How to light and smoke a cigar

If you ask yourself how you should light a cigar, or what the right way to smoke it is, or how you cut a cigar, hold it, and/or ash it, then you've come to the right page. First of all, let me put you at ease: it's not as hard as it may seem. There are a few stops involved, but it's nothing complicated and will only take about 5 minutes of your time to learn. So, let's get started: how do you light a cigar?

How to cut & light a cigar

Before you light a stogie, you'll first want to cut it. There are different kinds of cutters, but if you've just started out with the hobby you'll likely have a regular guillotine cutter (so called because it essentially "beheads" the cigar), so that's how I'll explain it.

Every cigar has an open end and a closed end (the cap). It's the closed end that you'll want to cut, and the aim is to cut off as little of the cap as possible. Simply put the end cap through your guillotine cutter and snap it shut. If you did it right, a thin sliver of the cap will come off (about 1/8" or 3 millimeters) and open up your cigar.

Many people will tell you it's wrong to cut off too much of the cap, but you don't have to worry of you did cut off more than just a thin sliver, especially if you've just started smoking cigars. Only if you cut off more than the cap could a problem arise, as the cigar wrapper might start unwinding (it's held in place by the cap).

If you're wondering, two other popular (but far less widely used) forms of cutting a cigar are the punch cut and the V-cut, each of which require a special cutter. Both methods typically make a smaller cut in your cigar and don't allow as much smoke to come out, and I don't recommend them for beginners. Click here for more information about cigar cutters.

So, how do you light your stogie after you've cut it?

The steps are the following...

• Take the side of the cigar you just cut (the side with the end cap) and slowly roll it around while wetting it slightly with your lips.
  
  
• Then, while still rolling your cigar around, use your torch (or match, if you prefer, but I don't recommend it) to light the other side of the cigar to apply heat evenly to every side of the stogie.
  
  
• While keeping your throat closed, breathe in slightly while lighting your cigar, thereby allowing the heat to get to the cigar and create an even burn. Careful: don't let the smoke into your lungs or you will have a coughing fit!
  
  
• That's it - your stogie should now be burning slowly and nicely. Enjoy!

How to smoke a cigar (and how to hold it)

If you're wondering how you should hold and smoke your stogie, read on. There's a lot of strange (and sometimes plain wrong) information out there about smoking a cigar, most of which seems to be written by people who have never smoked a delicious stogie themselves. Here, we'll stick to the basic truth.

When you cigar is properly cut and lit, you're ready to start smoking. Make sure you close your throat when inhaling, as you don't want to let cigar smoke go over your lungs - prepare for a coughing fit if you do (it's fine, it happens). Instead, enjoy the flavor of the smoke in your mouth for a few seconds and then exhale.

If you do want to smell some of the smoke, now is the time to do so. While you're slowly exhaling, let some of the smoke in through your nose and you'll get a new sensation altogether. Then, either hold your cigar or lean it on the divot of your ashtray.

To really enjoy a cigar, don't take puffs any more than every 30 to 60 seconds. A cigar takes a long time to smoke (anywhere between 1 and 3 hours depending on the size) and is meant to be a relaxing way to while away some free time.

Tip: a cigar should never be treated as being similar to a cigarette! Cigarettes are smoked by addicts who need a quick nicotine fix, while cigars are meant to be enjoyed over a longer period of time, preferably in the company of others while sipping on a nice alcoholic beverage. You'll be hard-pressed to find an "occasional" cigarette smoker, but being an occasional cigar smoker is perfectly acceptable. There are many people who limit their cigar smoking to just a few cigars per year or per month, which is absolutely fine. Cigars don't go bad unless you store them improperly and most aficionados will agree that some "resting time" and "aging" in your humidor will only enhance their flavor!

Rotating your cigar while smoking is sometimes listed as being an important part of keeping the cigar in good form, but I've found that you really shouldn't worry about it too much. Every time you pick it up, take a puff, and put it back down, you'll rotate your cigar a bit without even thinking about it; or you may well find yourself rolling your stogie while you hold it without even paying attention.

Another "tip" I've found is to remove the band after a certain number of puffs. In reality, you can do whatever you want. Some people take the bands off before even lighting their cigar while others don't take them off till they have burn marks on them. Most aficionados seem to agree that it's a kind of "tip of the hat" to the roller to keep the band on until it's in danger of getting burned and only then taking it off and this is what I do, but again - there's no hard and fast rule of etiquette on this.

The one exception: bands that are at the very bottom of the cigar. You don't really want to smoke the band, do you? If a cigar has a band at end that you're trying to light, for the love of Pete, remove it first or your cigar may smoke very nasty indeed.

So how do you hold a cigar?

If you haven't picked up on the trend so far, let me make it perfectly clear: how you hold your cigar is up to you. There may be some snobs out there who think it's better to hold it one way than another, but they're wrong. Hold your cigar the way you want to, the way it's comfortable for you and don't worry about what others think.

That being said, a popular way to hold it is between your thumb and index finger, and to use your middle finger to support the cigar.

How do you ash a cigar?

Most cigar lovers seem to agree that not interfering with the ashes is the way to go. That is to say, they never tap the cigar or do anything to disturb the increasingly lengthening pile of ashes at the end of the cigar.

Most of the time, the ashes will fall off by themselves at some point when you're setting it down in your ashtray. If you're really worried about the ashes falling on your clothes, setting it down with slightly more force should do the trick. Your final option is to roll the ashes along the sides of the ashtray you're using, as that will make them come off in the best way.

This last option is also a good one if your cigar happens to go out mid-smoke (it happens). Relighting your stogie is not a sin, contrary to what other sites may have you believe. The only time this becomes a problem is if the stogie has been out for a long time (some say more than 15 minutes, others more than 30 minutes) as that may negatively affect the taste of the cigar. A cigar that has been extinguished for too long will start tasting bitter and if that happens, you may want to refrain from smoking the rest.

Looking for how to store your cigars?

Since storing your cigar is more important that any other how-to about this subject, I've created a separate section on how to store your cigars.