The Cigar How To Guide

Cigar smoking isn’t for everyone. We know that. But we still think every man should know a bit about the art. There’s a lot of history behind this age-old practice as well as an entire culture to go along with it. Plus, you wouldn’t want to seem foolish when one of your friends eventually has a baby and passes out cigars to all of his friends. Would you?

• Cigar 101 from Cigar Aficionado New to the world of cigars? These articles will help you get started.
• Cigar 101: Snakes In The Humidor Cigar Aficionado's resident snake experts, David Savona and Gregory Mottola, talk and smoke culebras, the twisted, serpentine cigars that come in threes.
• Cigar 101: Weekly Tip Each week, we offer tips for how to get the most out of your cigar smoking experience.
• A Lesson in Lighting My friends tell me I have to use a butane lighter to light my cigars? Is there a special lighting method with these lighters?
• Growing Up Fuente Christina Suarez of the Arturo Fuente Cigar Company talks about what it was like growing up in one of the cigar industry's most famous families.
• Hold on there. Before just jumping into cigar smoking, find a nice, mild cigar to start with. Some cigars may be a bit too strong for beginners and may ultimately ruin the entire experience. Mild-flavored cigars are also slightly cheaper, which may make it easier to ease into the hobby. You also won’t have to worry much about lighting an expensive cigar incorrectly or cutting off too much of the cap of an expensive cigar.
• Aging the Flavor Aging mellows the taste of cigars. Aging may lend complexity to a cigar as the smoke picks up flavor from the cedar found inside humidors, or it may deepen the pure tobacco flavors when cigars are stored in a neutral environment such as in glass, metal or ceramic.
• How Long Can Cigars Stay Fresh? For how long can I keep cigars in an original, factory sealed box so they don't dry up?
• How are cigars box-pressed? There are two styles of box-pressed cigars, each with its own unique method of attaining the squared-off appearance.
• Covering Your Ash Unlike smokers who let their cigars burn halfway down before flicking the ashes, I tend to ash often. I've noticed that my cigars often burn unevenly. Could this be related to how often I ash?
• Topping Tobacco Someone in my local cigar shop told me about cigars made with strong tobacco. How does one grow stronger tobacco?

• Most of all ENJOY! Again, do not inhale the smoke. Trust us, you won’t like it. Allow the smoke to fill your mouth, taste it and blow it out. Continue to puff and rotate your cigar every once in a while. If you smoke it too fast, your cigar will overheat burn to fast and ruin the flavor. If you smoke it too slow, you’ll have to continually relight it. Flick the ashes once they’re down to an inch or more. You may also want to choose a drink to accompany your cigar. Although we’ll always recommend whiskey – Scotch is the preferred whisky among cigar smokers – coffee drinks, cognac, martinis and Indian Pale Ales pair well with the full flavor of your cigar as well. Once you’ve picked out your preferred cigar, pour your favorite drink and put on some relaxing music. You may find that, health problems aside, cigar smoking can be an extremely tranquil way to pass the time.