New Cigar Smokers Guide

[ValeTudoGuy]

I thought about doing this a while back and then forgot. Well I still think it's a good idea.

I will post up the bones of what I did previously, please suspend heavy criticism for a moment and bear in mind that this draft has been produced by someone relatively new (me).

I have no doubt that in my writings there will be mistakes, generalisations, opinions, contradictions and possibly more. But if we can tailor this and add info, I think this could be a good resource for people new to the hobby.

Marc

[ValeTudoGuy]

Beginners guide:

The Cigar
Broadly speaking there are two kinds of Cigar, Cuban (CC) and Non Cuban (NC).
In general amongst cigar circles conversations are normally geared towards the enjoyment of high quality hand made cigars, please note that a cigar produced with tobacco hailing from one country will often be called a "Puro" though this term is often simply used as a default name for CC's.

Though the discussion of machine made offerings does take place and is not generally frowned upon.
Along with Cuba other counties with strong cigar production are The Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Though other countries do produce cigars also such as the USA, Indonesia, Holland and to a much lesser extent France, though this list is not exhaustive.
You can further split cigars into Hand made and Machine made varieties. Common machine made cigars that you may be aware of are King Edwards and Henri Winterman, without trying to offend or start a debate these types of cigars are generally considered of lower quality than Hand rolled Cigars. Once upon a time Cuba produced quite a few machine made cigars but this trend has slowed and this is now reserved for the small tinned "Club" and "Mini" Cubans. So in relation to Cuban cigars, if you are buying a full sized Cuban you are fairly safe in your assumption that you are buying a Hand made product made of 100% quality tobacco which is something that can't always be said for their machine made cousins.

Construction of cigars is split into stages and this can be broken down to the Filler, Binder and Wrapper.

Filler: The filler is the inner most bundle of tobacco that makes up the bulk of the cigar and can be described as Long or Short. In a long filler cigar the whole filler is made of intact rolled tobacco leaves where as in a short filler, it is made for cut up and re formed trimming.

Binder: This is the rough tobacco leaf that holds the filler together.

Wrapper: This is the high quality best looking smooth leaf that holds everything together. In some NC cigars this can be dyed to give a particular appearance or even flavoured. Though flavouring is a matter of personal preference flavoured cigars tend to not be appreciated by purists (Not always the case) yet flavoured cigars can account for the most expensive cigars available on the market.

Finally is the Cap, this is the section of the Wrapper that seals one end of the cigar, incidentally this is the end of the cigar which will need to be cut to put into your mouth. A cap can have multiple layers and a triple cap is often seen as a mark of a quality roller.

Now for shameless use of someone else's size, shape and colour picture (I hope it's not breaking copyright!) full credit goes to the owners of the picture and their brand is on it, I didn't make and don't own this picture.

image.jpg

http://www.cigaraffection.com/images...s_High_Res.jpg

[ValeTudoGuy]

Brands:
Currently produced Cuban cigar brands include:
Bolivar, Cohiba, Cuaba, Diplomaticos, El Rey del Mundo, Fonseca, H. Upmann, Hoyo De Monterray, Juan Lopez, La Gloria Cubana, Montecristo, Partagas, Por Larranaga, Punch, Quai D'Orsay, Rafael Gonzalez, Ramon Allones, Romeo Y Julieta, Sant Luis Rey, San Cristobel, Sancho Panza, Trinidad and Vagueros.

Currently Produced NC brands are almost too numerous to name but some common and well regarded ones are:
5 Vegas, Alec Bradley, A. Fuente, Ashton, Brick House, Camacho, CAO, Davidoff, Diesel, Don Pepin Garcia, Dunhill, Liga Privada, Macanudo, My Father, NUB/Oliva, Padila, Padron, Perdomo, Rocky Patel and Tatuaje.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Picking the Cigar:

Once you have chosen which brand and size of cigar you want to smoke, your going to want to pick a good example to actually light up.
To do this you going to want to check the cigar over.

Firstly visually inspect the cigar for any cracks or other types of damage. Next you will want to gently feel the cigar, lightly squeezing it along its length. Your looking for hollow areas or hard knots (Plugs) many good cigar retailers will help you find a good example and some will even replace a plugged cigar.

Storage:

Cigars need to be kept in a humidity controlled environment (Humidor) to keep them at their best. If you don't have one of these yet, don't buy too many cigars as they won't be at their best when you get to smoke them.

Keep cigars in the sealed bags the tobacconist will put them in for you, until your ready to smoke them. And don't be tempted to buy more than your going to smoke until your set up for storing them.

Ageing:

In the world of CC's age is often considered an important aspect. With older cigars being considered to have improved in flavour. In fact Young CC's can often be described and being (Sick) and not prime for smoking.

NC's on the other hand are made to be smoked from day one and it is often argued that in general they don't improve with age.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Smoking the cigar:
There's many ways to do this but I will go trough the process as I tend to do it.

