Cheaphumidors.com - Top 10 Cigar Tips

[docruger]

1. To make sure your cigar cutter stays sharp and clean, keep the
wrapper on your cigar before cutting.

2. Placing your guillotine cutter flat on a table and placing the
cigar straight up and cutting will ensure a clean, even cut every
time.

3. When your cigars tastes too bitter, blow through it. You'll see
a bluish smoke come out the lit end. Wait a few seconds, and you
should get a nice, clean draw.

4. Lost your cutter and don't feel like biting the end off your $10 stick? If you're on the golf course, use the end of your tee to punch a small hole in your cigar. If you have a steel barrel pen, you can remove the top and use the bottom portion as a quick punch cutter.

5. To make sure your cigar is burning evenly, without canoeing,
rotate the cigar after every few puffs. You can also blow slightly
on the slow burning side to speed it up, and apply a little saliva
with your finger tip to the faster burning side to slow it down.

6. Having a hard time drawing from your cigar? You can take a
skewer or straight coat hanger and insert it into the cigar from
one end to the other. You can also roll the cigar around in your
fingers to loosen up the leaves.

7. Take your time when smoking. If you puff too quickly, your cigar will get too hot, and the taste will be altered. Try one puff every minute as a general rule of thumb.

8. Humidity in a humidor is not a science, despite what you hear.
Don't concentrate so much on the ideal level. Instead, try to keep
the level constant. Fluctuation can cause problems with leaves
swelling and shrinking. Most people prefer to keep their humidors
at the 65 percent range, which is a little drier.

9. Concerned that your humidor doesn't have a good seal? You can
try the drop test or the dollar bill test. In the drop test, you
drop the lid of your humidor from half open and listen. If it puffs when closing, you have a good seal. If it bangs, you're in trouble. You can also open the lid, insert a dollar bill half way in the humidor, and then close the lid. Tug slightly on the bill. If it gives resistance and is hard to remove, you have a good seal.

10. A cigar also needs to be judged by its wrapping. A perfect
cigar is one that has an intact, undamaged wrapper. (If the wrapper is damaged, don't buy it.) The wrapper should also be consistent in color, and it should have a nice scent to it. If the wrapper is heavily "veined," this is another reason to reject a cigar. While feeling it, the cigar should be wrapped nicely--not too tight (very difficult to draw in) or too lose (loss of flavor).

[longburn]

Great tips,thanks for that.

[Jack Straw]

On #1, by wrapper do they mean cellophane? Interesting, not sure if I want to try it though. All I can think of is my mom telling me not to use her good chef's knife on plastic wrappers because it gets dull.

[saigon68]

Many thanks from a student to the master.

[docruger]

i do #2 and # 3 all the time. I thought everyone would like this post.

[hornitosmonster]

Great Tips!! I always got the remind myself of the 1 puff per minute.