Posted on 2/11/2008 at 12:52:00 PM
A plugged cigar is one that has some tobacco packed too tightly somewhere in the cigar which makes the draw too hard. The plug is there when you first light it and may tend to get worse as you smoke it.
Actually you can normally tell if it is plugged before you light it by drawing on it first. If it is plugged locate the plug by squeezing the cigar the entire length, looking for a hard spot. Once you find it, squeeze all around the spot mashing the spot around to try to loosen it. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Be careful not to break the wrapper.
Some cigars are rolled very tight and the draw is stiff by design. Puros Indios is and example. So don’t be mashing those cigars because it won’t help. Smokers of those cigars want a stiff slow smoking draw.
Posted on 2/7/2008 at 7:41:26 AM
You get to determine how to cut the cigar. You get to determine how fast to smoke the cigar. You get to determine how long you smoke the cigar. You get to determine how to light the cigar.
However
The cigar determines when the ash comes off. Never force the ash off of a cigar. One or two VERY light taps with your finger is all that you should do. Better yet, let it drop on its own. I have ruined too many cigars by forcing the ash off. (They may start an uneven burn if the ash is forced off.)
And yes! They do drop the ash in inappropriate places sometimes. Learn to live with it. You will start sensing when it is about to drop and can then hold it over a safe area like an ash tray then give it a light tap with your finger. Don’t bang it on the ash tray.
Posted on 1/28/2008 at 11:11:41 AM
Cigar reviews can save cigar smokers a lot of time and money. Reviews are written by cigar website and magazine staff members, as well as fellow cigar lovers. Reading reviews is a great way to learn more about cigars and the components that go into a quality cigar.
Steps
Step One
Know the five things that can make or break a cigar review. A cigar is rated on its appearance, construction, draw, burn rate and taste. Appearance is primarily the look of the wrapper; construction is based on how tightly or loosely the cigar is wrapped; and burn rate is determined by how evenly the cigar burns.
Step Two
Know that taste is one of the most important factors of a cigar review. The taste of a cigar can change while smoking, and reviews often reflect the point at which a new taste becomes apparent. Taste is also judged on its complexity and consistency. The taste left in the mouth after taking a puff can also affect its rating.
Step Three
Be aware of additional factors that go into a review, such as value and overall experience.
Read Cigar Reviews
Steps
Step One
Choose a magazine for cigar reviews, such as ‘Cigar Aficionado.’
Step Two
Read cigar reviews on Internet websites, such as Smoke Magazine Online, CigarCyclopedia and Top25Cigar.com (see Resources below).
Step Three
Be aware that rating systems vary by source. Some sources rate cigars on a scale of 1 to 5, some use a scale of 1 to 10 or 1 to 100 and some use a grading system of A through F.
Step Four
Read several reviews before making up your mind,
Posted on 1/28/2008 at 8:56:59 AM
If you are new to the field, cigar smoking can seem like a complex and thankless task. Thousands of potential pitfalls line the way, ready to trap the unwary smoker and make him do something wrong that will expose him in front of all his fellow smokers as a cigar neophyte.
But just as there are certain rituals that must be followed when lighting and smoking a cigar (information on these can be found in our article How to Smoke a Cigar), there are a number of seemingly unwritten rules which tell you how to conduct yourself and your cigar through the difficult world of cigar etiquette.
Zino Davidoff’s guide to cigar etiquette
In 1967, a man called Zino Davidoff published a now-famous essay for cigar connoisseurs. It includes a charter and code for cigar smokers everywhere, telling them how they should behave when smoking or preparing to smoke their cigars. As to his reasons for publishing what is effectively a guide to cigar etiquette, Davidoff has this to say:
“The important thing to remember is that we cigar aficionados should present ourselves as considerate and understanding individuals. Changing people’s preconceived notions and giving the growing numbers of aficionados a good name is well worth that little extra effort.”
Davidoff featured the following Dos and Don’ts for smoking cigars in public.
Do:
* Warm the foot of the cigar slightly before starting to puff on it.
* Remove the band carefully after lighting the cigar.
