Once a cigar is cut and lit, the rest is mostly about pace. A premium cigar is meant to be smoked slowly, with the smoke held in the mouth and then let go. This chapter covers the habits that make a cigar burn well and taste its best: how to draw on it, how often to puff, what to do with the ash, how to relight it, and when to stop. If you have not lit your cigar yet, start with how to cut and light a cigar.
Do not inhale
Cigar smoke is not meant to go into your lungs. You draw the smoke into your mouth, let it sit on your tongue and palate for a moment, and then blow it out. The flavor is tasted in the mouth and smelled through the nose, not in the chest. People who are used to cigarettes sometimes inhale out of habit. Cigar smoke is much stronger than cigarette smoke, and inhaling it usually leads to coughing and can make you feel dizzy or sick.
Some experienced smokers push a little of the smoke out through the nose instead of the mouth. This is called retrohaling. It brings the smoke past the sense of smell, which picks up more of the aroma, and it can also make spice and pepper much more noticeable. It is optional. If you try it, start with a small amount of smoke, and skip it with very strong cigars until you know what to expect.
How to draw and how often to puff
Draw gently, as if sipping through a straw, not hard as if pulling a thick milkshake. A gentle draw gives you enough smoke to taste without overheating the tobacco. The draw is how easily air passes through the cigar. A well-made cigar should give a steady amount of smoke without hard effort.
Pace matters more than anything else. A common guide is about one puff a minute, sometimes a little more often. Puffing too often makes the cigar burn hot, and a hot cigar tastes harsh, bitter, or burnt. Puffing too rarely lets it go out. Between puffs, rest the cigar in an ashtray or hold it. It will keep smoldering on its own for a while. Rolling the cigar slightly in your fingers now and then can help it burn evenly around the edge.
Because of this pace, a cigar takes time. A small cigar may last half an hour, and a large one can last two hours or more. See smoking time for more on how size affects this. Choose a cigar that fits the time you have, rather than rushing a large one.
Thirds: how a cigar changes as it burns
Many smokers describe a cigar in thirds: the first third, the middle, and the last third. This is just a way of talking about the fact that a cigar often tastes different as it burns down. The smoke passes through more tobacco near the start, and as the cigar gets shorter the smoke is warmer and the oils and tars collected in the remaining tobacco come through more. Many cigars get stronger toward the end. Some blenders also arrange the filler leaves so that the flavor changes along the length. For how the leaves in a blend are chosen, see wrapper, binder, and filler and strength, body, and flavor.
The ash
The ash is the burned tobacco at the foot. With a well-made long-filler cigar it often holds together for an inch or more. You do not need to tap it off after every puff the way cigarette smokers do. A section of ash at the tip helps keep the burn cooler and steadier. When it gets long, or before it falls on its own, rest the foot against the side of the ashtray and let the ash drop, or tap it gently once. Do not grind or scrape the foot against the ashtray, because that can damage the burning edge.
The color and look of ash vary with the tobacco and the soil it was grown in. Ash color is not a reliable sign of quality on its own. A short-filler or mixed-filler cigar usually drops its ash sooner, because the filler is made of small pieces. See long filler and short filler.
Keeping the burn even
The burn line is the edge where the tobacco meets the ash. It does not have to be perfectly straight. If one side starts to run ahead of the other, you can often let it correct itself by turning the cigar so the slow side faces up, or by resting it with the slow side down for a moment. If that does not work, touch up the slow side briefly with your lighter, holding the flame a little away from the wrapper so it does not scorch it. Burn problems such as canoeing (one side burning down much faster) and tunneling (the inside burning faster than the wrapper) often come from storage at the wrong humidity or from how the cigar was rolled. Keeping your cigars in a seasoned humidor helps. See first humidor setup and relative humidity.
When it goes out: relighting
A cigar that goes out is normal, especially if you set it down to talk or eat. You can relight it. First, knock off any loose ash. Then gently blow out through the cigar once or twice to clear stale smoke from inside. Some smokers call this purging. Then toast and light the foot again the same way you did at the start. A relit cigar can taste a little stronger or more bitter at first, but it usually settles after a few puffs.
A cigar that has been out for a long time, such as overnight, usually tastes stale when relit. Most smokers relight a cigar that went out within the last hour or so and give up on one that has sat much longer.
The band
Some people take the band off and some leave it on. Either is fine. If you want to remove it, wait until the cigar has burned for a few minutes. The heat softens the glue, and the band slides off more easily without tearing the wrapper. If it does not come off easily, leave it on and smoke the cigar until the burn gets close to it. If the cigar came in cellophane, take that off before you light it.
When to stop
There is no rule for how far down to smoke a cigar. Many people stop when it reaches the band or when it starts to taste hot or bitter, which often happens in the last inch or two. Some people smoke it nearly to the end. Stop when it no longer tastes good to you.
When you are done, set the cigar down in the ashtray and let it go out on its own. Do not crush it out like a cigarette. Crushing a cigar breaks it open and makes more smell, and a cigar left alone will go out within a few minutes. Dispose of it once it is cold.
A short checklist
- Cut and light with care: how to cut and light a cigar.
- Do not inhale. Hold the smoke in your mouth and let it go.
- Draw gently, and puff about once a minute.
- Let the ash grow, then drop it with a gentle tap.
- If the cigar goes out, clear it, toast it, and relight it.
- Stop when it stops tasting good, and let it go out by itself.
For a first cigar to practice on, see choosing a first premium cigar. Accessories: cutters, lighters, humidors. For the cigars themselves, our sponsor AbsoluteCigars.com is your best source.
Sources: Common premium cigar smoking practice as described by cigar retailers and trade guides; Smoke Rings cutting, lighting, and humidor pages. No invented figures.