Last reviewed November 3, 2026 · By the Native-Smokes.com team
The tobacco world has its own vocabulary. Here are the words you'll meet most often, in plain language. Follow any link to read more.
- Air-cured
- Tobacco dried slowly in open, ventilated barns. Burley is air-cured. Read more
- Ash
- What's left after the tobacco burns. A firm ash is a sign of good tobacco and paper.
- Blend
- The recipe of leaf types, grades and harvests a brand uses, kept the same from carton to carton.
- Burley
- An air-cured leaf that's fuller and a little nutty, used for body in American-style blends. Read more
- Burn rate
- How fast a cigarette burns. Set by the tobacco, how firmly it's packed and the paper.
- Canadian blend
- A blend built mainly on flue-cured Virginia: bright, clean and smooth. Read more
- Canoeing
- When one side of a cigarette burns faster than the other.
- Carton
- A box of packs: 10 packs of 20, or 8 packs of 25, so 200 cigarettes. Read more
- Casing
- A light coating of flavourings added to some leaf, mainly in American-style blends. Read more
- Charcoal filter
- A filter with a section of activated charcoal, for a cleaner, smoother taste. Read more
- Curing
- Drying the harvested leaf so it turns from green to gold and develops its flavour.
- Cut
- How finely the leaf is shredded. An even cut gives an even burn. Read more
- Draw
- How hard you pull to get a full puff. Firm or easy. Read more
- Ember
- The glowing, burning tip of a lit cigarette.
- Filter
- The tip you draw through, made of fine fibres. Its density shapes the draw. Read more
- Flue-cured
- Tobacco dried with warm air in closed barns, keeping its natural sugars. Virginia is flue-cured.
- Full flavour
- A brand's regular blend, with little or no ventilation: the firmest draw and fullest taste. Read more
- Hard pack
- A flip-top box, usually of 20. Read more
- King size
- The standard cigarette length and width in Canada. Read more
- Leaf grade
- How cured leaf is sorted, by colour, texture and where it grew on the plant.
- Light
- A blend with more ventilation and a smoother taste than the full flavour. Not safer. Read more
- Nicotiana
- The tobacco plant family. Almost all commercial tobacco is Nicotiana tabacum. Read more
- Oriental
- Small, aromatic, sun-cured leaves from around the eastern Mediterranean. Read more
- Pressure drop
- The measured resistance to draw, in millimetres of water. Read more
- Priming
- Picking leaves a few at a time as they ripen, from the bottom of the plant up.
- Rod
- The paper-wrapped column of tobacco, before the filter is added.
- Rollies
- Pre-rolled filtered cigarettes sold loose in bags of 200. Read more
- Slide and shell
- A pack where an inner tray slides out of an outer sleeve, often holding 25. Read more
- Slim
- A narrower cigarette that gives a smaller, lighter puff. Read more
- Sun-cured
- Leaf dried in the open sun. Oriental tobacco is sun-cured. Read more
- Tipping paper
- The paper wrapped around the filter that joins it to the rod.
- Topping
- Removing the plant's flower so it puts its energy into the leaves.
- Ultra light
- The most ventilated, mildest blend, with the easiest draw. Not safer. Read more
- Ventilation
- Tiny holes around the filter that let air into each puff, making it lighter. Read more
- Virginia
- A flue-cured leaf, bright and smooth, and the base of Canadian blends. Read more
Questions
What's the difference between flue-cured and air-cured tobacco?
Flue-cured tobacco is dried with warm air in closed barns and keeps its sugars (bright, smooth). Air-cured tobacco dries slowly in open barns (fuller, less sweet).
From this guide: What makes a good cigarette: tobacco, cut and care · Filters and the draw: how a filter changes every puff
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