* Take your time in smoking it; a puff a minute is about right.
* Hold the cigar between your index finger and thumb.
* Let the cigar die a dignified death. After it’s smoked half way, it will go out on its own.
* Dispose of the dead cigar discreetly and quickly.
* Wait at least fifteen minutes between cigars; anything less indicates obsessive behavior.
Don’t:
* Use a penknife to cut or a lance to pierce the end of the cigar.
* Touch the flame directly to the foot of the cigar: Instead, simply rotate it around the edge till it starts to burn, then puff lightly.
* Ask someone else for a light (the lighting of a cigar should be a personal affair).
* Light your cigar too quickly or too slowly.
* Indulge in exhibitionism in lighting or any other aspect of smoking.
* Relight your cigar if less than one quarter of it is leaf.
* Put the cigar in your mouth to relight it. Just scrape off the ash and turn it in the flame for several seconds till it relights.
* Clench it between your teeth. Likewise do not get the end of the cigar wet, chew it, or slobber on it.
* Smoke too quickly.
* Use a cigar holder, or worse, stick a toothpick or matchstick in the end of the cigar to help hold it in your mouth.
* Dunk your cigar in port or brandy, a habit attributed to Winston Churchill.
* Smoke while working.
* Hold a cigar between your index and middle finger.
* Smoke when you’re walking.
* Smoke more than half the cigar.
* Put the cigar out by crushing it in an ashtray.
* Chain-smoke cigars.
As you can see, there are a lot more Don’ts than Dos! However, most of Davidoff’s directives are things most people already do naturally, and you will soon get used to the others as you build up more smoking experience. Practice at home, where you can relax and learn to enjoy every aspect of the ritual of cigar smoking, and only then, when you are confident, should you have a go at smoking in public. It’s not a difficult thing to do, but there are a number of things to think about the first time you do it. Keep practicing however, and they’ll soon become second nature.
Posted on 1/15/2008 at 8:56:19 AM
Here is our list of Cigar Dos and Don’t, a handy list of cigar tips for the aspiring cigar connoisseur. If there is a cigar tip that you think should be on the list, let us know by posting it in our cigar forum for the whole world to see.
1. Don’t inhale the smoke when puffing a cigar.
We want you to live for a long time!
2. Do age your cigars.
After purchasing boxes or bundles of cigars, remove the cellophane and all other packaging, then place the cigars in a properly maintained humidor for at least a few months before smoking. Single sticks stored in a humidor at your local tobacconist may be aged enough to smoke immediately.
3. Don’t put a partially smoked cigar back into your humidor.
Use a cigar savor, or just toss the cigar.
4. Do select an appropriate drink to accompany your cigar.
Select a drink that will not be overpowered by the flavor of your cigar.
5. Don’t bite the cap off the head of a premium handmade cigar.
Use a cigar cutter or punch.
6. Do use a butane lighter to light your cigars.
You can also use a wooden match, but before lighting your cigar, let the sulfur burn off after striking the match.
7. Don’t snuff out your cigar when finished.
Leave your cigar in the ashtray and it will extinguish itself automatically, avoiding that foul odor.
8. Do sample many types of different cigars.
Try various kinds cigars at below market prices by purchasing cigar sampler packs on sale and online.
9. Don’t store cigars in a refrigerator.
It will remove the moisture from the cigars, drying them out.
Get the latest news and information about cigars by returning to our website
Posted on 1/9/2008 at 11:29:33 AM
The most important thing in lighting a cigar is that it is lit evenly. Many cigar smokers will debate for hours about the romantic ritual of lighting a cigar; flame not touching the cigar, flame touching the cigar, toasting versus no toasting. Basically, any method you prefer is probably fine provided your cigar gets lit “evenly”. When you first start, you may want to toast your cigar a bit, whether it is with a match or lighter. This will sometimes make it easier for the filler on bigger ring gauge cigars to light more evenly. Next, gently puff on your cigar while you hold the flame to the end of the cigar. Be sure to rotate the cigar so the whole end gets lit properly. Next, look at the end. Is it lit all the way around? If not, hold the flame to the parts not lit and puff a few more times. In regards to the flame touching or not touching the cigar, it really is a personal preference. If you think it leaves more of a charred taste when the flame touches, then switch to the no-touch method. If the flame touching the cigar doesn’t bother you and it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, stick with it. Just remember, the hottest part of any flame is right above where you can visually see the actual flame. And remember, the key to lighting a cigar properly is to make sure it’s lit evenly!
