I recently sent some cigars to someone who had expressed a burgeoning interest, along with a note-
“My interest in cigars has given me much pleasure over the years and I’m sending you a small selection of some of my favorites. Hopefully among them, you’ll find something you like. I find the pleasure of a cigar helpful during introspective moments. I like to have mine on the back porch with Scotch while watching the sunset, or when deliberating a decision.”
As I wrote the note it occurred to me that he might have some basic questions about cigars- everything from how to cut one, to what gives a cigar it’s basic taste characteristics, and that gave me the idea for this post.
Cigars, like wine, come in many different offerings. The choice can be overwhelming for a beginner. To get started, it’s usually good to get a small selection and see what appeals to you.
In my experience, the richer-fuller (stronger) tasting cigars usually come from Honduras and Central America and Cuba; while the more mild tobaccos come from The Dominican Republican and believe it or not, Connecticut (shade tobacco).
Cigar Components
The outside wrapper leaf is the single most expensive component of the cigar and provides the biggest contribution to the flavor. (A wholesaler told me 70% of the flavor, but how he quantified this is a mystery to me.) The wrappers come in shades ranging from dark- Oscuro (Spanish for dark) and Maduro (Spanish for ripe)- to beige (Sumatra) and beige olive (Havana). I’m told there is also a “Claro” wrapper which is green in color with a bitter taste, but I haven’t encountered one yet. In addition to flavor, beauty is a key component to the wrapper leaf selection.
The remaining three components of a cigar are- the binder, the filler, and the cap.
The binder leaf “binds” the cigar together and comes from the upper leaves of a tobacco plant. It is immediately below the outside wrapper, unseen and picked for its strength and function.
The filler leaves represents the majority volume of the cigar and yet contributes the least to the flavor. All premium cigars (handmade) use “long filler,” this means the leaves are whole and intact. By contrast machine-made cigars use “short-filler,” with scraps from tobacco, wrapper, and binder. (Exception on filler and flavor- All bets are off on flavor if ligero is used in the filler. Ligero is picked from the top of the plant, has high nicotine content, and can seriously overpower the flavor of the cigar.)
Finally, the cap is at the end of the cigar, it “holds” the tail end of the wrapper leaf closed. This is the part you cut before smoking.
All cigars are “aged” before being sold. Aging mellows the cigar and the aging time varies by maker and type of cigar. For example, Carlos Fuente Jr. just released some limited edition cigars that have been aged for five years. The cigars were made from the tobacco fields filmed in the 2005 Andy Garcia movie “The Lost City." The cigars are called “Fuente Fuente Opus X The Lost City.” They come in beautiful presentation boxes of ten, at prices ranging $279 to $299, depending on the size of the cigars. (I’ve posted a photo of them at the bottom of this post. Most cigar companies do an excellent job when it comes to their presentation boxes.) Also, Montecristo (U.S. brand not Cuban) recently came out with a Vintage 1999 cigar. On a recent trip, I bought a few of these 1999 cigars from a trusted brick & mortar stockist and they rocked.
Finally, cigars come in different lengths and diameters “ring sizes.” One ring equals 1/64th of an inch. Usually the longer the length and the fatter the diameter, the cooler and fuller the cigar will be. Shorter lengths smoke hotter because of the less smoke travel time. I prefer larger "cooler" cigars.
Storage
Once purchased, some people further age their cigars in their humidors. A humidor is typically a wooden box lined with Spanish cedar used to store cigars. The humidor protects the cigars by keeping the humidity at 70%, and care should be taken to keep the humidor temperature at about 70 degrees. That's a photo of my humidor on the left, and you can plainly see the e-hygrometer I use to tell me the temperature & humidity of my stash. In the photo, the readings in the hygrometer are off because I had just closed the box after having it open for a while.
The reason for maintaining a constant humidity is that cigars can dry out and disintegrate; conversely, if exposed to too much humidity they will become too moist and not draw well and smoke unevenly. The temperature is important because beetles can’t live below 75 degrees, and mold can develop in warmer temperature. Properly maintained cigars can be successfully stored and aged in a humidor for several years.
Humidors range from the fairly inexpensive to the uber-expensive. There is even a humidor “appliance” by a company called Liebherr, which not only electronically maintains a constant humidity, but also a constant temperature. The Liebherr Humidor has an elegant design with stainless steel on the outside, Spanish cedar on the inside and a glass door. It runs about $2500 and may be worth it if you live in hot weather, don’t cool the house while you’re away, and have some serious money on your cigar inventory.
