SMOKING THE CIGAR

Yes, there is correct way to smoke your cigar in order to get the best out of it. Here are the three basic steps:


CLIPPING: The head of a hand-made cigar has been sealed to hold in flavor and humidity, and must be cut or "clipped" to provide an easy draw. The correct way is to clip the head of your cigar neatly and cleanly with a cigar cutter especially made for that job. There are three types of cuts:

The Guillotine Cut is performed by a guillotine cutter and is available in various styles. There are single bladed guillotines and double bladed, and can be hand-held or desk models. They can be encased in simple plastic or as elaborate as gold or platinum studded with jewels. They can slide in one direction or close toward each other in a straight or scissor type movement. Like the infamous devise of capital punishment for which it is named after, the guillotine cutter uses a blade that pushes toward the cigar and cuts. If this device is used, it should be done quickly to make an even cut. Slowly will cause the cigar to be pinched, thus the development of double bladed guillotine cutters which cut from both sides at once. But these also should be used with a swift determined motion. Guillotine cutters are the most popular and easiest to find cigar cutters on the market. Another popular type of guillotine cutter are the Cigar Scissors. These are specially designed scissors for cutting cigars, with rounded blades that surround the cigar when cutting. These too ate very popular and have the added attraction of being easily sharpened. As with guillotine cutters, cigar scissors should be used with a swift determined motion.
The V Cut is performed by V-Cutters, sometimes known as a slit or slash cutter, cut a V shaped siash across the head of the cigar. These also come in hand-held and desk models. Their main disadvantage is that they do not work well on cigars with a ring size of 48 or larger. But if they have a sharp blade they are quite adequate on smaller cigars.
The Pierce is performed by a device that pierces, drills or cuts straight into the end of the cigar. There are various types of piercing tools. Piercing the head creates a small hole, which can cause the juices and smoke to concentrate on the tongue rather than the whole palate. However, using what is known as a "bullet punch" cutter of surgical steel is a preferred method of cutting cigars. Using a large caliber cutter of 1/4 inch or larger in diameter makes a very adequate cut in the head for a pleasurable smoke without any concentration of juices or smoke on the tongue, and it keeps loose tobacco from entering the mouth.

Note: Many machine made cigars have a pre-pierced hole which eliminates the necessity of clipping. The holes are notoriously small allowing juices to concentrate on the tongue racher than on the whole palate. Some smokers prefer to clip these pre-pierced cigars with a V or Guillotine cut. The best machine made cigars have closed heads and the individual smoker can choose any clipping method preferred.

Onto the next basic step, Lighting Your Cigar!