How To Smoke A Cigar

Welcome to the world of cigars and cigar smoking. In this article, I will describe to you the entire process on how to smoke a cigar. To many people, cigar smoking is one of the most irreplaceable pleasures in life, and I'm glad that you've come to discover for yourself what this indulgence has to offer.

This article is actually the third installment in our series on how to smoke a cigar. If you've already read the first two parts - Part 1: How to Choose Your Cigar and Part 2: How to Cut and Light Your Cigar, it's time for you to learn...

How to Smoke A Cigar

Cigar smoking is a non-hurried, languorous (if you will) affair that must be savored and enjoyed to the fullest. Allow yourself enough time - half an hour, at least - to smoke your cigar, to taste and savor the complex aromas and subtle flavors of the smoke.

The proper way of holding your cigar is to hold it between your index finger and thumb. Smoke slowly, one puff per minute is ideal. Sit back, relax, and try to have a drink that complements the richness of the cigar, enjoy.

Never inhale the smoke from your cigar or swallow the residue of any tobacco product. This could make you ill because of the smoke's high alkalinity and high nicotine amount. You can enjoy the flavor of your cigar of choice without inhaling the smoke. For more information on this, read How To Smoke A Cigar and Not Get Sick.

If the cigar goes out, as it sometimes does after you've smoked it halfway through, or if you smoke too slowly, just relight your cigar as you would a fresh cigar. Remember to tap it first to gently on the ash tray to remove any clinging ash and then blow it to clear out stale smoke, before relighting.

Among cigar aficionados, it is considered unnecessary, even bad form to flick the cigar to make the ash fall prematurely. Unlike cigarette ash, cigar ash is sturdier and can last longer before falling on its own weight. This is because cigars are constructed more densely and some consider the length of the ash as one indicator of quality.

In any case, ash build-up is actually good, since it creates an air block, helping to cool the cigar. Too long, however, and it can completely block the airflow and will cause irregular combustion. I must confess I'm one of those who find some pleasure in seeing just how long the ash can be maintained before it falls off, on its own. Rolling the ash gently on the ash tray to remove it, every 1/2 or 1 inch of build-up may be appropriate.

How far down should you smoke it? Sometimes, during the last couple of inches, the cigar lets off excessive heat and leaves an aftertaste in your mouth, so it may be time to put it out. Some people, though, vastly enjoy the progression of tastes they experience in superior cigars and will relish smoking these last two inches or until they can actually feel the heat in their fingers.

When putting out a cigar, don't crush it on an ashtray. It's not cigarette. Just place it on the rim of the ashtray and allow it to go out on its own. Dispose of the stub immediately to avoid leaving the tenacious smell of cold tobacco.

Congratulations, you've finished your first cigar and I sincerely hope it's been a pleasant and memorable experience for you. In our next posts, we will examine the many different facets of how to smoke a cigar, including its social aspects and etiquette of cigar smoking, to provide you with a fine introduction on the subject.

How To Cut and Light Your Cigar

This post is the second part in our series on how to smoke a cigar. Now that you have learned how to choose your cigar, it's time to practice the skills of cutting and lighting your cigar.

Cutting your cigar

The second part in your 'learning how to smoke a cigar' lesson is mastering the skill of cutting your cigar. To accomplish an even cut, the best cutter to use is a double blade guillotine cutter as this produces the cleanest edge. The ideal cut should be about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch (about 2 millimeters), taking off about 2/3 of the cap (the tip closest to the band), at the curved end of the cap just before it begins to straighten.

Don't cut the whole cap off and whatever you do, never cut into the body of the cigar. This will cause the wrapper to unravel, ruining the experience for you. On the other hand, if you cut too low, the opening might be quite small, and you will find your cigar difficult to smoke.

Lighting your cigar

Use a butane lighter or torch or a slow burning wood match to light your cigar. If you use a match, wait for a moment or two to before moving the cigar close to the flame to burn off the match stick's initial chemicals like sulphur or phosphorous. You don't want those or other chemicals to coat your cigar. Never use paper matches, gas lighters or scented candles in lighting your cigar. A butane torch lighter is recommended if you smoke outside on a blustery day.

Achieving an even burn in lighting your cigar is the third skill you will acquire as you learn how to smoke a cigar. Some friends of mine prefer to light their cigar with cedar wood. It's actually pretty easy to get some, since most cigar houses actually use cedar boxes in their packaging. So, next time you buy a box of cigars, break off a small piece of cedar wood from between the cigar layers, and use that in your next cigar session.

Experienced cigar aficionados recommend that you "toast" or "warm up" your cigar first before actually lighting it. This is done by exposing the foot of the cigar close to the flame (about 2cm.) without actually touching it. Rotate slowly. This ensures that the exposed tobacco is ready once you light your cigar. (Watch it in this How To Smoke A Cigar video).