No humidor?
An alternate storage method for the occasional smoker is to store the cigars in an airtight bag inside the vegetable compartment of the fridge. I would recommend the fridge method even if the cigars are in tubes.
There are also travel cases available, ranging from simple one-cigar tubes to cedar-lined cases for multiple cigars. I have a cedar-lined-telescopic-leather travel case that I fit in my briefcase or the outer pockets of my Barbour jacket. It can hold up to three cigars of various lengths and has proved very handy during travel. (It also has a great "wow" effect when I pull it out and offer someone a cigar.) That's a photo of it on the right. You can plainly see the Spanish cedar lining. The crystal tube you see is a humidifier tube I keep in it, when not in use.
Smoking the Cigar
The bottom line in lighting and smoking a cigar is that whatever works for you, works for you. Having said that, here are some basics to help you get started.
On cutting- The main thing is to cut a smooth opening without completely cutting off the cap and damaging the cigar’s structure. Aim for cutting where the domed head starts to curve towards the side. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake, that’s how you learn.
There are various cutting devices available to the novice. I use a guillotine tool because they’re easy to use (the cutting comes from both sides simultaneously). They’re also easy to find in tobacco shops and inexpensive to replace should they be misplaced. I keep an extra in my Dopp kit.
But there are various devices and methods, and I encourage you to find your own preferences on this. (I once knew a guy that cut his cigars with his Swiss Army Knife.)
On lighting the cigar- Purists swear by wooden matches, but there are also any number of cigar-specific lighters available.
The main concern here is that a cheap lighter might impart the taste of lighter fluid to the cigar. If you’re concerned about this, make your first puff outward to clear the cigar of any impurities caused by the lighter. I have never had a lighter impart a bad taste to a cigar, but I have had cheap third-world matches impart sulfur.
To light the cigar, hold it with the end (called the foot) at about a 45 degree angle to the flame and rotate the it to ensure an even burn all the way around. This is known as pre-char, or roasting, or toasting. (Some purists insist that the flame should not actually touch the cigar, but I usually let it.)
Once evenly charred, place the cap in your mouth and gently draw in air while still holding the flame to the foot. (Or again, puff out if concerned about impurities from the light.) As you smoke the cigar, keep rotating it to insure the ash burns evenly.
Keep in mind that a cigar may take up to two minutes to reach its flavor, and try not to over puff it while it’s reaching that flavor state.
The ash, in cylinder form, can grow up to several inches long in a quality cigar, and should fall with just a light tap. If the cigar goes out, you can re-light it, but it will not taste as good the second time its lite.
Finally, how do you tell when the cigar is done? Answer- When you decide it is. Inexperienced smokers (with no nicotine tolerance) should probably stop short at about ½ of a cigar to avoid getting ill effects. More experienced smokers often take the cigar all the way down to the ring area.
I hope this basic information encourages the reader to explore the many options available in cigars and their simple pleasure. For further research, I would recommend Googling the term “Cigar 101.” You’ll find information ranging from “why some cigars unravel,” to how to select a humidor and maintain it. I would also recommend picking up newsstand copies of Cigar Aficionado Magazine and Cigar Magazine.
Important Caveat-
With cigars, even though you don’t inhale, you do expose your mouth and esophagus to carcinogens. You also inhale the incidental smoke generated by the lit cigar. As cautionary examples, you can look up two historical noteworthy heavy cigar smokers that died from oral cancer- General Ulysses S. Grant and Doctor Sigmund Freud. Also, for more information on documented health risks, click the link below.
National Cancer Institute on Cigars
My personal belief is that they should be enjoyed in moderation. What moderation means, I’ll leave to for the reader to decide. I believe each individual person is best suited to determine what’s in their own enlightened self-interest; and not the “nanny state.”
-John P.
"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert
Storage
Once purchased, some people further age their cigars in their humidors. A humidor is typically a wooden box lined with Spanish cedar used to store cigars. The humidor protects the cigars by keeping the humidity at 70%, and care should be taken to keep the humidor temperature at about 70 degrees. That's a photo of my humidor on the left, and you can plainly see the e-hygrometer I use to tell me the temperature & humidity of my stash. In the photo, the readings in the hygrometer are off because I had just closed the box after having it open for a while.
