Cigars 101

             Recently i ordered myself a nice gift of one full box of cigar along with accessories for my birthday and to celebrate the fact that i have quit smoking cigarette for about 6 months now. I was addicted to nicotine and was smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. I tried patches, gums, dips, pipe, hookah, electronic cigarettes,. etc as lesser of two evils to save my lungs and still fulfill my cravings. But for me , none of them was a good substitute to quit cigarette smoking since i genuinely like the taste and smell of tobacco smoke. My father, grandfathers, great grandfathers were all tobacco smokers in their individual forms and I am genetically predisposed to like the tobacco smoke !!! 

Today, after 6 to 9 months of my experimentation with cigar as a substitute, i can claim that it works for me.  One cigar in the weekend or on end of long day at office, has helped a lot in my journey to quit cigarette smoking completely and as a bonus, given me a new past time activity and better sensual experience. Note that, cigar was not the only tool which helped me to quit smoking cigarette and there were other reasons also like new point of view, exercise, etc. which played a key role. Bottom line is, whatever works for you, it works and we have just keep trying. 

Anyways, enough of the intro, lets get into the main topic of this blog which is to share my own practical learning on cigars. I will divide the post into three parts, i) Things you will need, ii) How to smoke a cigar and iii) How to select a cigar. In future blogs, i plan to review few individual cigars which i highly recommend but i will stick to fundamentals in this post. And i will also, put link to couple of good informational videos which explains the concept very well, instead of me repeating the same here. 

I) Things you will need : For beginners, who is not sure whether cigar is for them or not , they just need $6-8 to spare. Just walk to a cigar shop near you, buy a cigar, cut it at the store itself and get a complimentary cigar match box.When you are sure that you like cigars, in long term you will need the below things.

1) Humidor: Buy something with good seal and Spanish cedar wood interior. Size of humidor depends on how much cigars who want to store and age at a time. A desktop humidor with 25 to 50 cigars capacity , is a good starting point. Make sure you season it well before using it, as shown in this below video.
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drh1uBC5AGI

2)  Distilled water : A gallon costs less than 1 buck in grocery store.
3)  Double blade guillotine cigar cutter : Avoid plastic one and go for heavier/sturdier steel ones.
4)  Humidifier device with beads(heartfelt or cigar mechanic is good one) : To maintain 70% humidity required for storing cigars. Spray it with distilled water once every 2 or 3 weeks.
5)  Calibrated digital cigar hydrometer(western caliber iv is good one) :  To make sure, your humidor is indeed at around 70% humidity and temperature is around 70 degree F .
6)  Cigars : Duh!, explained in third part of this post, how to select it. Make sure to remove cellophane cover(if any) on cigar before storing it in humidor.

7)  Cigars Matches or Butane Lighters : When you order cigars online, they usually ship it with few complimentary matches. If you run out, you can always buy it in tobacco shop near you. Avoid using gas lighters which infuses gas flavor to the cigar.

Lot of the above things are one time investment which will save you money in the long run because you can buy cigars online in bulk for cheap and store it in your house. $6 cigar can be $3 to $4 online if you shop around !!

II) How to smoke a cigar: Here's the best YouTube video which explains all the finer points.Note that, you should not tap the ash every often like cigarette, but let it fall on its own. 1 to 2 inches of ash is a sign of good cigar and it keeps the smoke cool. Smoke about half of the cigar before removing the band so that heat helps to remove it easily without the risk of tearing the wrapper.
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws950AsSMLE

III) How to select a cigar: The number of choices available when you walk into a store humidor or visit online shop can really make you confused and overwhelmed  Here, i will give readers few pointers which i learnt from my practical experience on selecting good cigars. 

a) First and foremost, you need to learn how to read a cigar label: Most cigar labels usually follows a common format. Let's take a label(my current favorite) with an car analogy for example, Oliva Serie G Maduro Robusto 4 1/2*50 . Here Oliva is brand name(like HONDA), Serie G is a model name(like Accord), Maduro is a outer wrapper type(like RED color), Robusto is one of the many cigar shape types (like 2 or 4 Door) and finally 4 1/2*50 is the size of the cigar(like engine size 1.8) 4 1/2 is length and 50 is ring size of cigar. 64 ring size is equal to 1 inch diameter. 

b) Know the time you are willing to spent to smoke a cigar: If you have only 45 mins, go for shorter length and/or thinner ring size. I follow one crude unscientific method, which kind of gives me tentative idea. I simply multiple length and ring size, in our example 4.5 * 50 = 225, and i know that 250 is around 1 hr or 60 mins of smoke time. so i know toughly , this cigar will last for 50 -55 mins. Off-course, it depends on wind, humidity, your puff frequency, leaf type etc. But this method gives a tentative idea.

c) Decide a budget: Note that, you cannot simply assume pricey cigar is the best. Believe me , there are many $5 gems out there which will suppress $15 cigars. Finding such treasure is part of the fun. Knowing how much you are willing to spend for a cigar, narrows down the options and make it easier to select a cigar.

d) Know characteristics of different cigar leaf and its origin country:  This is basically , checking under the hood before buying the car. A cigar is made of three component: Outer wrapper, middle layer binder  and inner fillers. The wrapper plays predominate role in the flavor of the cigar like a icing on a cake. Give it a first preference in the selection. A lighter color thin "shade grown" wrappers (usually called naturals)  like Ecuador Connecticut, USA Connecticut Shade, African Cameroon usually will have lighter favor. Darker color thick "sun grown" wrappers (usually called maduro) wrappers like Connecticut Broadleaf, Habano ( including variations like Corojo/Habano 2000/Criollo which are also basically hybrids of Cuban Habano seeds), Mexican San Andres, Brazilian Arapiraca & Mata Fina will have bold favors.  Note two things here. One, It only says lighter or bold favors. Bold can be both bad or good favor depending upon individuals. Some People likes light roasted coffee and some like dark roasted coffee. It is very subjective. Two, Wrapper is just one outer leaf, cigar's biggest component by mass is filler. Check the origin country of the filler. Though, it is a crude generalization(because seed of one country can be grown in another country), it does give you a tentative idea about the favors you can expect. 

• Jamaican filler tends to be sweet and lighter in body.
• Dominican filler is generally medium bodied with sweet undertones.
• Honduran filler tends to provide a rich smoke with coffee tones.
• Nicaraguan filler tends to be rich with spicy and earthly tones.
• Mexican filler is strong, sweet and spicy; this leaf is often blended in with Jamaican and Dominican tobacco.
• Cuban Filler is smooth,spicy and sweet.

e) Pinch test: Assuming you are now down to a box , and have to pick one among them, gently press a few with tip of your thumb and forefinger from top to bottom of the cigar. Select the one which feels little springy throughout. It shows, it is well humidified and does not have any construction flaws. 

f) Experiment: After a while and few failed ones, you will get an idea about brands, sizes, shapes, wrappers, binder and fillers that you prefer over other. Even with in those, there are simply too many permutations and combination. But with in few cigars among them, you will find something which you may generally really like. The best cigar is the one which you smoked enjoying it till the nub. When you find such cigar, order more of them but continue the experimentation. Believe me, you don't want to keep smoking the same cigar no matter how good it is.  

Finally if every thing else fails even after trying a few cigars , it's just means, it is not in your genes to like natural tobacco!!! No shame in that. Try some other taste and smell related sensory experience. 

Note that, i am not a cigar aficionado or connoisseur but someone who simply likes cigars. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave the comments.