Do you know your cigars? Read on to get your basics right about cigars, and get a step closer to becoming an aficionado! 

How to choose a good cigar

For any cigar aficionado, the first and foremost step is to know how to choose his cigar. Here the first thing to do is to find a shape that you like or will be comfortable smoking. There are different shapes like torpedo, lancero, double perfecto, salomon and corona gorda.

Don’t judge the book by its cover, and here we are referring to the cover being the cigar’s wrapper. Look for uniform colours, the outermost leaf must be applied flawlessly without any tears or gaps in between. Always look for cigars with lustrous cover or sheen, this indicates it has been cared properly. One must also avoid cigars that feel dry and flake or crumble when touched, this shows the cigars are not stored in proper humidity. Then you must look for filling, a cigar must be consistently filled with tobacco and should not have any divots or weak spots. Last and the most important, is the flavour of cigar, always check for the smell of the cigar if the tobacco smells good it will taste good.

Know about Cigar Taste

When you speak about tasting a cigar, you must hold it on your mouth before you light it up. Once you hold the cigar you can taste if it’s sweet or bitter and you can find whether the cigar is good or bad. It is advisable to smoke a cigar slowly to enjoy the taste. You can also keep a flavour chart to note down the best tobacco flavours like woody, spicy, vegetal and options of chemical flavours. Use your nose with retro-hale technic where you can take smoke through your nasal cavity, this will help you appreciate the essences of the cigar.

How to smoke a cigar like a pro

Smoking a cigar involves a complete ritual of cutting, toasting and lighting. To start off with one must know how to cut a cigar using a proper cutter, like the Guillotine, punch cut, and v-cut- with which you can give a wedge cut to your cigar. Before you fire your cigar, you must draw through the cigar to do a quality check of the flow of air. Whether you’re using cedar spill, wooden match stick or lighter its must you toast the cigar, as you see the some smoke puff gently and eventually fame will flare and ignite the cigar. Now it’s time to enjoy the cigar, sip it slowly like a fine wine (or scotch or cognac), and blow out gently. And when we are speaking about being a pro then you must know how to handle the ash. Generally, a good cigar has long ash and only falls when you tap it.

A pro must know how to roll his own cigar

Making your own cigar is an art and definitely NOT an easy task. You must be patient and not give, here’s a quick easy step must follow to roll your own cigar. The first step is separate the leaves for fillers, binders and wrappers. Keep in mind you remove the stems and moisten the leaves and keep before you roll down. On the workstation keep the binders leaves and shred the ends and glue them up in a cylinder shape. Now fill the tobacco and place the cigar in moulder to give it a shape. It would take some time for the cigar to set down and then you can apply the wrapper using pectin or acacia powder, this will help the cigar shine and remain moist. The final stage of cigar rolling is making and applying the cigar’s cap. The cap is the small swatch of tobacco that covers the head of the cigar can be taken from the wrapper leaf so the cap will matches the colour of the cigar’s body.

How to care for your cigar

Cigars are delicate and their wrappers can easily crack. Therefore they must be kept humidified and protected. Properly storing cigars is of the utmost importance. Here’s a simple way to keep that special cigar fresh, one you can dampen a paper towel with water and place the paper towel and the cigar in a zip-top plastic bag in the vegetable crisper of your refrigerator. The paper towel will provide enough moisture to keep the cigar fresh for a short amount of time. Another way is to use a humidor, which is designed to duplicate the humid climate of the countries where cigars are made. You can keep store cigars in these humidors, so as to protect the cigars to dry. Cigar cases are a good option when you’re travelling out for a dinner or party. Make sure your case is large enough to store different shapes of cigar.