Lighting a cigar takes heat and patience. Your technique matters more than the tool: toast the foot first, then hold the cigar just close enough to the flame to light the filler without burning up the side of the wrapper. A torch makes this easy to control in the wind. A soft flame or a wooden match still works well indoors or when the outside air is still.
Smoke Rings sells lighters in the lighters section of the shop. This chapter compares types of flame; when choosing a torch, look at flame control, fuel, and wind resistance. No tobacco is sold on Smoke Rings.
Torch (jet flame)
A torch lighter burns a focused jet of butane. Torches come with single, double, triple, and even four burners. The advantage of a jet flame is that it is sharp, clean, and hot. You can aim it at the foot without covering the cigar in a sooty yellow flame.
Use the torch to toast the foot evenly while you turn the cigar, and then puff while holding the foot near the flame. It’s normal to touch up an uneven burn (canoeing) now and then. If you have to correct the burn constantly, the cigar was probably poorly made or poorly stored.
Torches are particularly useful when lighting up outdoors, on porches, decks, and golf courses, because they work in the wind. A soft flame does not.
Soft flame
Soft-flame butane lighters and traditional fluid lighters produce a gentler yellow flame. At a calm table they are pleasant to use and less likely to scorch the cigar. In a breeze, the flame flickers and can blacken the foot. Lighter fluid odors can transfer to the cigar, so keep that in mind.
Matches
Wooden matches still work well for lighting cigars. Strike the match, let the sulfur tip burn off, and then toast the foot. Paper book matches are harder to use and often burn out too quickly. The method is the same with any flame: toast evenly, draw gently, and do not let the flame run up the wrapper.
Fuel and good practice
- Use clean, refined butane in butane torch and soft-flame lighters.
- Avoid cheap utility lighters with a strong fuel smell.
- Do not burn the band or the head you have just cut.
Related accessories
Cutters: cutters. Storage: humidors, humidor guide. Travel: travel humidors. Glossary entry: torch lighter.
Sources: Common cigar-lighting practice (toast then draw); torch vs soft-flame trade distinction; Smoke Rings torch-lighter glossary.