I love fine cigars! (Other Cigars)

Member Name: scmk55

Product:	Other Cigars
Date:	05/06/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relaxing, bond with others, complex

Disadvantages: n/a

Cigars are a very complex item, similar to wine. Premium cigars are handmade, and have a lot of effort put into them. I am fairly new to cigars. I have only been enjoying them for a little over a year, but have learned some stuff along the way.

There are three main parts to the cigar; The wrapper, the binder, and the filler. The wrapper is the outside leaf, the binder is what holds the filler together, and the filler is what's inside. You can have different leaves ranging from dark to light (conneticut, maduro, corojo, etc.) and different fillers. Cigar makers blend the different tobaccos together to make their cigar. Premium cigar mainly use long fillers, which are whole tobacco leaves. You can also use short fillers, which is pretty much cut off scraps of tobacco leaves. Long fillers give the cigar a more even and constant taste.

Cigars range in their flavor profile, and are described as being mild, mild to medium, medium, medium to full, and full. Different tobaccos have different strengths, which is my cigar makers blend them to give the flavor they want.

Cigars also come in different sizes. They range from cigarillos (cigarette sized cigars) and depending on the manufacturer, rather larger. The typical largest size is the churchill, 7 inches long with a 46-48 ring guage (diameter of the cigar in 64ths of an inch)

I prefer mild to medium and medium cigars. I have not graduated to the full flavored cigars, they pack too much of a punch. Beginner cigar smokers not used to the tobacco should start with mild cigars and get a feel for smoking before moving up. A great cigar for that is the Cusano 18 natural with the conneticut wrapper.

Smoking a cigar is a lot different than a cigarette. Cigarette smokers smoke for the nicotene addiction, while on the other hand, cigar smokers smoke to enjoy themselves and relax. First of all, cigar smokers DO NOT inhale cigar smoke. If you do, you will be coughing for the next five minutes. To enjoy a cigar, you simply draw the smoke into your mouth, savor the taste, and exhale. You take about a 1.5-2 second pause with the smoke in your mouth. On average, take about a draw of the cigar a minute. You don't want to draw more than that because it will heat up the tobacco too quickly and ruin the taste, making it bitter. Don't sit there with a stopwatch though, just guess and go with your feeling. If it's 1 and a half minutes between draws, it won't matter.

Cutting a cigar is simple. Get yourself a good cutter. Insert the cigar into the cutter just above the shoulder of the cigar (right where the cigar begins to curve up). You want to cut a little higher than the shoulder so that it won't unwind later.

Lighting the cigar is also very important. First, you want a very good lighter with butane fuel. Butane burns clean and will not ruin the taste of the cigar. I have a 2-jet butane lighter which is good, however they also make 3-jet lighters which simply look awesome! To light a cigar, you want to hold the cigar so you can see the foot (bottom) and toast it, wrapper first and then filler. Toasting a cigar is simply getting the cigar heated up. You want to hold the lighter with the flame of the cigar close but not close that it is touching the cigar. The heat of the flame will toast it. Just watch so that you see the amber glow. When you see that the ring of the cigar is all amber, you are ready for the next step. Put the cigar in your mouth, hold out straight, lighther under it, and puff and rotate. Make sure you get the entire cigar. After lit, blow on the foot of the cigar to ensure that the entire cigar is lit with its orange amber color. Wait a minute, and begin to smoke.

Storing a cigar is also important, and this is what humidors do. Humidors are air-tight boxes with a sponge and hygrometer to keep and measure humidity. Optimal conditions are 70/70, 70 degrees farenheit and 70% humidity. Distilled water must be used because it is 100% pure water. You want to use pure water so you can prevent mildew, foul odors, and other reasons.

This is a very basic instruction sheet to cigars. There are plenty of websites out there that will give you more details. Below are some of my favorite cigars (not in specific order)

-CAO Italia: A medium cigar with some Italian tobacco. Very earthy taste to it with a good body.

-Cusano Corojo '97: A mild-medium cigar. The corojo wrapper really gives it a spicy, peppery taste to it. Very light for hot days.

-Cusano 18: A mild cigar with a great flavor. Very smooth. Excellent for beginners.

-CAO Mx2: A double maduro cigar with a medium to full flavor with a sweet finish.


***IF you want to learn more about cigars, listen to the Cigar Dave Show. You can listen to it on www.cigardave.com . New shows are on Saturdays at 12pm EST. You can listen to old shows in the Theater 1a link on the webpage as well.

Summary: Enjoy a cigar, but do it right!