After the cigar has been warmed sufficiently, it's now time to light up. Put the cigar in your mouth at a 30 degrees to 45 degrees angle. Apply the flame just close enough to touch the foot of your cigar. Draw lightly on the cigar and rotate gently. Drawing too fast will oxidize the tobacco and give you a bitter taste. Although this will pass, but it's an unnecessary hassle that can be avoided.

Continue drawing on your cigar and rotating it until you achieve an even burn, and the draw is easier and smoother. You're almost done with the preliminaries in learning how to smoke a cigar. Put out the flame and inspect the burning foot of your cigar. I sometimes blow very softly on the glowing end to make sure that it's burning evenly. Now that you have a lighted cigar, go ahead and smoke it. Indulge.

After you've mastered the skills of cutting and lighting your cigar properly, it's time for the third and central lesson of this series - how to smoke a cigar.

How To Smoke A Cigar in DMOZ!

It's not Saturday but I'm smoking a cigar. It' a celebration of sorts. I was looking at the stats of my websites this evening, and I noticed a spike in the number of visitors dropping by "How To Smoke A Cigar." Curious where you guys are coming from, I opened the folder and one visitor that galvanized my attention right away was this guy: editor.dmoz.org.

My mind was racing, trying to focus on the significance of this visit. I saw the date of the visit was June 2, Monday afternoon. It can't be ... a review of How To Smoke A Cigar by the foremost open directory in the internet took place, and I've learned of it two days later! It's not like I can do anything to influence the editor or anything. But a visit from DMOZ and I wasn't here?

Let me give you a brief introduction to DMOZ, so you can see why I'm making all this fuss. You see, DMOZ, as I mentioned above is the godfather of all directories in the web today, or one of the two godfathers. The other one is the Yahoo Directory. Getting listed in DMOZ grants a web site a mantle of authority and prestige in the eyes of the foremost search engine today - Google, which means (potentially) a higher page rank and more traffic. Thus, every webmaster strives hard to have his or her site listed with DMOZ. But not every site that applies for inclusion gets listed. It's a long wait to get reviewed (I submitted How To Smoke A Cigar back in March, and the site only got reviewed in June) and the outcome is not always favorable. I was in this forum the other day, and the other website owners there were all complaining about how hard it is to get listed in DMOZ. So you see now, why that visit was such a big deal to me? But I'm boring you with the tedious details of search engine optimization and internet marketing.

Back to the story. Hoping against hope (a shudder went through my spine after I typed that), I scrolled upwards in the stats page and surprise(!) - visitors coming from the actual How To Smoke A Cigar listing in DMOZ. My site got listed with this description:

• How To Smoke A Cigar - "Primer for the beginning smoker on how to choose and smoke cigars, as well as etiquette" (the listing is in the Recreation - Tobacco - Cigars section of DMOZ).

This is a landmark achievement for the site and I guess I should be keeping up with my updates here, which admittedly, I have somewhat neglected in the past few weeks. Some of you may be wondering why I've stopped writing in How To Smoke A Cigar for quite a while now. Well, as they say, one has to keep body and soul together, so I had to prioritize paid projects over this hobby site which is not generating any revenue yet.

But things are looking up, it's a double cigar celebration, actually. I just got a call from Miami from a referral client and we closed a deal on a new project, which will enable me to have a bit of time each week to write for How To Smoke A Cigar, as well as get into Stompernet, that exclusive enclave of the most successful internet marketers in the planet today, that I was hoping to enter someday. But let's leave that story for another time.

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How To Smoke A Cigar and Not Get Sick

It is not uncommon for people who are just learning how to smoke a cigar to feel sick during their first smoking session. Nothing to beat yourself with, even old-time aficionados do get sick sometimes from smoking very strong cigars they are not accustomed to.

What causes cigar smoking sickness?

Simply put, nicotine overdose. A stick of cigarette contains around 1 milligram of nicotine. A large cigar (a torpedo or a churchill for example) contains nicotine that's equal to 2 packs of cigarettes or even as much as 400 milligrams of nicotine.

Ok, here's the lowdown on nicotine. According to 3DChem.com, a leading authority on the composition and molecular structure of chemicals, nicotine is a naturally-occuring substance found in the tobacco plant. It is a "potent" nerve toxin and is actually a common ingredient in many insecticides!

Ingested in small doses, nicotine is a stimulant that affects both our central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Depending on how much and how often you smoke, nicotine can both relax and invigorate a smoker. This "biphasic" effect of nicotine is not uncommon, according to Ann Meeker-O'Connell, an expert at How Stuff Works. This is also what makes the substance highly addictive.

