Cigars 101

Enjoying a cigar is a very personal experience with the end goal being your own personal satisfaction. How you select a cigar, cut a cigar, light a cigar, smoke a cigar, and store your cigars is all a matter of personal preference. There is no one right or wrong way to do any of these things. There are some fairly basic things you may want to know, though, if you are just beginning to smoke cigars.

Selecting the Right Cigar
Cigar Wrappers
Cigar Shapes and Size
Storing Your Cigars
Cutting Your Cigars
Lighting Your Cigars

Selecting the Right Cigar

Obviously, there are many kinds of cigars and many makers of cigars. It may take you some time, through trial and error, to find the cigars that you most enjoy. Things to consider in selecting a cigar are size (length and ring gauge), style (straight, torpedo, etc.), wrapper, filler, countries of origin, the taste, strength (mild to full-bodied), and construction, just to name a few.

There are several countries in which cigar tobacco is grown: Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Cameroon (Central African Republic), India, Indonesia, and, of course, Cuba. Different tobaccos from different nations will have different flavors and strengths. This is where you'll need to experiment to find what you like most.

What wrapper is used in the making of your cigar will also have an impact on the flavor.

Cigar Wrappers

There are numerous kinds of wrappers that are used in the making of a cigar, all of which will affect the flavor of the cigar:

Double Claro: This is a green wrapper (aka American Market Selection or Candela) that has a sweet, distinct taste. Some smokers have said the Double Claro has a very natural, or even grassy flavor.
Claro: This wrapper is a light tan color and is often a "Connecticut Shade" wrapper. Pennsylvania is now also growing a fine Claro wrapper. These wrappers are grown in the shade and offer a very mild taste - an excellent choice for beginner smokers or for an early-morning smoke.
Colorado Claro: This is a medium-brown wrapper. The "Natural" or "English Market Selection" are good examples of this wrapper. These, and the Colorado wrapper, are also shade grown wrappers, but offer a bit of a more medium to full-bodied flavor.
Colorado: This wrapper has a red tint, hence its name.
Colorado Maduro: This wrapper is darker than the Colorado Claro.
Maduro: The Maduro wrapper is a very dark brown wrapper. The Maduro wrapper provides a more full-bodied smoke with a touch of sweetness.
Oscuro: This wrapper is almost black. Picked from the very top of the tobacco plant, these tend to be very full-bodied with a touch of spice.

Shapes and Size

Cigars come in many different shapes, sizes, and ring guages. Again, it all comes down to personal preference as to which cigar you choose. There are straight cigars, torpedoes, pyramids, box pressed, cigarellos, and more to choose from. Lengths vary depending on the style you choose. For instance, a Churchill (named after Winston Churchill) is often a straight cigar, 7 inches in length, with a ring gauge of 48 (48 64ths of a inch) making it almost 3/4 inch in diameter.

Style	Common Length	Ring Guage (64ths of an inch)
Gran Corona	9+	47
Presidente	8	50
Double Corona	7-5/8	49
Churchill	7	47-50
Lonsdale	6-1/2	42
Corona Grande	6-1/4	42
Toro	6	50
Panatela	6	38
Corona Gorda	5-5/8	46
Carlota	5-5/8	35
Corona	5-1/2	42
Petit Corona	5-1/8	42
Robusto	4-7/8	50
Rothschild	4-1/2	48

Storing Your Cigars

There's a lot of information out there on how to store your cigars, keep them properly humidified, and protect them from harm. Cigars are like fine wine: they better with age and need to be protected in a controlled enviroment. The best way to keep your cigars fresh and ready to smoke is to keep them in a humidor. Choosing the right humidor depends a lot on your personal preference. How many cigars do you intend to keep? Will you display it openly? How much does it cost?

Being a member at Cigar Cigars and having a locker in the on-site humidor takes a lot of the headaches out of keeping a humidor. However, you may still want to keep one at home for those times you want to enjoy a smoke at home. Ask your tobacconist to aid you in finding the right humidor for your budget and needs, and then ask for their advice on how to best season the humidor. Seasoning properly prepares the humidor for storing your cigars.

Cutting Your Cigar

Selecting the right cutter is also all about personal preference. There are guillotine cutters, scissor cutters, v-cutters, plug cutters, and more. They range in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. You'll have to decide which method you prefer when it comes to cutting your cigar. Ask your tobacconist to help you choose the right cutter.

Never cut a cigar until you are ready to smoke it.

Plug-cutters and v-cutters offer very little variation in the way you cut the cigar. On the other hand, with a guillotine cutter or a scissor cutter, you can do great damage to the cigar if you aren't careful in the way you cut the cap. The cap is the closed end of the cigar that needs to be cut away before you can smoke the cigar. It is made of a separate piece of tobacco that is glued to the top of the cigar in order to keep the wrapper from unravelling. When using a guillotine or scissor cutter, you want to cut the top 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch from the cap, being careful to not cut away the entire cap.

If you are cutting a torpedo or pyramid cigar, you want to cut off the tip without cutting into the body of the cigar. Some guys like to cut these on a bias, but again, this is a matter of personal preference.

Lighting Your Cigar

There are many tools for lighting your cigar. One of the most common is the butane torch lighter. These are great because of their resistance to wind and their consistent flame. Some prefer to use wooden matches. Others might use a "spill," a piece of cedar kindling that acts as a match. Paper matches make a bad cigar lighter, as they rarely burn long enough to get the job done.

Once you've decided on an ignition source, you should begin lighting your cigar by "toasting" the foot - warming the tobacco at the end of the cigar without actually touching the flame to the cigar. Then, rotate the cigar in your mouth and draw lightly as you touch the flame to the cigar, evenly lighting the cigar all around the edge. You may find, on occasion, that your cigar burns unevenly and you may need to use the lighter or matches to help coax the cigar into burning evenly once more.