Welcome back to the two-part series talking about six things that all cigar smokers should know. In our last blog post, we covered three significant parts of cigars that makes the opportunity to smoke them all the sweeter. In today’s blog, we’ll continue to cover some of the pieces of information that we believe to be major pieces of knowledge that all cigar enthusiasts should know. While our last blog focused more heavily on the craftsmanship of the cigar, today we’re going to touch more on your role in the mix — smoking it!

How to Smoke a Cigar

If you’re going to call yourself a cigar enthusiast or you’re looking to build upon your knowledge of cigars, you ought to know how to smoke a cigar properly. It happens all the time — puffing on a cigar too much and burning through it in no time at all. This is a huge mistake in regards to the process of smoking, and for more than one reason.

For starters, cigars are intended to be tobacco products that are designed for pure enjoyment. They aren’t meant to be huffed on until there’s nothing left but a stub. That is why you’ll always hear people saying that you should smoke a cigar nice and slow. When you smoke too fast, you go against a huge part of what the cigar was designed for — fun.

While that is one of the reasons that we prioritize, there are some additional reasons that puffing too much or smoking a cigar wrong, can ruin your experience. If you’re puffing too often, you can expect to overheat your cigar, which in turn ruins the taste of this beautifully crafted tobacco product. Once you’ve brought out this unique bitterness in your cigar, it’s pretty challenging to reverse the damage.

It’s a combination of the points that we’ve listed above that make smoking a cigar nice and slow, a must. When you do get the chance to enjoy a high-quality cigar, or any cigar for that matter, do your best smoke it slowly and really savor all of the bold and unique flavors. Remember, from our previous post, that cigars require the skills of a couple hundred individuals — take the time to make the most of it.

Cutting and Lighting a Cigar

Now that we’ve talked a little bit about how important it is to smoke a cigar properly, we need to touch on your ability to cut and light a cigar properly. Not all of the cigars that you purchase are going to be ready for you to smoke right out of box, although many premium cigars are going to be cut for you, it’s always good to have an understanding on how to properly cut a cigar in the case that you need to cut one prior to smoking.

Cutting a cigar can be done correctly, or it can leave you with a messed up cigar, there’s really no in between. If you cut too much off of the cigar, you’re not going to enjoy the same cigar that you would have otherwise enjoyed. Cutting the cigar can also have an effect on the wrap, which is another piece that you need to worry about when cutting a cigar on your own.

The same can be said about lighting a cigar, though there is a little bit more flexibility in regards to fixing the lighting of a cigar after the fact. The best way to light a cigar is to do so minimally — let the flame brush against the cigar and slowly warm, and then burn, the cigar. This keeps the tasteful flavor of the tobacco without burning it to ash, a flavor very few of us would like to inhale. This is also key to keeping the pace of the cigar at a slow and steady pace, allowing you to enjoy every moment of that tasty cigar.

Being able to cut and light a cigar properly are two things we believe that individuals passionate about cigars should know. While cutting may not be something that you have to do frequently, it’s handy to know if you ever need to touch up a cigar. Lighting a cigar, on the other hand, is going to be a crucial part of smoking from the get-go.

Learn Your Cigars

There are so many different options available when it comes to choosing the cigar that you’re going to smoke. For many, the price of a cigar is a huge indicator of whether or not the cigar they’re considering is quality or not, but that’s not always the case. Sure, price will likely rise as the quality of the cigar goes up, but there are plenty of cigars that don’t cost very much and can still offer you a quality smoke.

More importantly, it’s good that you take the points we covered in our last blog post into consideration.

Learn the difference between a hand-rolled cigar and one that was manufactured.
Learn about the different tobacco plants that are used to make cigars.
Learn about how labels vary and what makes each one unique.
Learn about the way that a cigar is constructed and how it contributes to the flavor.
Learn about the cigar wrap and how it contributes to the flavor.

Taking time to learn about cigars and the options that are out there is a big part in becoming an individual that can truly enjoy cigars, and we believe anyone that is passionate about cigars will know this. With an open mind and the willingness to learn, you will only continue to grow in your passion, and Oliva Cigars hopes to be a part of that journey.

Shop Oliva Cigars

Thank you all for stopping in to enjoy this two-part series. We appreciate you taking the time to read. Continue to check out our blog space where we will cover various topics surrounding cigars and the culture. If you’re interested in adding Oliva Cigars to your collection, check out the list of vendors near you where you can stop in and make a purchase.