The Cigar – The Gentleman’s Calling Card

The Cigar – The Gentleman’s Calling Card don’t you think? I think it so sexy to see a man relaxed with a glass of wine and a great cigar.  He appears distinguished and refined and at the same time like he has the world at his feet.  It is a look that screams sex appeal.

A good premium cigar is like a fine wine – it goes well with anything.  To me a cigar speaks of quality and elegance.  Premium cigars are about quality and not necessarily price. Nothing looks as sexy as a man or woman socializing with a great cigar and fine glass of wine.  It looks both relaxing and sexy at the same time without looking obscene or trashy.

 

Cigars are about the only socially accepted form of smoking allowed.  Even Vaping is becoming sort of an outcast in the smoking community.  The Cigarette has long been ostracized from the social scene for all the health issues caused by this long-standing product.   A lot of classy and elegant events feature a fine wine selection as well as a great cigar selection.

Good Cuban or Havana cigars are among the world’s best made and highest quality.  You have the long, skinny, short, fat, and even flavored.

Taste and Flavor

Good Cuban or Havana cigars are among the world’s best made and highest quality.  You have the long, skinny, short, fat, and even flavored.

Each brand and type of cigar has its own unique taste. Whether a cigar is mild, medium, or full bodied does not correlate with quality.

 

Among the factors which contribute to the scent and flavor of cigar smoke are tobacco types and qualities used for filler, binder, and wrapper, age and aging method, humidity, production techniques (handmade vs. machine-made), and added flavors. Among wrappers, darker tend to produce a sweetness, while lighter usually have a “drier”, more neutral taste.

Cutting and Lighting

Yes, there is an art to cutting and lighting a cigar.  You cannot pull, puff and inhale on a cigar. The smoke will KILL you!!! You will have a coughing fit to beat the band.

The Cutting of the Cigar

Some cigars come with the ends twisted, banded and some even have the ends sealed with a type of sealer to keep the tobacco intact.  As a result, these ends need to be cut and removed in order to enjoy the cigar.

The basic types of cigar cutter include:

• Guillotine (straight cut)
• Punch cut
• V-cut (a.k.a. notch cut, cat’s eye, wedge cut, English cut)

The Lighting Of The Cigar

The “head” of the cigar is usually the end closest to the cigar band, the other the “foot”. The band identifies the type of the cigar and may be removed or left on. The smoker cuts or pierces the cap before lighting.

The cigar should be rotated during lighting to achieve an even burn while slowly drawn with gentle puffs. If a match is used it should be allowed to burn past its head before being put to the cigar, to avoid imparting unwelcome flavors or chemicals to the smoke. Many specialized gas and fluid lighters are made for lighting cigars. The tip of the cigar should minimally touch any flame, with special care used with torch lighters to avoid charring the tobacco leaves.

 

 

 

Women getting into the Cigar Scene

A third and most traditional way to light a cigar is to use a splinter of cedar known as a spill, which is lit separately before using. The thin cedar wrapping from cigars with one may be used.

Smoking Techniques

A perfectly constructed cigar is made to burn slow and cool in order to impart flavor in a steady progression. While there are no set laws as to how long a cigar should last, we believe that a five-inch cigar should last you at least 45 minutes. If you’re sucking down a five-inch Robusto in 10 minutes, you’re treating the cigar like a cigarette, and that’s a big mistake. Puffing every 30 seconds to a minute should be an appropriate interval.

Keep in mind that smoking too slowly could have a negative consequence as well. Puff too infrequently,  and your cigar will go out, meaning you’ll have to relight it over and over again. Constantly lighting an extinguished cigar could introduce unpleasant flavors of char, carbon, sulfuric fumes and bitterness. But don’t sweat a relight now and then.

Leave the ash on for as long as you can. The ash serves as a temperature regulator and minimizes contact between the air and the lit tobacco, thus keeping it cooler. Great cigars are made of whole leaves, not chopped up tobacco. Those leaves have structure, and will hold an ash of a size that’s surprising to a novice.

Appearance

Standards of quality are determined by appearance, combustion, aroma and flavor. A highly aromatic, flavorful tobacco that is pristine in appearance and elastic to the touch is going to be more expensive than a coarse leaf that doesn’t have much smell or taste.

Some tobaccos also take longer time to age and ferment for maximum performance. That process will also end up raising the cost of your cigar—the longer the cycles, the longer the tobacco has to be stored in a warehouse, and that costs money.

The tobacco could be a low-yielding varietal, meaning that the crop was not large in the field, yet the small amounts produced were outstanding. This could also make your puros a little pricier. Sometimes it’s merely a question of supply and demand.

My Conclusion

As with a fine, premium wine, The Cigar also has it processes, varietals, techniques and pricing differences that appeal to a variety of people.  You have the novice who is just getting his basics to the aficionado who knows all the ends and outs of a great Cigar.  As with the Wine connoisseur, the Cigar aficionado studies and researches his cigars in order to have the best experience in any situation.

 

So if you want the look of being a Gentleman with refinement, skill and sex appeal, then the art of the Cigar – the Gentleman’s Calling Card is a great study.  But going hand in hand with that look is a glass of a fine, premium wine, a great personality and a suave, debonair, devil-may-care look.

But men, the women are fast becoming the upstarts on the Cigar life.  Look over your shoulder and you may see a few of the ladies with a sophisticated look about them with a glass of their favorite wine and holding a long, slim Cigar.  Talk about mysterious and dangerous.