Modern Rules for Selecting and Smoking Premium Cigars

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Our modern rules for selecting a premium cigar and enjoying the smoking experience. And, to be honest, there are no fixed rules about smoking a premium cigar – this is a product that should be smoked in a way that maps to your personal timeline and tastes.

Length of the cigar is important: select the right? size of cigar, as a cigar smoking experience is something you want to enjoy fully all at once, not in part from time to time. If you are rushed and don’t have a lot of time then opt for a shorter premium cigar like a Petit Corona or even a short Robusto. If you have an hour or so then you can “go long” with a standard Churchill cigar or even a beautiful Torpedo.?

  • Never think about cutting a great cigar in half to get more out of it and/or leverage the cost you put into the cigar. No cigar is meant to be smoked this way and flavor in a longer cigar will build up nicely over time.?

Know that heat is a byproduct of the length of the cigar: shorter cigars will always smoke hotter and as a result the flavor won’t develop as much and your smoking experience will just be a bit hotter. A longer premium cigar is made with more long filler tobacco. These are really nothing more than a whole leaf that run the entire length of the cigar and as your cigar burns the leaf is turned into a liquid and gas, producing smoke that can be drawn over your pallet.?

  • As you smoke a longer premium cigar the residual oils contained in the tobacco leaf the residual oils are kept in the tobacco leaf, which helps to give you a much better, richer and fuller tasting smoke.?

Thinner cigars are in most cases not optimum for producing great flavor. A thinner cigar typically uses less filler tobacco, meaning the wrapper used on the cigar will have more flavor impact than with a bigger thicker cigar, which always has more filler tobacco. That’s not to say thinner cigars aren’t great to smoke, they just have different characteristics than bigger, fatter and thicker cigars.

  • Air circulation is always part of the equation for producing a better tasting smoke and a fatter or thicker cigar has more air incorporated in the smoke as you draw the cigar – the rounder and again fatter cigar just lets more air into the cigar.?
  • A thinner cigar will always produce a more intense flavor as there is less air to dilute the actual taste of the tobacco used in the cigar.

Au contrair to what many tell you, a darker cigar is not always going to produce a richer stronger flavor versus a “normal” cigar. In many cases a darker cigar uses a Maduro Wrapper – the more intense fermentation used for this type of tobacco produces a sweeter flavor that does not produce a stronger flavor.?

  • It’s also common to find a Wrapper that may look light in appearance that is covering a much stronger filler tobaccos. So, the cigar in appearance at least outwardly may look lighter, but it’s going to product a stronger taste than comparable cigars that use a darker wrapper.?

You should never inhale smoke from a cigar. The keyword in that sentence is “never.” It’s just not a good thing to do and a cigar is not made for inhalation; it’s not a cigarette and a cigar is made to just inhale the smoke so it moves over your palette inside your mouth, which will give you sufficient taste to experience a cigar the way it was made (for smoking).?

Smoking a premium cigar should be on your terms. When and if you are done smoking a cigar then it’s time to put it down in an ashtray and let it go out on its own, there is no need to stub it out or crush it.?

  • Yes, you can come back to it later and relight your cigar: some purists don’t recommend this and think this is not something you should be doing. But, this is more of a personal taste issue, versus what’s accepted in the broader cigar community.?

Always know how to cut a cigar. All premium cigars are made with a “foot” and a “cap” – the latter must be removed by cutting it so you can smoke the cigar. The cigar Wrapper is applied in the last step of the cigar manufacturing process, requiring you again to cut the cap so you can smoke the cigar.?

The best way to cut a cigar is always using a cutter (a guillotine cutter is one of the most popular cutters) and you want to use a straight cut, that is consistent with the construction of the cigar. You don’t want a ragged cut with tobacco hanging out of the cap once you have removed it.

So that’s our take on how to smoke a premium cigar and take care of it. Thanks for visiting our web site – we have over 2,500 types of cigars, RYO tobacco, accessories, mints, hookah tobacco and even smoke removing candles and sprays.?

Windy City Cigars