The first time we learned about cigars was probably in movies about men growing up.
A well-dressed old man was sitting in an antique armchair, holding a Scotch with ice in one hand and a cigar in the other. It was hard to tell whether the gold ring or the cigar was thicker.
The smoke slowly rises above the lonely and thinking figure. There is no need to say any lines, just watching it feels awesome.
What seemed to be filling the air at this moment was not smoke, but the smell of wealth and power.
People who have never experienced cigars are probably missing out on the best smoking experience in the world.
It's more advanced than cigarettes, more refreshing than alcohol, and more satisfying than cats. The sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy tastes take turns echoing in your respiratory tract. The aroma is unique, and the occasional dizziness makes you feel happy.
Novices who smoke cigars for the first time will basically fail. If you apply the same process as cigarettes, when you inhale a high concentration of nicotine per unit time, you will truly experience what it means to "beat your lungs."
So, I prepared this "12 Questions for Getting Started with Cigars", which most of you will need in the future.
1.What does a cigar taste like?
As a natural agricultural product, cigar tobacco leaves, like wine and coffee, contain a variety of aromatic substances and have a complex and rich aroma.
In addition to smelling it, you will also have an excellent taste experience while smoking cigars.
Cigarettes are just "smoking", but cigars actually have a "eating" part. Therefore, people often feel a "satisfaction" after smoking a cigar, which is a taste that is not found in cigarette culture.
The most easily tasted flavors can be divided into three categories: sweet (such as honey, cream, plum, etc.), bitter (chocolate, nuts, coffee, etc.) and grassy (cardamom, floral, etc.).
Many people classify the flavors of cigars very finely, at least dozens of them. If you can't smell them, it's normal and it's no big deal.
One is that we do not have a corresponding olfactory environment, and the other is that we have not received professional olfactory training. It's like someone who has been drinking whiskey for years and still can't tell the difference between smoke and peat.
2. Do you need to smoke a cigar?
This is often considered a way to tell if a person is a cigar smoker.
Cigars are generally smoked as an "empty smoke". Just roll the smoke in the mouth and spit it out to smell the aroma. The main absorption of nicotine is through the nasal cavity and oral mucosa.
The main reason why it cannot reach the lungs is because of its strong strength.
Many people think that smoking cigars is less harmful to the body than smoking cigarettes. This is actually quite wrong.
It is very harmful to health, and its harmful ingredients such as nicotine and tar are dozens of times that of cigarettes.
Of course, cigar sellers won’t tell you this.
There are still some ruthless people who not only use cigars as food, but also eat them through their lungs.
All we can say is that it feels good for a while after passing through the lungs, and it will go to heaven after passing through the lungs.
3. Are all cigars thick, big and long?
In many people’s minds, cigars look like this👇
In fact, it comes in many sizes, perhaps dozens.
There is also this one that is about the same size as a cigarette👇
Cigars of this size are usually made from broken tobacco leaves, and the flavor performance is worse and the B grade is also lower.
However, it is easy to burn and has a short smoking time.
The counterpart is a long cigar with a filler hand-rolled from high-quality whole tobacco leaves and a rich aroma.
High-end cigars are all long cigars.
In the past, tasteful rich people loved this kind of slender cigar; as for the thick cigars we are more familiar with today, they were smoked by country bumpkins.
For example, Churchill, the most famous old customer, his favorite is the special Churchill model with a ring diameter of 47 and a length of 178mm.
Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution, also likes to smoke slender ones👇
There are two main reasons why thick cigars are becoming more and more mainstream these days:
First, the tough guy style is prevalent in the United States, and more and more wealthy people think that cigars with larger ring diameters are more stylish when held in their mouths;
Second, there are fewer and fewer good tobacco leaves that meet the conditions for making slender cigars;
What should I do if the aroma concentration cannot be increased? I had to make the cigars thicker and thicker to compensate.
4. What tools are needed to smoke cigars?
The most basic thing is a cigar cutter and an airbrush.
Everyone knows that cigars cannot be smoked directly, and the cap needs to be cut off first.
As for how to cut, there are a lot of opinions on the Internet telling you how you should and should not do it. In fact, there is no need to be too particular.
As long as it doesn't cut, it's OK.
What to use for ignition?
Let me first state that kerosene lighters used for smoking cigarettes are not acceptable.
Because the smell of kerosene will affect the taste of the cigar, especially the first puff, the nose and mouth are the most sensitive.
A gas lighter is acceptable, but the most commonly used method for smoking cigars is a spray gun.
It's powerful enough to light dense cigars quickly and evenly.
There is also a more elegant way to light a fire, which is to use cedar wood.
The advantage is that there is a distinct wood aroma in the first few puffs, but the disadvantage is that it is not as easy to ignite as an airbrush.
If you only pursue convenience, you can buy a cigar cutter and airbrush for less than 100 yuan on a certain store;
If you want to play around, show off, and pursue a sense of ceremony, there is no upper limit, and you can spend the money of a car.
5. How to light a cigar correctly?
Aim the flame tip at the cross-section of the cigar, rotating the cigar as you light it for more even lighting.
When the entire cross section glows red, it's almost OK.
It is important to note that never smoke a cigar with your mouth to aid combustion, like lighting a cigarette.
This will bring in a mouthful of bitterness and spiciness, completely covering up the original aroma of the cigar.
6. Should cigars be smoked in large puffs? At what frequency?
Don’t take too big a bite, and take your time.
Take a puff, let the smoke swirl back and forth in your mouth, and then slowly spit it out after it fully contacts your saliva. Then savor the lingering fragrance in your mouth and nose.
Then wait 30 seconds before taking another puff.