The reason for maintaining a constant humidity is that cigars can dry out and disintegrate; conversely, if exposed to too much humidity they will become too moist and not draw well and smoke unevenly. The temperature is important because beetles can’t live below 75 degrees, and mold can develop in warmer temperature. Properly maintained cigars can be successfully stored and aged in a humidor for several years.
Humidors range from the fairly inexpensive to the uber-expensive. There is even a humidor “appliance” by a company called Liebherr, which not only electronically maintains a constant humidity, but also a constant temperature. The Liebherr Humidor has an elegant design with stainless steel on the outside, Spanish cedar on the inside and a glass door. It runs about $2500 and may be worth it if you live in hot weather, don’t cool the house while you’re away, and have some serious money on your cigar inventory.
No humidor?
An alternate storage method for the occasional smoker is to store the cigars in an airtight bag inside the vegetable compartment of the fridge. I would recommend the fridge method even if the cigars are in tubes.
There are also travel cases available, ranging from simple one-cigar tubes to cedar-lined cases for multiple cigars. I have a cedar-lined-telescopic-leather travel case that I fit in my briefcase or the outer pockets of my Barbour jacket. It can hold up to three cigars of various lengths and has proved very handy during travel. (It also has a great "wow" effect when I pull it out and offer someone a cigar.) That's a photo of it on the right. You can plainly see the Spanish cedar lining. The crystal tube you see is a humidifier tube I keep in it, when not in use.
Smoking the Cigar
The bottom line in lighting and smoking a cigar is that whatever works for you, works for you. Having said that, here are some basics to help you get started.
On cutting- The main thing is to cut a smooth opening without completely cutting off the cap and damaging the cigar’s structure. Aim for cutting where the domed head starts to curve towards the side. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake, that’s how you learn.
There are various cutting devices available to the novice. I use a guillotine tool because they’re easy to use (the cutting comes from both sides simultaneously). They’re also easy to find in tobacco shops and inexpensive to replace should they be misplaced. I keep an extra in my Dopp kit.
But there are various devices and methods, and I encourage you to find your own preferences on this. (I once knew a guy that cut his cigars with his Swiss Army Knife.)
On lighting the cigar- Purists swear by wooden matches, but there are also any number of cigar-specific lighters available.
The main concern here is that a cheap lighter might impart the taste of lighter fluid to the cigar. If you’re concerned about this, make your first puff outward to clear the cigar of any impurities caused by the lighter. I have never had a lighter impart a bad taste to a cigar, but I have had cheap third-world matches impart sulfur.
To light the cigar, hold it with the end (called the foot) at about a 45 degree angle to the flame and rotate the it to ensure an even burn all the way around. This is known as pre-char, or roasting, or toasting. (Some purists insist that the flame should not actually touch the cigar, but I usually let it.)
Once evenly charred, place the cap in your mouth and gently draw in air while still holding the flame to the foot. (Or again, puff out if concerned about impurities from the light.) As you smoke the cigar, keep rotating it to insure the ash burns evenly.
Keep in mind that a cigar may take up to two minutes to reach its flavor, and try not to over puff it while it’s reaching that flavor state.
The ash, in cylinder form, can grow up to several inches long in a quality cigar, and should fall with just a light tap. If the cigar goes out, you can re-light it, but it will not taste as good the second time its lite.
Finally, how do you tell when the cigar is done? Answer- When you decide it is. Inexperienced smokers (with no nicotine tolerance) should probably stop short at about ½ of a cigar to avoid getting ill effects. More experienced smokers often take the cigar all the way down to the ring area.
I hope this basic information encourages the reader to explore the many options available in cigars and their simple pleasure. For further research, I would recommend Googling the term “Cigar 101.” You’ll find information ranging from “why some cigars unravel,” to how to select a humidor and maintain it. I would also recommend picking up newsstand copies of Cigar Aficionado Magazine and Cigar Magazine.
Important Caveat-
With cigars, even though you don’t inhale, you do expose your mouth and esophagus to carcinogens. You also inhale the incidental smoke generated by the lit cigar. As cautionary examples, you can look up two historical noteworthy heavy cigar smokers that died from oral cancer- General Ulysses S. Grant and Doctor Sigmund Freud. Also, for more information on documented health risks, click the link below.
National Cancer Institute on Cigars
My personal belief is that they should be enjoyed in moderation. What moderation means, I’ll leave to for the reader to decide. I believe each individual person is best suited to determine what’s in their own enlightened self-interest; and not the “nanny state.”
-John P.
"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert
Finally, a little humor on the Z-Plus Lighter Insert for the American Zippo
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