Most men and women will occasionally choose to smoke a cigar. The choice of the occasion to do the same can be varied though. You might want to enjoy a puff at a wedding or when you’re out traveling or maybe, when you’re sitting in your lounge.
What’s the sad part, however, is that most smokers don’t know the perfect cigar for themselves, or how to cut the cigar if you’ve actually managed to choose one, or how to smoke it for that matter. Well, the only way you can actually have a pleasurable experience smoking your cigar is if you are well-acquainted with the pointers that were just quoted. To help you through this process, let’s delve into the article.
How To Choose A Cigar
Contents
Whether you’re choosing a cigar for yourself or as a gift for someone else, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration. The five major features to consider before making a choice are taste, strength, size, tobacco, and price.
You won’t choose to smoke a cigar whose taste you don’t appreciate. A cigar’s flavour offering can be sweet, creamy, woody, nutty, spicy, and way beyond that too. If you’re a beginner, make sure you go through the customer reviews, and product descriptions before choosing a cigar. Additionally, always take your food and beverage preferences into consideration when opting for a cigar flavor.
Although the intensity of the cigar you wish to smoke depends upon the occasion, you’d not want to smoke one that’s too strong. Strength translates to how much nicotine a cigar possesses. A mild cigar is blended from less-intense tobacco and therefore, has a lower level of nicotine in it. No matter what the levels of nicotine in your cigar are, make sure you eat before you smoke them.
Cigars come in different shapes and sizes. The sizes of cigars that are straight-sided include Corona, Robusto, Toro, Double Corona, and Churchill. Others like Perfecto, Salomon, Pyramid are tapered cigars. There are yet others like Padron 1964 Anniversary which are box-pressed while some other cigars are round.
The tobacco inside a cigar entails three components: binder, filler, and wrapper leaves. Cigars of premium quality come from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Honduras. Price is an important factor when picking a cigar. You can choose from thousands of amazing cigars from $5 to $15. Premium cigars start for as low as $2 per piece and go as high as $40-$50 if it’s a rare one. At last, it comes down to your enjoyment and preferences.
How To Cut A Cigar Properly
To cut a cigar properly, start by locating the cap. Then, position your blade just where the cap of the cigar ends. Once done, make a quick snip, no fiddling around. You can use a punch to cut the cigar as well. The process is comparatively easier. You simply insert the punch and then pull it out and you’re all set to smoke. Remember, there are different cigar cutters to choose from. The most common ones are single blade Guillotine, double blade Guillotine, cigar punch, cigar scissors, cigar piercer, V-cut. Make sure you opt for the one that best fits the cigar of your choice.
How To Light A Cigar
To start with, position the cigar in your hand at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees from the flame. Be careful to hold the cigar foot at least a few inches away from the tip of the cigar lighter’s flame. Now, move your cigar lighter in a circular direction. And lastly, make sure you rotate the cigar as well to evenly light the entire surface area of the cigar’s foot.
How To Smoke A Cigar
Smoking a cigar is undoubtedly a pleasurable experience. To make the most out of it, however, you need to know how to smoke a cigar properly. To begin with, use a cigar cutter to snap the cap off the cigar. Don’t cut too much; make sure it’s just 1/8th of an inch. Then position the cigar at a 45 degree angle to the flame. Subject the cigar foot to some heat and rotate the cigar while doing so to ensure the cigar foot is lit evenly.
Once done, position the lighter in such a way that the flame doesn’t touch the cigar and gently puff a few times without inhaling till you’re able to feel the smoker reaching your mouth. Take a look at the foot of the cigar. Is it burning evenly? If yes, you can go ahead. And if not, re-light the cigar’s foot until it burns evenly throughout. Once you’ve achieved an even flame, you can enjoy smoking.
To get a pleasurable smoking experience, you must draw in through your mouth in a similar manner to sucking a straw. Close your nasal passage and enjoy a puff every half a second or every alternate second. The smoking process isn’t over here. Tap off the ash from your cigar when it grows about an inch. Don’t smash the cigar in the tray. Gently tap along the edge to get rid of the ash.
FAQs
Well, that’s a subjective question because the time you take to smoke a cigar depends upon the size of the cigarand the tobacco leaf that has been used to make it. A standard cigar, for example, takes only a few minutes to smoke. However, a cigar can take anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours depending upon the size and the type of cigar that you’ve opted for.Beyond these two factors, make sure you smoke your cigar slowly and not inhale too frequently because it will ruin the taste of your cigar.
It is completely normal for your cigar to stop burning particularly when you’re halfway through. If it does happen, make the ash fall in the ash tray. Then burn the cigar’s wrapper once again. Exhale through your cigar to let go of the cold smoke. Once done, light your cigar just like you’d light a new one.
If your cigar is constantly going out, one probable reason for the same could be a high moisture content in your cigar. Now to get rid of this problem, you can opt for dry boxing. Although it takes some amount of time, it’s the easiest option out there. All you need to do is remove your cigar from the humidor or whatever is the source of humidity. Once done, take them for a stroll before you’re ready to consume them. Additionally, if most of your cigars stop burning frequently, you need to get your humidor checked.
The reason behind this is that the better your cigar has been manufactured, the longer its ash will be. In addition, it is not necessary for you to shake off the ash of your cigar until it’s atleast an inch. And don’t keep it for too long because that can block the airflow which results in irregular combustion.
There are some types of cigars, especially premium ones, that offer you different flavours in a single piece. However, you are never advised to continue smoking a cigar if it starts tasting bad. As long as the flavour and aroma of your cigar is in accordance with your taste preferences, you can enjoy smoking it.
But if you feel that the taste has become either too intense or too bitter, you must stop smoking it at once. In short, stop smoking as soon as the experience starts feeling like suffering instead of pure joy. Another indication to put down your cigar is when it reaches the brand name of the cigar. Or when the size becomes too small for you to hold it properly. But if you wish to enjoy every inch of your cigar, you can use a cigar holder to continue smoking.
There’re endless cigar options available for you to choose from when you’re on the lookout for one especially as a beginner. Some of the commonly sighted options are Romeo Y Julieta Capulet, Rocky Patel American Market Selection, Larutan Natural Cigars By Drew Estate, Macanudo Cafe, and Gran Habano #1 Connecticut. There are other alternatives too depending upon your size, taste, and shape preferences.
Conclusion
Smoking a cigar is deemed to be a relaxing and pleasurable experience. But a lot goes into making that smoke enjoyable for yourself. You need to start by first, choosing the cigar that best suits your aroma and flavours, and not to forget, your budget. You then need to master the art of cutting your cigar so that you don’t end up cutting too much or too little. Once you’ve done that, you must light your cigar’s foot evenly to avoid any cigar burn issues. Having acquainted yourself with all of this, you can savor your cigar as you like.