Archive for September, 2009

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Flavors in handmade Cigars

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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While cigarettes have a distinctive flavor often connected to their brand or type (light or strong), homemade cigars usually change flavor as you smoke them, varying from wood to spice to smoke as the cigar burns off. Each cigar has a distinctive flavor, such as spicy, pepper-like, wood or smoky. However, cigars will also have undertones of other flavors, which come up as the cigar heats up and you continue smoking. You’ll also notice that there is a quality difference between handmade, well-crafted cigars and those that are machine produced.
Cigar flavors are also affected by what you’re drinking along with it. Certain drinks enhance the flavor of a handmade cigars, while others dull it. To understand what your taste and preferences are, try different combinations. Keeping a cigar journal can help you figure out your preferences and identify connections.

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Cigars and Coffee

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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It’s not only alcohol that goes well with homemade cigars. Coffee and cigars are also an excellent combination and one that works well at any time of the day when you don’t want alcohol clouding your mind, like in the morning or just before an important meeting.

Whole-bean coffee is of higher quality and will help you bring out the flavor on homemade cigars much better. Buy your beans at a natural store or a place that specializes in coffee, so you know it’s kept in optimal condition and replaced often. Store beans in the fridge and don’t grind them until you’re ready to use them, so they will preserve their flavor to the max. Making coffee in an automatic machine is fine, but using a coffee press is even better, as it allows the grounds to stay in contact with the water for a longer period of time, thus increasing the flavor.

A good combination is to pair a strong cigar with a light roast of coffee, and a strong coffee with a lighter cigar, so the flavors don’t cancel each other off.

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3 Tips on Making Most of Your Handmade Cigars Smoking Experience

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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When it comes to smoking homemade cigars, the key to a great experience is to pay attention to detail.

  1. Don’t let the cigar go off in between puffs. If you do, you will have to keep relighting it, which can cause it to burn and affect the flavor. Instead, keep it close to your mouth and puff away every few seconds to ensure it stays lit. If you have to place it on the ashtray for a while, tap off all the ash before doing it and let it go out completely. This will diminish the sour flavor of a relit cigar.
  2. Rotate your homemade cigar to ensure that the fastest burning side is always on top. The bottom burns faster, so it will even out the process and allow you to enjoy the cigar for longer.
  3. Don’t remove the band of the cigar as soon as you lit it. It will be stuck to the leaf and can rip off parts of the cigar as you pull. Instead, wait for a few minutes so the heat loosens up the band and you should be able to do it without much effort.

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The 5 Don’ts of Smoking Cigars

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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Everybody will tell you how to smoke right and what to do when it comes to storing, preserving and aging your homemade cigars. However, finding the things you shouldn’t do with your cigars is usually not such an easy task. When it comes to the don’ts of cigar smoking, remember that:

  1. You should not put a partially-smoked cigar back into the humidor. Either have a special cigar savor box, or throw the cigar away.
  2. Don’t bite off the head of the cigar. It will ruin its form and may affect the integrity of the cigar itself. Instead, use a cigar cutter.
  3. Don’t put the homemade cigar out by crushing it against the ashtray. Instead, let it rest on the side of tray and wait till it extinguishes itself. While cigarettes don’t usually do this, cigars will go off on their own if you don’t smoke them for more than a few seconds.
  4. Cigars should not be stored in the fridge or in boxes or containers not specifically designed for it. They will get wet, lose flavor or dry out.
  5. Don’t assume that all homemade cigars work well with whiskey. Some are better when combined with wines, while others are better off when smoked with a scotch.

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Keeping Track of What Cigars you Smoke

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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If you’re new to smoking and trying to figure out what your tastes are, keeping a cigar journal will help you understand better your likes and dislikes, as well as let you figure out what cigars work better with certain drinks or occasions. There are commercial cigar journals you can buy (both online and at cigar stores), or you can create your own using a lined notebook. In it, record the following:

  • Size of the cigar
  • Review (did you like it, how much, why or why not). Use a rating system (1 to 5, for example) to remind yourself what you thought of it
  • Where you got that specific homemade cigars and the details associated with it (price, condition, delivery time)
  • If possible, tape the cigar band to the page so you can more easily identify the cigar later on.

There doesn’t need to be any specific method to your journaling. Use what works for you but keep the method constant so you can easily compare the different cigars.

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