Often, you will see people bring out a cigar, lovingly sniff it from tip to tip, carefully excise the tip, brag about how much the cigar cost, or delve into some story about how it was hand-rolled by a model from the last remaining tribe of Ungarte Indians, who descended from Cuba and used her virginic thigh, her sweat smelling of the sweetest perfumes, to roll the cigar. Then that same person, with an air of smugness, will take out a Bic he purchased at the local Chevron for pocket change, and light up.

Tools of the Trade

Maybe in the above scenario, the smoker may not have even noticed a difference. But chances are, had he experimented and researched a little (and thus used a proper fire), he would have enjoyed his cigar even more. In this article, we are going to look at the tools available to light your cigar, and uncover the pros and cons of each one. We’ll start with the basic cigarette lighter, as used in the previous example.

Cigarette Lighters and Lighter Fluid

There are two types of cigarette lighters: ones that use lighter fluid, and ones that user butane. In this section we will discuss the ones that use lighter fluid. If you ever played with your father’s old Zippo lighter as a kid, or ever lit your firecrackers with the garden variety lighter you can pick up at a convenience store, then you have probably noticed the smell associated with them. It is a pretty pungent odor, not unlike that of kerosene.

Most cigar experts and those in the know would tell you to never use a lighter fluid cigarette lighter. The reason is pretty simple, and probably self-evident: the cigar will take on the chemical taste of the lighter fluid.

It won’t completely ruin the cigar mind you. After a few minutes, the taste will be gone. And if it is a good cigar, it will still be a good cigar. But really, think of the cigar as a nice cut of beef. A few spices here and there may be okay, but the cut should really speak for itself. And if they chef has a heavy hand with the pepper, it might not ruin it, but it certainly is noticeable.

There are tricks to get around the light fluid dilemma. One is to light the lighter, then wait a few seconds for the initial chemicals to burn off. Next, hold the cigar near the flame, but never place it directly onto it. This way the tobacco will light from the nearby heat, but not absorb the chemicals.

Lighters that use fluid are tempting. They come in so many varieties, and nothing looks quite as cool as flipping open an old Zippo lighter and having the big flame shoot up. End in the end, you will have to experiment to see if you notice the chemical taste, and if the pros outweigh the cons on this one.