Cigar Basics, Part 3

Lesson Three - Smoking

First thing you need to know when smoking a cigar is not to breathe into the lungs. I've seen veteran ciggerette smokers put on their knees because they inhaled their first puff on a cigar. If there is ever a Rule to cigar smoking, this is for sure it. NEVER INHALE! Always pull the smoke into your mouth, then blow it out. If your feeling risky then you can blow it out your nose, but I would recommend against this if your smoking even a slightly strong cigar.

Ok, First things first, The cut. This will be a little different for every cigar, there is no one spot that will give you a good cut every time. What you need to do is look for the cap on the cigar. The cap is the spot on the very end of the cigar that looks like the wrapper has been folded in on itself. You will want to get a hold of a Guillotine style cigar cutter, as they seem to work the best, Mine is a two bladed Vector cutter and it seems to work pretty well. You will want to cut right above that line, go under and your cigar might try and come unraveled on you while you smoke.

Next things next, The Light. There are several ways, Try not to use a Convenience store lighter, you know the type, Its usually some brightassed color and likes to pretend that it uses butane. Try and use either ceder matches or a torch type lighter, or if you want to trick the aficionados into thinking your a really super cigar snob, go to home depot and get some small ceder chunks, and light those on fire, then use THAT to light your cigar. When You light your cigar, rotate it slowly over the very tip of the flame while keeping a steady pull of air coming through, this is called 'Toasting' your cigar, this makes sure that there will be an even burn and your cigar won't canoe (burn faster on one side than the other) after you can see a slight bit of ember evenly all around your cigar, lower it into the flame a little more to ensure that the center of the cigar is burning in the center at the same speed as the outside. Now you just sit back and puff away. Congratulations! You just lit and started smoking your first cigar! About four or five minutes in, you will notice you have about an inch or two of ash on the end of your cigar, all you do is lightly tap the cigar with a finger on the hand your holding it with over your ash tray, If it doesn't come loose, don't worry about it and keep tapping about once a minute to make sure you don't drop the ash on yourself (it tends to stain clothing, it is ash, so It can be used as a color separator) At the end of your smoke, you shouldn't snuff it out like you would with a cigarette, Just set the cigar down in your ash tray and let it put itself out, Even if you get a cigar that you don't like, the best way to deal with it is the same way. The reason I say to do this is just to show respect for the people that made that cigar, They made that cigar by hand and deserve some credit for it.


~ Taste ~

Cigars all have their own distinct taste, the darker cigars will have thicker tastes, the lighter will have more delicate tastes. If your new to cigar smoking then make sure you pick the lightest cigar you can find. Its much easier to determine what the flavors are later on if you start out on really lightly colored cigars. Sadly this is another thing there is no trick to. The darker cigars flavor is usually described as 'leathery' because the taste of the smoke is the same as leather. And the lighter cigars, like I mentioned before, tend to be very delicate and flowery in taste. I would say roughly 85% of the flavor comes from the wrapper, so make sure that you choose your cigars carefully, the darker the cigar, the less forgiving it will be if you breath at the wrong time.


(Cigars should always be kept going once you light it, If it goes out, relight. It will be a little bitter, but you will still be able to smoke it. Don't let your cigar sit for more than a day after you light it, It will be an unhappy smoke. There is a rhythm to it, instead of puff puff pass, its puff puff talk, Be protective of your cigars, atleast you know that you will appreciate them.)




Closing Notes ~ The Brotherhood of the Leaf


Alright, this is where it gets a little more sociable. If you are a cigar smoker, you can go to most cigar shops, talk to the owners for a little while, and you will be able to tell that your welcome. Why? Because you bother to follow the same goofy rituals and investments of time and money that they have for smoking cigars. You instantly have something to talk about, whether you know them or not, all you have to worry about is what your going to smoke. So long as you pick a decent cigar, no one will be the wiser. Talk about cigars, get them to tell you the stories they have about cigars. If you make good friends with a good tobacconist, you can get a hold of cigars that most people would not be able to lay hands on. Just remember, if your stuck in a strange town and just can't quite figure out what to do, hunt down the local cigar shop, they will usually help you out so long as you stick around and smoke a cigar with them.


This has been a primer on cigar smoking for all those who just can't quite figure out cigar smoking. I realize that its alot to take in, But I pumped all this out in one sitting, and I think that It is a good first place to start for someone who is wanting to start smoking cigars, but wanting to not look completely retarded to the people who are all ready smoking. If you have any questions then feel free to leave me a comment!