Nicotine overdose (or poisoning) may cause "vomiting and nausea, headaches, difficulty in breathing, stomach pains and seizures, dizziness, lightheadedness, numbness in hands/feet/lips, headaches, double or fuzzy vision, dry mouth, hyperacidity, constipation, diarrhea, chest pains, shortness of breath, muscle twitching and spasms, dry mouth, and generalized weakness."

Ok, that's the worst of it so far. If you're still with me, and you still want to learn how to smoke a cigar, let's move along and see how you can avoid cigar smoking sickness or nicotine overdose.

James Yee, a leading expert on Cuban cigars at AllExperts.com, offers the following tips for cigar smoking beginners not to get sick from their first cigar smoking experience:

• Don't inhale – as we noted above, cigar smoke contain inordinate amounts of nicotine (compared) to cigarettes. When you inhale this smoke, the nicotine build-up in your blood stream becomes more rapid, and this will cause you to get sick. As I mentioned in our lead article "How To Smoke A Cigar," you can still enjoy the aroma and taste of your cigar without inhaling the smoke.
  
  
• Avoid getting smoke in your eyes or nose - Smoke from your cigar can irritate your eyes, makes you teary-eyed and uncomfortable, and according to Yee, "quicken your smoking pace." It can cause your sinuses to "burn," can invite a bout of coughing, and worse, you could inhale the smoke through your nose. Yee advises to lean back if you can in a comfortable reclining chair, so that the smoke wafting up don't get to your eyes and nose.
  
  
  
• Smoke on an empty/full stomach - Personally, I like smoking my cigar, after a meal or a light snack and many of the cigar smokers I know are also most comfortable with smoking with a full stomach. However, as Yee observed, some people just feel the opposite, and would enjoy their cigar best with an empty stomach. It's up to you. As you progress along in your cigar smoking, observe how your body reacts and find your comfort zone.
  
  
• Smoke outdoors - In my article on cigar smoking etiquette, I observed that it's best to smoke outside, so as not to befoul your house with the tenacious smell of cigar smoke. Yee, explains, that smoking in tight, enclosed space with little or no ventilation is a cause of cigar smoking sickness.
  
  
• Take your time - "Speed smoking" leads to cigar smoking sickness for many who are just learning how to smoke a cigar because this might cause you to inhale the smoke inadvertently. Smoke slowly, take your time. One puff a minute is just about right. Veteran aficionados can smoke 2-3 puffs per minute handily but I say a fine cigar is like your favorite gourmet dish, it's best enjoyed when you take it in slowly.
  
  
• Be relaxed - Cigar smoking is most pleasurable when you're also relaxed while doing it. Try to find a cozy place in your house, in a patio or a deck, for instance, listen to your favorite soothing music. Smoking a cigar in a stressed uncomfortable environment like walking in 100 degree heat while playing golf, thirsty and half-dehydrated, just won't cut it. Smoking a "powerhouse" cigar that way would certainly kick your butt.
  
  
• Have a glass of ice water with your cigar - While most aficionados would enjoy their cigar with a glass of their favorite drink (scotch, cognac, espresso, etc), Yee explains that a glass of ice water can in fact "do wonders" for the beginner and make the cigar smoking more enjoyable. "Taking one or two sips between draws/puffs will make a cigar feel less strong as the water refreshes your palate. As a result, you should be able to smoke an entire cigar without getting sick." He also cautions against alcoholic beverages as this might upset further a cigar-sensitive stomach.
  
  

I also find drinks like an ice cold 7up as having the same clearing effect as James' glass of ice water. Perhaps, the most effective measure of preventing sickness for someone just learning how to smoke a cigar is sugar-loading. Of course, this won't do if you have sugar-averse health conditions (like diabetes mellitus), but sugar is an antidote to nicotine overdose. In fact, if you try to oberve the old cigar smokers in the Caribbean, they carry cigar cubes with them and just pop one as soon as they start to feel a bit queasy from cigar smoking. You can ingest raw sugar when you feel like getting sick or, if you're not comfortable with the idea, just sweeten your espresso a notch higher or have a sugary drink while you smoke.

Over time, as you mature from a beginner learning how to smoke a cigar to a veteran cigar smoker, you'll also observe that you have progressively developed a high level of tolerance to nicotine. This is gradual, however, so beginners are better off following Yee's advice and starting with the mildest cigars until they are able to handle the stronger ones. Even among veteran cigar smokers, an ocassional unfamiliar cigar comes along that can bring out more than a light buzz.

For more information on this subject, please visit:

• AllExperts.com: Topic on cigars featuring resident Cuban cigar expert James Yee.
• 3DChem.com: "Nicotine @ 3DChem
• HowStuffWorks.com: "How Nicotine Works" by Ann Meeker-O'Connell

Photo: Cigar Poet

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