Fisher Space Pen Cigar Punch, $40

Don't screw up your fine smoke that was years in the making by making poor cutting and lighting decisions.

By Doug Fiore

There is no point in purchasing an outstanding cigar if the smoker is unaware of how best to smoke it correctly. I am often surprised by the number of people who spend good money on premium cigars only to ruin them by faulty cutting techniques or even misguided decisions about the proper type of cut to make. Similarly, I am disheartened when I see cigars lit improperly. Like a bad cut, an improper cigar lighting can ruin the taste and burn of a premium, hand-rolled product. Cutting and lighting cigars takes knowledge and practice, but it easily can be mastered.

Essentially, there are three popular cuts that smokers can make with a variety of tools. While there are some variations of the basic cutting styles, the three discussed here are the most widely used. Before describing them, remember the primary rule of cutting: always use a sharp cutter to avoid damaging the head of the cigar, the wrapper, the binder, and the filler tobacco.

Straight Cut: Pay Attention!
The most common cutting technique, a straight cut typically is made with a guillotine cutter. Although guillotine cutters come in lots of different shapes and range dramatically in quality, they all feature a blade or set of blades in a frame with a hole for the cigar head to fit in. When using a guillotine cutter, it is important to put one of your hands as close to the head of the cigar as possible and apply a firm grip. Doing this helps to keep the cigar cap from shifting, which ensures accuracy. It is also helpful to give the cigar a slight twist as the blade(s) close, to avoid tearing the wrapper. A double-blade guillotine is preferable to a single blade guillotine because having blades hit the cigar head from both sides reduces the chance of squeezing and tearing the wrapper. For this reason, it is also important that the guillotine blades are sharp.

In addition to having a firm grip on the cigar and the cigar cutter, it is critical to cut the cigar cap at the appropriate place. The head of most cigars (not figurados) has a curved shape, most of which is called the shoulder. A proper cigar cut leaves most of the shoulder intact. The goal of cutting is to remove only a small amount of the wrapper so the filler is exposed. Cutting the entire head off can cause the cigar wrapper to unravel while smoking. This is a very typical mistake, although it is so easy to avoid. It is seen so often because the guillotine cut is by far the most common.

Straight cuts also can be made with cigar scissors. This is my preferred way of cutting a cigar, but it takes quite a bit of practice. Improperly using scissors by cutting off too much of the head will lead to the same unraveling problem one can get with a guillotine cutter. Having said that, cigar scissors offer the opportunity for a more precise cut as the scissor blades can be manipulated in different directions and on different angles to a much greater extent than can guillotine blades. The important thing to remember, whether using a guillotine or scissors, is to always keep the blades clean. The oils in cigars can stick to and even dull cutter blades. Periodically cleaning the blades with mild soap and water will preserve the blades and assist you in avoiding bad cuts that occur when the blades are oily, or have small pieces of tobacco stuck to them. This is another simple concept, but a great many cigar smokers are guilty of never cleaning the blades of their cutter.

V-Cut: A Touch of Style

Xikar VX v-cutter in gunmetal, $49.95

An effective technique for small ring gauge cigars like lonsdales, the V-cut is also known as a wedge cut or a cat's eye cut. Used primarily for style and appearance, the V-cut is unnecessarily invasive to a cigar and can lead to damage. However, as long as you use a sharp V-cutter, it's difficult to mess this type of cut up. V-cuts also have the advantage of decreasing the potential of getting tobacco bits in your mouth, a common complaint with guillotine cuts as less of the filler's surface is exposed. Essentially, a V-cut digs deep into the filler of a cigar and removes a wedge of tobacco. It can lead to a concentrated stream of smoke, which many smokers enjoy. If a V-cutter is not very sharp and used with a steady grip on the cigar and a swift motion, the chance of damaging the cigar increases. While the V-cut is preferred by some smokers, it is an invasive cut, and it does remove an inordinate amount of the filler tobacco.

Punch Cut: Nearly Foolproof
The punch cut is a favorite of many cigar enthusiasts, and it has the benefit of being the most consistent cut available. It is difficult, although not impossible, to mess up a punch cut. Basically, a punch cut is made with a cylindrical blade that the user slightly twists while piercing the wrapper at the head of the cigar. When using a punch cutter, it is important to put one hand on the head and over the shoulders of the cigar and apply a firm grip. This helps to keep the cap from shifting. If the cap shifts too much, then the punch can tear the wrapper. Punch cutters are available in varying diameters to accommodate cigars of different ring gauges. However, the typical punch cutter is most useful for cigars with smaller ring gauges. Punching a 60 ring gauge cigar with a cutter that has a small cylindrical blade can result in an opening that is just too small to allow enough smoke to come through. Finally, punch cutters have the advantage over other cutters of being highly portable. Many punch cutters are available as keychain attachments or as parts of a lighter. This portability contributes to the popularity of punch cutters.

