Choose the size
Ring gauge and length set the pace. A robusto (roughly 50 × 5 in) runs 45–60 minutes and is the right first cigar; a Churchill can run past two hours.
Start short. An unfinished cigar teaches nothing.
04 · Light & smoke
The ritual, in six steps
Nothing here requires expensive tools. It requires attention, and rather more time than you think.
Cut the cap
Take about 2–3 mm off the closed end with a guillotine, punch or V-cut. Cut confidently in one motion, hesitation tears the wrapper.
Cut above the cap line, never into the body.
Toast the foot
Hold the open end just above a wooden match, cedar spill or butane flame and rotate. Do not touch flame to leaf. You want an even glowing ring, not a scorch.
Never use a petrol lighter, it flavours the smoke.
Light and draw
Bring the cigar to your lips, hold the flame close and draw slowly while rotating. Blow gently on the foot to check the ember is even.
Two or three slow draws are enough.
Smoke it slowly
One draw every 30–60 seconds. Cigar smoke is tasted in the mouth, never inhaled into the lungs. Let the ash build, an inch of ash keeps the burn cool.
If it turns hot and bitter, you are rushing.
Set it down
Most cigars turn harsh in the last third. When the flavour stops giving, rest it in the ashtray and let it go out on its own.
Never stub a cigar out, it smells acrid.
Four things not to do
- Don't inhale. Cigar smoke is held and tasted in the mouth; inhaling is unpleasant and harsher on the body.
- Don't relight repeatedly. One relight is acceptable within a few minutes; a cold cigar relit hours later tastes of ash.
- Don't wet the cigar. A soaked head clogs the draw and dulls every flavour in the blend.
- Don't rush the last third. That is where the blend concentrates, and where a fast smoker gets a headache.