Cigar Ring Gauge and Band Sizes

[Bijan]

I just noticed that some bands list what seems to be the ring gauge or ring gauge range on the side.

Hoyo de Monterrey, seems to have 4 different ones.

The Du Maire band pictured below, shows 30-33

The Du Depute has 38-40-42

The next size I believe up is 46-52, but I haven't had one of the new 54 or 56 RG ones to know if those are the same or a 4th size.

On the other hand I think from what I've seen on Romeo y Julieta bands are 30-46, and 47-52  (again haven't had anything over 52RG there).

It seems Cuban Cigar Website tracks the changing band designs over time, but doesn't seem to go into this minute detail.

I think I've seen these ranges listed on RyJ, Hoyo and Partagas. I think I haven't seen them on Montecristo or Cohibas, but I assume they also have different bands for different ring gauges.

Anyone know any interesting facts about this?

[NSXCIGAR]

That band would have been used for the du Maire (30) and the du Gourmet (33).

Doesn't look like a Vrijdag band. HSA still has some of their lower-end or smaller bands made elsewhere to cut costs and they have different ring numbers, ranges and appearance. They probably just haven't updated the printing template since the du Gourmet has only been gone since 2013-2014.

As far as CCW, that wouldn't be considered a design difference but a printer's mark essentially. CCW also doesn't classify band size. Most brands have the same design but several different sizes. 

[ATGroom]

Here's a few for you: Cohiba 55-60, 48-54, 38-47; Hoyo 50/52, 46/52, 38/40/4; and Upmann 54, 46-52, and 31-42.

If you note the little V symbol on the tails of some bands - that's the logo of Vrijdag Premium Printing, a Dutch company that does most of the Habanos stuff. There is usually a very visible difference in crispness and precision on a Vrijdag band vs one printed in Cuba.

Note that with the Cohiba, all the bands are the exact same size vertically, just longer, but with the other two the whole design is bigger on the bigger bands. CCW does occasionally (very inconsistently) note that something has a "large standard band" because of this. Generally only when a cigar was the first to use a larger version and the size of the band jumped out at me.

With the Hoyo the 46-52 and the 50/52 are the exact same height, but the 46 is actually longer... not sure what's going on there. I don't remember what cigars these bands came from, but if I had to guess I'd say at some point they rationalised multiple sizes into one between batches.

Also to note, Cuba has no qualms at all about cutting bigger bands down to fit. Very common to see this on thinner cigars that don't do a huge volume.

 

[Cigar Salute]

THIS!  

Also, the Cohiba Panatela uses a 26-33 band.  Virtually every Exquisitos I've smoked is either a 38-47 band or 48-54 band that's been cut down.  They also sometimes cut the part of the band that contains the Alpha-numeric UV code on the Cohiba bands when they do this.  Being a person that primary enjoys skinny cigars, I was very surprised initially when I started paying attention to this.  Also, found a new logo on the bands from a 2019 box of Montecristo no 4's.  They have a slightly different glossy appearance than the previous bands, which I'm pretty sure were made by Vrijdag...I have to double-check.

[ATGroom]

1 hour ago, Cigar Salute said:

Also, found a new logo on the bands from a 2019 box of Montecristo no 4's.  They have a slightly different glossy appearance than the previous bands, which I'm pretty sure were made by Vrijdag...I have to double-check.

Very interesting! I have never seen a band with that logo. Perhaps they have moved some production away from Vrijdag.

And yes, correct on the cutting removing the security features on Cohiba and Montecristo. Sometimes they trim it from the right, sometimes from the left.

[NSXCIGAR]

6 hours ago, ATGroom said:

Very interesting! I have never seen a band with that logo. Perhaps they have moved some production away from Vrijdag.

Yes, interesting indeed. Would make some sense since there are probably more Monte 40-42 RG bands used than any other. Probably 30-40% of all CCs. Could be 30-50 million bands. If you could get them even one or two cents less each that's several hundred thousand dollars saved per year. 

Interesting also that the band pictured shows 47-54 RG but came from a Monte 4.

[Cigar Salute]

From a 4-pack of Vegueros Entretiempos purchased Winter 2019.  Not sure on box date of the cigars