Small Cigars

Cohiba Pequenos – Best Small Cigar Overall

First things first, the presentation when you open a box of these bad boys is remarkable. The solid mahogany case feels premium and really elevates the experience – like you’re about to do something special.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

But it’s not all just looks. There’s plenty of Cohiba flavor packed into these Pequenos – just as tasty as the larger ring gauges.

The whole smoke brings obvious notes of dark chocolate and espresso, plenty of black pepper and spice, with a pleasant, slightly leathery aftertaste. 

The silky, African Cameroon wrapper is lightly sweet and burns down crisply for 25 minutes, before becoming a little difficult to draw towards the nub. 

It’s the perfect duration to go with a nice black coffee in the morning, with the flavor palate to match.

Who knew you could fit so much quality into such a small cigar? This pocket rocket is a taste of true luxury.

Strength	Medium
Shape	Small Cigar
Size	4 3/16 x 36
Country	Dominican Republic
Color	Natural
Wrapper Origin	African
Wrapper Leaf	Cameroon

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Rocky Patel Juniors – Best Budget Small Cigar

These economically-priced Petit Coronas are packed with rich Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco, encased in a sweet, thinly-veined Connecticut wrapper. It’s a beautiful combination that delivers the flavor you would expect from a cigar twice the size.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

Sure, it’s a little one-dimensional – but it’s a flavor you’ll want to smoke right down to the nub.

Rocky Patel Juniors are wonderfully constructed, with ash that will stay put until you flick it. For a 20 – 30 minute smoke to pair with a coffee on your lunch break, you can’t do much better.

Just be aware – some of these hand-rolled smokes can be a little tight on the draw until the midway point. I find they smoke a little more consistently if I use a small bullet punch instead of a cutter.

If you’re looking for something, short, tasty, and inexpensive, this is the smoke for you.

• Check out our full guide on the best budget cigars for more.

Strength	Medium
Shape	Small Cigar
Size	4 x 38
Country	Honduras
Color	Natural
Wrapper Origin	Connecticut
Wrapper Leaf	Connecticut Shade

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Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story – Best Small Arturo Fuente Cigar 

I had to try out these smokes, named after my favorite author Ernest Hemingway. I loved his novels, and I love these stogies, too.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

Hemingway Short Storys come in the Perfecto shape, which is one of the hardest to pull off while maintaining good construction and consistent draw. 

It packs plenty of evolving, layered, and rich Dominican flavor without overpowering. The whole journey is smooth, but with enough body to feel like a serious smoke.

This medium-bodied smoke is the perfect accompaniment for after work when you need to relax but don’t have all the time in the world.

Pull up a chair, kick back in the garden, and take 45 minutes to reflect on how good life can be. 

The ash stayed for half the cigar, which tells you all you need to know about the construction quality at play here.

• Check out our full guide on the best Arturo Fuente cigars for more.

Strength	Medium
Shape	Figurado
Size	4 x 48
Country	Dominican Republic
Color	Natural
Wrapper Origin	African
Wrapper Leaf	Cameroon

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The Griffin’s – Best Davidoff Small Cigar

These small cigars are great value for money. They’re about $4 a pop, and still have the classic Davidoff Dominican flavor and quality you’ve come to expect.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

The smoke is smooth and mild and goes perfectly with a cup of coffee when time is short. They take about 15-20 minutes to smoke, which is perfect for me as part of my morning routine. 

For the price, you’d expect Davidoff to take some shortcuts. But Griffin’s are all beautifully rolled and they draw beautifully.

You could say that the palate is a little less exciting than more complex smokes like the Nicaragua Diademas BXP, but the quality is still there. Like a high-quality vanilla ice cream, this is a straightforward flavor done well.

They come in handy tins of six that are easy to sling in your suit jacket pocket without wondering if your smokes will survive.

Strength	Mellow
Shape	Small Cigar
Size	4 1/8 x 34
Country	Dominican Republic
Color	Natural
Wrapper Origin	Ecuadorian
Wrapper Leaf	Connecticut Shade

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Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Maduro – Best Small Maduro Cigar

This hand-rolled cigar goes perfectly with espresso, with the naturally sweet notes of the dark Maduro wrapper melding gorgeously with the bitterness of the coffee.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

The smooth, clean draw is packed full of chocolate, tree nuts, and cedar. The body is lusciously dark and doesn’t have the salty/sour quality that poorer quality Maduros tend to suffer from.