Posted on 1/9/2008 at 11:21:39 AM
Not only must the tobacco be of consistent high quality, but it must also be correctly processed. If he is to maintain consistency in taste and aroma in his cigars, a producer must be able to ensure a consistent supply of the same types of tobaccos that go into the blends. Since crop years vary as to the availability of the various types of tobaccos yielded, he must be able to buy a sufficiently large stock of a particular leaf when the availability presents itself in order to protect against short supply due to drought, heavy rains or to too much or too little sunshine, political upheaval in tobacco growing regions of the world, etc. This requires sufficient financial resources, if high quality and consistency are to be maintained. The alternative is to buy leaf hand to mouth from whatever becomes available, therefore rendering it impossible to keep blends consistent, and possibly subjecting the cigar to inferior leaf.
Unless a manufacturer has the resources to lay in supplies of high quality tobaccos, taste and aroma will vary from year to year, even sometimes from month to month. And, if inferior quality is used, the cigars will produce a harsh, rough, musty taste with an unpleasant, penetrating aroma, the kind wives tend to become so vociferous about.
But financial resources are not enough. A manufacturer must also possess the expertise to know good tobacco from bad when he sees it. This comes only from experience. The best tobacco men today have been in the business for decades and travel the world buying leaf stock for their companies. They know whether to accept or reject an offer and they have their particular trusted farmers and processors to whom they return year after year. If, in a given year, one traditional source has had a poor crop, chances are another will make up for it. If not, the knowledgeable and experienced tobacco man will have provided the necessary protection in leaf stock to get his company through to the next crop and enable overlapping one crop to the other for slow integration. Again, this means a lot of money becomes tied up in leaf inventory, but it’s the only way to ensure having the supplies of quality leaf necessary to produce tasty, aromatic cigars consistently.
Posted on 12/22/2007 at 1:06:57 PM
There are many ways to cut a cigar. People use everything from a $300 cigar cutter to biting the end off. The two most popular methods are done by using a guillotine cut or a punch made cut created with a bullet style cutter. Both provide clean cuts and both provide ample incisions to allow smoke to draw through the cigar easily. When cutting the cigar, the trick is to cut off enough of the cap without taking the whole thing off, thus keeping the cigar from unraveling. When using the bullet style cutter, you usually won’t have this problem. Cutting your cigar is not rocket science but certain basic skills and good materials are needed to give your cigar a clean cut. If you don’t have the right tools or don’t cut where you are supposed to your wrapper will unravel and it may be annoying while you smoke. Let’s take a look to the different cutters in the market:
The Guillotine cutter: A single blade cutter designed to cut off the cap. Most will cut up to 54 ring cigars.
Pros: These are some of the cheapest cutters you can find.
Cons: You will need to cut your cigar in one quick, strong movement to get acceptable results.
The Double Blade cutter: It is the same concept as the guillotine, but the two blades provide a more precise cut. You will also need to cut with force, but some sophisticated double blade cutters have a spring mechanism that ensures a clean cut every time.
Pros: You can cut any shape cigar, including Figurado shapes like Torpedo.
Cons: Be careful not to cut below the cap or your cigar wrapper will unravel.
The Bullet Punch cutter: The punch cutter will cleanly cut a small hole on the head of the cigar. To cut a bigger hole, you just need to insert the punch several times at different places of the cap until you get the desired width.
Pros: No cutting skills required, and you can carry your cutter around using the key ring attachment.
Cons: You cannot use this type of cutter on Figurado shapes.
The Cigar Scissors: Just like a double blade cutter, the cigar scissors cut off the cap of the cigar.
Pros: They have an elegant, sophisticated look and some Multi Tool Scissors, are very lightweight and small.