The three styles of cigar cut described above are by far the most widely used, but there are still other ways of piercing the head of a cigar, including the infrequent new one, such as a unique six-bladed device called Shuriken. It cuts six slits evenly around the head of a cigar, and is particularly well-suited for mixed- and short-fill cigars where small bits of filler easily become dislodged when using large cuts.

Some smokers of course just bite the ends of their cigars. While this is not a method I would suggest, there are people who do this regularly and can really do it quite well. I, however, am not one of those people. Aside from the obvious aesthetic problem of having tobacco bits all over your teeth, biting the head of a cigar often leads to an uneven cut and a torn wrapper that is prone to unraveling. Similarly, some cigar makers themselves still master a traditional technique of pinching and slightly twisting a bit of a cigar's head between the tip of their thumb and a finger. Unless you happen to have access to an unlimited supply of free cigars, you might want to reserve these last two methods for dire emergencies only.

Whichever device you choose, it's important to remember that cutting a cigar successfully requires a firm grip, a sharp cutter, good hand/eye coordination, and a swift approach. Most importantly, it requires patience and practice. However, after spending money on a premium cigar, cutting deserves your attention and your best effort.

Cigar Lighting

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What seems like a simple concept is yet another often-overlooked aspect of cigar smoking - the proper lighting a cigar. The most important rule when lighting up is to ensure that the entire foot of the cigar is lit. Lighting only part of the foot will lead to a bad burn, and it will prevent all of the tobacco's flavors from coming together. However, the smoker must also ensure that the foot is only lit and not scorched. This is best accomplished by placing a flame one-quarter to one-half inch below the cigar's foot. Then, gently draw air through the cigar. While puffing, the cigar should be rotated over the flame to ensure the foot is evenly lit, without being charred. Charring will be avoided if the flame is not to close to the foot. If you allow the flame to touch the foot while you are drawing in air, the flame will grow, and you will run the risk of scorching the cigar's wrapper.

You should never use anything with a scent, such as a candle, to light a cigar. In order to appreciate the flavors of the tobacco, an unscented medium should be used. As such, if using matches to light your cigar, always allow the match to burn for a second before bringing it to the cigar. This allows the sulfur and other chemicals to burn off. The only exception involves the use of a cedar strip, or split, for cigar lighting. Many enthusiasts prefer lighting a cedar strip first and then lighting the cigar with the split so that they can benefit from the cedar flavor. This is largely stylistic, as any benefits of the cedar's enhancement are short-lived at best.

Most cigar smokers prefer to use a butane lighter. These come either as torch flames or soft flames. Torch flame lighters, which are available as single, double, or triple torches, are preferred by many, but they can be quite dangerous to fragile cigars as the flame is much hotter than from those with a soft flame. As such, when using a torch later, it is imperative not to let the flame sit against the cigar's foot. Although I often use torch lighters, my favorite is a wind-resistant soft flame lighter. These are perfect of lighting cigars outdoors.

To Re-light or Not to Re-light
Cigars can lose combustion and need to be re-lit for a variety of reasons, including inattentiveness, slow smoking, and excessive humidity. While re-lighting is often a good idea, there are some cautions to observe. For one, the cigar's flavor has been changed by the previous combustion as warm smoke has been drawn through the cigar's body. If you wait too long to re-light the cigar, the taste may become bitter or acrid, thereby rendering it unsmokeable. This is because as a cigar burns it transforms tobacco to ash, and char: the partially scorched, pre-ash remnants of tobacco. If this char is re-lit, the taste is very unpleasant. Before re-lighting a cigar, an effort should be made to remove all of the ash and char. This is best accomplished by gently rolling the foot of the cigar between your fingers and allowing the char to fall out. Another option is to cut the cigar fully behind the charred area, and then re-light. The second lighting may take longer than the first because of the smoke that had previously been drawn through. Also, smokers should expect it to take a little while for the flavors to balance out again. Try to re-light cigars only immediately after they lose combustion. Remember, the longer you wait, the more problems you will have with the resulting flavors.

Properly cutting and lighting cigars requires thought and practice. However, the cut and light of a cigar directly influence the quality of the smoke. Why haphazardly perform these two tasks, as they are the most important steps to ensure a premium smoke every time.