The purpose of this is to prevent the cigar from over-burning and causing a bad taste if you smoke it too quickly.
The reason why many people feel bitter, spicy, pungent, smelly or nauseated when smoking cigars is mostly because they smoke too fast.
Just slow down and take small sips, and that's it.
After you smoke a certain amount of cigars and have enough experience, you will master your own rhythm.
In short, smoking cigars takes time, and smoking often takes more than an hour. This is also the luxury of this kind of tobacco. How can a social creature have so much time to enjoy it?
7. Do you want to keep it ashes?
Keeping ash means keeping the ash flowing. Many cigar smokers will deliberately pursue keeping ash longer, thinking that this is a sign of good quality cigars, and it also makes their cigars look more elegant.
Although there is a certain truth, there is no need to pursue it too much. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if the cigarette ash was too long and accidentally fell on you?
You don’t have to hold it on purpose, but don’t break it anytime.
Because the cigar burns slowly, there may be incompletely burned filler in the ash. On the other hand, it can also keep the temperature stable and avoid bad taste.
8. Do you need to smoke the cigar in one sitting?
Since there are no combustion accelerants added to the cigar, it will naturally go out in two to three minutes if you don't smoke it.
Some people say that if you can’t finish smoking in one session, you can click on it and continue smoking next time.
This is not recommended because if the cigar is exposed to the air, it will cause an imbalance of dryness and humidity, which will affect the taste.
Therefore, it is best to eliminate them all at once and throw them away after drawing the last 1cm.
It's best not to stub out a cigar like a cigarette, as it may seem rude.
9. What should I do if I get dizzy?
It was mentioned in Article 6 that if you inhale too fast, it may cause nausea and regurgitation, which are common adverse reactions of kegginess.
In addition, nicotine intolerance can also cause blackout.
In fact, for most people, this can be done through training, which is similar to training on alcohol tolerance.
If you smoke it a few times in a row, the symptoms of eggplant fainting will be greatly alleviated.
In fact, slight dizziness is not uncomfortable, but is a strange and wonderful experience.
But if you have severe fainting, you still need to seek medical treatment in time.
Whether you feel dizzy or not varies from person to person, and everyone's reaction is different.
10. Are Cuban cigars the best?
Cigars can be divided into two categories: "Cuban cigars" and "non-Cuban cigars".
Like grapes and cocoa beans, high-quality cigar leaf varieties are often difficult to cultivate and have strict requirements on geographical and climatic conditions. The main reason why Cuban cigars enjoy a high status is that the environment is suitable and the tobacco leaves produced are of high quality.
Moreover, the labor there is relatively cheap. To put it bluntly, the price-performance ratio is very high. You can buy better cigars at a suitable price.
The price of non-ancient cigars of the same quality is often several times that of Cuban cigars.
However, non-vintage cigars also have their own unique advantages: good quality control and low defective rate.
There are more than twenty cigars in a box of Cuban cigars, and there are often a few that are difficult to smoke. Instead of ancient cigars, take Davidoff as an example, each one is almost perfect.
In addition, although non-ancient cigars produced in Nicaragua, the United States, Switzerland and other places are usually not as rich in flavor as Cuban cigars, they are better than mellow.
This is also the reason why many cigar smokers who prefer heavy flavors later switch to smoking Feiko.
11. Which brands of cigars have the most reputation?
"Cohiba - Cohiba", often nicknamed "Cohiba", is the number one brand of Cuban cigars.
With good quality, wide range of products and great reputation, it is the first choice among domestic cigar customers.
Recommended items:
"Trinidad", also known as Trinidad and 3T, is the second most prestigious cigar brand in Cuba after Cohiba.
Its price is much lower than Cohiba, and the quality is also good.
Recommended items:
Trinidad Coloniales
The Swiss brand "Davidoff" is the No. 1 non-vintage cigar. As mentioned above, the quality control of this brand's cigars is excellent.
Basically, there's nothing to complain about except that it's expensive.
Recommended items:
Davidoff Winston Churchill - Davidoff Winston Churchill cigars
Davidoff Millennium – Davidoff Millennium Cigars
"My Father - My Father", produced in Nicaragua, is also one of the representative brands that often appears on the list of top non-antique cigars.
If you like strong cigars, you must try their cigars.
Recommended items:
My Father La Promesa -My Father Cigar
12. What wine should be paired with cigars?
Many people recommend pairing it with whiskey or brandy.
In fact, in terms of taste experience alone, any strong and exciting alcohol will overwhelm the taste, and the taste of the cigar will become less obvious.
In my opinion, as long as you're not extremely thirsty, it's best not to drink anything while smoking a cigar. When you understand the beauty of this tobacco, you don't want anything to interfere with its good taste.
But for newbies, drinking a little wine is not without its benefits.
When you're new to smoking cigars, alcohol helps mask those bad flavors, especially bitter ones.
As an imported product, cigars have not yet formed a mature cultural atmosphere in China.
You can often see various sharing posts on the Internet, and they always write about how to smoke cigars in a very complicated manner, with a lot of rituals, procedures, and details. It seems that this is the only correct way to open a cigar.
But for ordinary people, if it really takes that much trouble, it can’t be called enjoyment. Regarding those theories and knowledge points, if you just blindly follow the trend and don’t understand the truth, it’s meaningless.
Look at Cubans, their cigar culture is deep enough, right? When you smoke a cigar, don't you bite off the cap and light it before smoking?
Therefore, the so-called lifestyle is actually a very personal experience. It’s already 2022, and it’s enough to feel happy.
Health warning:
Smoking is harmful to health!
Minors are not allowed to smoke!
Please do not smoke in non-smoking areas!