Cutting:

Your going to need something to cut your cigar..... No don't bite it.
In general cutters are Guillotine, Punch or V-Cut. I tend to use Guillotine and Punches.
Always wet the (Sealed) end of the cigar lightly with your mouth before cutting.
Notice that the Cigars tapers at the end, this is called the shoulder and your going to want to cut somewhere in this region. Determine the line of the Cap and cut as little of the end of the cigar as you feel comfortable with, you can always cut more. Don't cut the whole cap off (Flush Cut) because this can cause the Wrapper to unravel which is hugely annoying. When cutting be decisive and cut in one swift movement.

Punching is even easier you literally lightly twist the punch into the closed cap end of the cigar, Once you have a hole, lightly suck through it to determine the (Draw) now draw is a personal thing but you neither want a wind tunnel or a Golfball in a hosepipe. Somewhere in between is ideal, a slight resistance but certainly not hard work.

Lighting:

Now I'm going to walk you through using a jet flame lighter as this is what I normally use.
With the cigar in one hand and the lighter in the other, ignite the lighter and start to offer it up to the (Foot) end of the cigar that isn't going in your mouth. The flame does not need to be touching the tobacco. Roll the cigar lightly and you will see the cigar foot start to darken (Char) and smoulder. Once this starts to happen bring the flame slightly closer as you continue to roll the cigar. You will start to see the end smoulder orange/red (Cherry), you want this to be as even as possible and it might require a gentle blow to help it on its way.

Once it's going your done with your lighter unless you let the cigar go out.

Smoking:

Now it's time to put the end (Unlit) in your mouth and gently suck, be sure not to inhale or take the smoke too far back. Keep the smoke in your mouth and feel free to gently roll it around the inside of your mouth for a moment before gently exhaling it. You don't want to over smoke the cigar as this will cause it to heat up and turn the flavour bad. I tend to take between 2 and 4 draws every minute, but you will find your own rhythm with different cigars. Continue this way until, the experience stops being pleasurable. If you cigar goes out, repeat the relighting process within a couple minutes of it going out to keep it at it's best. If the cigar is starting to seem like it's going out, try lightly blowing through it momentarily (Sometimes called purging.)

Ash: Some people like to leave the Ash intact, personally I like to knock it off. Try both ways and come to your own conclusions.

Putting the Cigar out.

In films you often see the cigar smoker crushing his cigar out by twisting it firmly into a hard surface. I would personally never do this. I find it gives Off a bad smell.
Instead I simply set my cigar down and allow it to peacefully die out.

Cigar Band,
You May read etiquette about leaving a Band On or taking it off, please do whatever suits you! I find if the Band is loose I take it off prior to smoking. If the Band is firmly in place I smoke it to near the Band and try to remove it then by sliding it off, if it won't slide off I lightly pinch the glued section apart and the Band Will unravel.

[MattKernow]

VTG,

Thank you for posting this, its very useful to me. As someone who has smoked maybe 25 or so puros in his time (a newbie if ever there was one) its incredibly helpful.

Do you have any issues with me printing these out to keep and read at leisure?

MK

[ValeTudoGuy]

VTG,

Thank you for posting this, its very useful to me. As someone who has smoked maybe 25 or so puros in his time (a newbie if ever there was one) its incredibly helpful.

Do you have any issues with me printing these out to keep and read at leisure?

MK

I would be absolutely honoured if you thought it was good enough to do that! Enjoy

[MattKernow]

I would be absolutely honoured if you thought it was good enough to do that! Enjoy

In my humble opinion, yes it is.

I'm new on terminology and my pallet is still very green too. (Why I'm asking so many questions on here trying to take it all in.)

I intend to keep it in my man shed when we get our first house and read it as and when I need it.

Top work VTG!!

[parnaby]

Good effort VTG, I'm sure some users will find this useful.
There is one question I have if anyone can shed some light on it. I was smoking yesterday with a friend and when my ash started getting a bit too long, I gave it a gentle tap to break it off. My friend said I should not do this and let it fall naturally or 'roll' it. So what difference does this make? I don't like letting it get too long then dropping it down myself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ValeTudoGuy]

I tap mine off, almost exclusively. I think it brings around a welcome flavour change in almost all circumstances. Some people say the ash buffers temperature and keeps things as they should be.

By rolling I think he means touch the corner/ edge of the ash against the ashtray and gently roll the cigar around. This will remove some ash but leave some in place to still buffer the cherry.

Completly personal opinion I think in this one. Try it out and see what you think.

[Wigan]

I`m sorry VTG but my eyesight isn't good enough for that

[ValeTudoGuy]

For what?

[Wigan]

You have your guide in a tiny font size

[ValeTudoGuy]

It's exactly the same on my iPad (as everything else)

Edit: I made it nice and big for you

[Johnny Thunder]

Brilliant this VTG. This will be a reference for me when I start my journey.
Just one question for now. Do you have a link to a larger version of the image.
My eyesight is not strong enough for the one attached.