Cons: You will need special cigar cutting scissors with surgical quality stainless steel.
The V-Shape cutter: This cutter will cut a V-shape hole on the cap of your cigar.
Pros: Will give you more surface area than the punch and works great on small ring cigars.
Cons: Don’t bother with a cheap V-shape cutter; it will most likely damage your cigar.
Posted on 12/21/2007 at 12:17:08 PM
Cigars come in a variety of colors. The colors tell a lot about the cigar. In general, you can determine how strong a cigar is by inspecting its wrapper. A darker wrapper would have fermented longer and therefore has a stronger taste. Below are the categories of color, they range from the light double Claro to the black Oscuro.
Double Claro - Known to have a greenish tint on its wrapper. It’s a light cigar that has had minimal aging.
Claro - Typically signifies that the cigar will be mild. It has a light brown color.
Colorado Claro - This wrapper is your standard brown color. Slightly stronger than the Claro but still considered mild.
Maduro, Colorado, and Colorado Maduro - These wrappers are dark brown and give off an admirable aroma. They are considered medium to strong cigars.
Oscuro - The Oscuro has a black wrapper and is strong in flavor.
Posted on 12/21/2007 at 9:54:16 AM
Regardless of how inexpensive or expensive your cigars are, if you purchase more than a few of which can be smoked in a day or two, you will need to provide your cigars with a proper storage environment. Otherwise, you’re inexpensive or expensive investment of cigars will be worthless, dry, devoid of pleasure and most likely unsmokeable. The best way to store a cigar is by putting them in any container which is able to maintain a 70 degree temperature and 72% humidity level. The easiest way is to purchase a humidor, usually made of wood, which comes with a humidifier device. Most humidifying devices contain some sort of water retaining medium which allows distilled water and a chemical additive to regulate the humidity. A very common brand of humidifier on the market is known as the Credo. Now as to temperature, as long as you have the humidor inside, and not in the direct sun, you’ll most likely be fine as most residences and offices are climate controlled. The best temperature to keep your cigars at is 70 degrees.
To cold? Yes, I’ve heard people suggest that keeping cigars in a refrigerator or freezer is the best place for a cigar. It is not! Cold air robs the cigar of its moisture, besides, do you want your cigar to taste like last weeks dinner?
White spots on your cigar? These are known as blooms. They are the result of long term storage. They are harmless and can easily be removed.
Cigar dried out? You can restore a dried our cigar but it takes time. If it’s an expensive cigar see your tobacconist. You can usually restore a cigar by exposing it to moisture in a partially opened box. Every few days, you should rotate the cigar so that the entire wrapper is exposed to the humidity. Keep repeating this process for a month.
Posted on 12/21/2007 at 9:17:31 AM
There are two general elements involved in the making of a fine, handmade cigar:
QUALITY TOBACCO AND QUALITY CONSTRUCTION. They are equally important. But the primary consideration in judging whether a cigar is “good” or not, or just how good it is, is the consistency of both.
Consistency then, as in many human endeavors, is the key factor. The golfer gets rated by the number of times his ball lands in the fairway from the tee and the number of greens reached in regulation: consistency. The sports world provides so many examples of this. The free throw contest in basketball is measured by the number of consecutive baskets achieved: consistency. The highest paid baseball sluggers receive enormous salaries because they can hit the ball more often than others. Again, consistency. On and on, as in other walks of life as well, being able to perform on an extremely high level, time after time after time, is the primary way we measure excellence.
So too in judging fine cigars!
Any producer of premium cigars can make an occasional smooth burning, rich tasting product. But, the truly excellent producer will develop a way to do it every time, or almost every time.
If a skeet shooter cannot hit 100 out of 100, he’ll never reach world class ranking, and that’s 100 of every 100 he tries. A cigar must be judged by similar standards. Even the weekend golfer will par a few holes during a round. But the real measure of excellence is how close a certain cigar brand, and any shape within that brand, comes to being that good drawing, good burning, good tasting product time after time.