Exquisitos Maduros break all the rules of a smaller cigar. All the depth and complexity you would expect from something weightier is present here, with a volume of rich smoke that belies its smaller form.

Perfect if you want the full cigar experience in half the time. Occasional smokers and experts alike will enjoy this smoke that proves you don’t need to pay large sums for a top-tier Maduro.

• Check out our full guide on the best Maduro cigars for more.

Strength	Medium
Shape	Panatela
Size	4 1/2 x 33
Country	Dominican Republic
Color	Maduro
Wrapper Origin	Connecticut
Wrapper Leaf

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Nub Maduro 460 – Best Small Gas Station Cigar

The Nub Maduro has a Nicaraguan blend as its filler, encased in a dark and oily Brazilian Maduro wrapper. It’s a beautiful combination that produces creamy plumes of smoke with threads of dark chocolate and coffee zing.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

It starts with a little toffee sweetness, but as you get halfway through, you’ll notice a light and pleasant prickle of pepper start to replace it. 

The NUb brand is produced by the Olivia company in their Nicaragua factory, with the same level of care and quality ingredients as the primary brand.

Don’t be fooled by the form factor – this Nub with take you between 45 and 60 minutes to smoke, which is a strong session.

All nubs are between 3 ½ and 4 inches, and they tend to have a wider ring gauge to compensate. This means that a nub can last as long, and contain as much tobacco, as a far longer cigar like a Presidente or Churchill.

This surprisingly complex smoke pairs perfectly with a glass of Jameson, so give that a try when you’re by the campfire on your next road trip.

Strength	Full
Shape	Rothschild
Size	4 x 60
Country	Nicaragua
Color	Maduro
Wrapper Origin	Brazilian
Wrapper Leaf	Arapiraca

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Padron 1964 Anniversary Maduro Principe – Best Aged Short Cigar 

This is a slender stick, but no slouch when it comes to taste. Made with all-Nicaraguan leaf that’s been aged for 4 years, the Padron 1964 Maduro is incredibly hard to beat at its price point.

• Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here

This bold blend is earthy, slightly sweet, and harbors hits of prickly pepper that will keep you engaged for the whole smoke. It’s a complex palate with a nutty aftertaste that manages to maintain its smoothness throughout.

The Principe size is perfect for when you don’t have a bunch of time to invest in enjoying a quality smoke. It’s the perfect duration for a nightcap after a long day at work, with an easy draw and consistent burn.

If you’re looking for a rich and velvety smoke that is a little more than medium, look no further.

• Check out our full guide on the best Padron cigars for more.

Strength	Full
Shape	Corona
Size	4 1/2 x 46
Country	Nicaragua
Color	Maduro
Wrapper Origin	Nicaraguan
Wrapper Leaf	Habano

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What You Should Know Before Buying the Best Small Cigars

What’s the best place to buy small cigars online?

It’s hard to believe with over 17 million cigar smokers just in the US that there are little more than a dozen credible places to purchase cigars online. Now of course there are small shops all over that sell online cigars, but they just don’t come up on any broad google search.

Most will let you down somewhere – if they have good shipping, they’re expensive. If they’re the right price, you’ll lack a proper guarantee.

My favorite online cigar store – Famous Smoke Shop -strikes a great balance, and most importantly – they’re reliable.

There’s nothing worse than your cigars arriving late, not showing up at all, or receiving dried-out stogies in terrible condition.

What’s the difference between a small cigar and a cigarillo?

Cigars generally come longer than cigarillos and range from 4.5 to 7.5 inches in length depending on the brand. The ring gauge of a cigar is the circumference of its body at its widest point. The average size for a cigar is 38 to 60 ring gauge; anything smaller than that would be considered a cigarillo.

Cigarillos measure approximately 3 to 5 inches long, which is longer than a cigarette but smaller than cigars.

Cigarillos often have a sweet-flavored wrapper and are usually smoked during the day when it wouldn’t be as convenient to smoke a cigar.

Cigarillos are often flavored with additives, giving them both a distinctive scent and taste. Popular gas station cigarillo flavors include honey, bourbon, berry – and even banana.

FAQs – What You Should Know About the Best Small Cigars

If you enjoyed this article, check out some of our cigar articles here:

• Cigar Punch vs Cutter – Which is Right for You?
• 6 Best Davidoff Cigars (All Tastes and Budgets)
• 8 Best Cheap Cigars (All Tastes and Budgets)