Posted on 12/19/2007 at 9:14:24 AM
A cigar is truly something unique and individual. Unlike many products we buy today, a fine cigar is hand made by people with years of experience and training. In addition, a fine cigar is something that can be enjoyed or savored. With the prices of good cigars going through the roof, the difficulty of course is making a good selection.
To be honest, there is no easy way to tell someone what to smoke. What I mean is, selecting a fine cigar is like selecting a wine or anything else in life. You are certainly going to try a few in order to find out what you like. Ultimately though it is your money, your enjoyment and your time. Smoke what you like.
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In order to help you find what you like, I am giving you some basic definitions so you can at least narrow down your choices and also be able to ask the right questions when speaking to your local cigar store.
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The Wrapper (nothing to do with music) - The wrapper is the outer binding that brings the whole cigar together. The interesting thing about cigars is that a cigar can taste totally different just by changing the wrapper. Remember that the wrapper is tobacco leaf, and along with the filler, gives each cigar its unique taste or appeal. There are a quite a few different types of wrappers. Two of the more basic types are:
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Connecticut Shade ~ This is a lighter leaf that has spent less time on the plant. Normally this will offer a more mellow or blander taste to the palate. If you like a milder cigar, look for a wrapper that has the color of coffee with cream.
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Maduro - This is a leaf that has spent more time on the plant. As a result, it has grown dark in color and has also retained more sugar due to the natural photosynthesis process. A cigar with a maduro wrapper will tend to be sweeter on the palate. Some people look at a dark wrapper and instantly think that they are looking at a “strong” cigar. As they old cliche goes, do not judge a book by its cover.
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The darker maduro wrapper will often appeal to the smoker looking for a more flavorful, but sweeter cigar.
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The filler is the actual content of the cigar. It is what makes up for the flavor and in part the strength. There are two types of filler: long filler, which contains the whole leaf running from the head to the foot of the cigar, and short filler, comprised of scraps of tobacco.
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What determines the overall Cigar Experience and why do cigars taste differently?
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The cigar flavor is really determined from a combination of wrapper, filler and binder. Getting the propotions or combinations right is truly an art form. Like the blending of whisky or other spirits, an experienced master roller develops a sixth sense as to what proportions will work best or yield a desired result. This is why, again as with anan experienced whisky blender, a change in the master roller could mean a change in the taste or blend of a particular cigar line.
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Even with a particular cigar line, different sized cigars may have a different taste or blend. Why is this so? An experienced roller may use different proportions of the tobaccos in different sizes to allow for that size difference. In a smaller ring cigar, the binder and wrapper have a greater influence on the taste, for instance. The blender will allow for this difference by re-proportioning the filler blend. So even with different cigar sizes of the same line
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Posted on 12/19/2007 at 8:58:34 AM
It is believed that Christopher Columbus’ crew discovered cigars while exploring Cuba. The Cuban natives smoked a crude form of the modern day cigar during religious ceremonies. The cigar was wrapped with maize and filled with tobacco leaves. Columbus‘ crew quickly became accustomed to smoking the cigar and brought back samples of the “Golden Leaf” to Spain. Initially, the smoking of cigars was considered a pagan ritual punished by imprisonment. In fact, one of Columbus‘ crew members was imprisoned for smoking. However, after a few years, cigar smoking became widely accepted. Eventually, Spain would build an entire industry around the cigar. Seville, Spain was at the center of this and is recognized as being the birthplace of the modern cigar.
At first, Spain imported the raw materials from Cuba and assembled the cigars themselves. However, in 1821 Spain allowed Cuba to manufacture Cigars and hence the Cuban cigar was born. In appreciation for Spain’s kind gesture, the Cubans would deliver a box of their best cigars to the Spanish king every year. These cigars were the fabled Trinidad’s.
Cigars became popular in the United States during the Lincoln years. Factories began to open in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The term stogie is actually named after Conestoga, Pennsylvania where one of the first cigar factories were built.
The cigar industry did well up until the 1960’s when smoking became more of a health concern amongst Americans. At the same time, the United States imposed an embargo against Cuba making it illegal for US citizens to import goods from Cuba. Today Cigars are back and are becoming extremely popular amongst both men and women.
Cigars HQ
