Interesting reading about ASH

[BHK54]

Here's smth I found about cigar ash from net. I got some new knowledge out of it and thought it

might be an interest for some of you as well...

Cigar ash is a lot more than just a pile of burnt leaves. Inorganic, carbon-based mineral it may be,

but if you know what you're looking for, you can tell quite a bit about the cigar. What it contains, how

it was made and how it was smoked. Even where it came from!

Leaf Quality

It may not be such a desirable length in other circles, but when you're talking cigar ash, 1 inch is ideal.

If you inhale evenly and smoothly, and don't wave your cigar around with jerky movements of your

hand, that's how long the ash should be before it falls off.

While longer certainly doesn't hurt, 1 inch is the benchmark of quality. Why? Because higher quality

leaves produce a much denser ash, which takes longer to fall off. Why is it important? Because ash

length changes the flavor of the cigar. A longer column of ash cools and 'softens' the smoke, making

for a much more pleasant smoking experience. (This explains why your smoke feels hotter and stronger

immediately after the ash falls off.)

And when it does eventually fall off, you want the newly exposed burning end of your cigar to have a

particular shape. Sounds a little pedantic, I know, but it's true! Next time you're smoking, take a look.

It'll either be hollowed in the middle, with sharply beveled edges, or it'll be completely flat, or - and this

is what you want to see - it'll be cone-shaped, with the point of the cone extending out from the end of

the cigar. Here's why...

The leaf at the centre of your cigar is known as ligero. It's this leaf that gives the cigar its taste, and

better quality cigars contain more of it. Ligero comes from the very top of the tobacco plant, and contains

the most nicotine, sugar, etc, This makes it burn longer than the leaf used for the outer edge of your

cigar. So when the ash falls off a quality cigar, it leaves behind a cone shape because the center is still

burning.

But there are cones, and there are cones! Cigars with the highest ligero percentage tend of have a

sharp cone shape, whereas those with a lower ligero percentage have a blunt cone shape.

Workmanship

Interestingly, it's not just the leaf quality that is betrayed by your ash. The quality of workmanship is

also on display. If the roller used leaves that were torn or too short, the ash won't hang together long

enough to extend an inch. The same happens if your cigar wasn't rolled firmly enough. Beyond the 1

inch rule, you can tell if this is the case with your cigar if the surfaces of your cigar ash are uneven and

it gradually crumbles round the edges.

If, on the other hand, your cigar was made using long, quality leaves, it will most likely possess a stable,

firm, neat column of ash that may even exceed 1 inch. It won't scatter easily, and even when it falls off,

it won't crumble (at least not for the duration of your smoke).

Not surprisingly, the ash from mechanically rolled cigars tends to be very unstable, whereas ash from

hand-rolled cigars are more likely to be stable and firm.

Smoking Method

Of course, you, the smoker, don't get off 'scott-free' either. Your ash shape says a lot about how you smoke

too. Ideally, you'll inhale lighly, evenly and smoothly. If you don't, even the finest leaves and workmanship

are unlikely to result in a 1 inch column of ash that leaves behind a sharp cone. The same applies if you wave

your cigar around like a maraca!

Origin

And here comes the kicker. While ash length, stability and tidiness are important, and the shape of the exposed

burning end very telling, the color of your ash is the real give-away.

Ash color reveals your cigar's origin.

Soil contains chemical compounds and mineral deposits. These are carried into the tobacco plant by moisture.

And every region has its own chemical and mineral 'signature'. This means plants from different regions will

contain different amounts of different chemicals and minerals - even if they're the same plant variety.

Cigars made from central Cuban (Remedios) tobacco produce near white ash. Cigars made from Vuelta Abajo

tobacco, on the other hand, produce gray ash streaked with white veins. That's because the Vuelta Abajo soil is

full of various minerals in roughly equal amounts, whereas Remedios soil is predominated by potassium. (And

these two regions are close neighbours; imagine the differences between cigars originating from different

continents!)

The lesson here is that gray ash with white streaks and pure white ash are indicators of quality proving that the

cigar originated somewhere like Cuba or the Dominican Republic). Black ash, on the other hand, is a bad sign.

Tobacco that produce black ash are poor in minerals and produce a very unpleasant taste and smell.

NOTE: This isn't mere quackery! The soil quality-cigar quality connection has been scientifically proved. In fact,

in 2001 a a scientist from a Canadian consumer organization proposed that the chemical makeup of cigars be

tested to distinguish genuine Cubans from fakes, and that the fakes should be removed from the shelves immediately.

ASH.doc

[CBL]

Great read! Very informative.

[android]

Thanks for the post.

[Vortigan]

Interesting read,thanks for posting

[Colt45]

It's important to credit the author when posting the work of others here.

Regarding ash color, after a number of discussions here, I think I lean on the side of combustion playing a large part - the more complete the combustion,

the whiter the ash. But I guess soil composition might also play a part in tobacco combustion, and while I'm no scientist, I tend to look at construction and

moisture / oil content first.

[Ginseng]

Sauce? Who's the author? An easy read...but a mix of folklore and observations from, well, the dawn of cigar smoking.

BTW, that 2001 paper by Ng, Hupé, Vanier, & Moccia makes no specific claims regarding any relationship between the quality of the soil and the quality of the tobacco. Rather, the key point is that in Cuba, the tight controls over the entirety of the tobacco production processes coupled with the fact that an extremely restricted genetic seed stock is used makes a certain set of chemical compounds in cigar tobacco highly homogeneous. In other words, to the analytical chemist using the method they describe, all Cuban tobacco looks pretty much the same but at the same time, distinct from the tobaccos which are products of the vastly more diverse conditions and stocks produced outside of Cuba.

And just to pick a nit, Ng and colleagues work at the Laboratory and Scientific Services Directorate, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, which is not a "consumer organization" but rather "the scientific arm of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and provides innovative scientific and technological solutions to questions related to contraband detection, determination and origin of goods...". Link..

I'm all for "good reading" but I think we deserve good, good reading.

Wilkey

[lancerv43]

Thanks for posting this it was enjoyable to read

[Liuk]

Thanks for sharing!

[BHK54]

Sry for not adding the source ... but I simply don't have it anymore ... copied it from net quite some time ago, wasn't planning to post it at that time ... was meant for my own reading

[CoryOllis]

Sauce? Who's the author? An easy read...but a mix of folklore and observations from, well, the dawn of cigar smoking.

BTW, that 2001 paper by Ng, Hupé, Vanier, & Moccia makes no specific claims regarding any relationship between the quality of the soil and the quality of the tobacco. Rather, the key point is that in Cuba, the tight controls over the entirety of the tobacco production processes coupled with the fact that an extremely restricted genetic seed stock is used makes a certain set of chemical compounds in cigar tobacco highly homogeneous. In other words, to the analytical chemist using the method they describe, all Cuban tobacco looks pretty much the same but at the same time, distinct from the tobaccos which are products of the vastly more diverse conditions and stocks produced outside of Cuba.

And just to pick a nit, Ng and colleagues work at the Laboratory and Scientific Services Directorate, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, which is not a "consumer organization" but rather "the scientific arm of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and provides innovative scientific and technological solutions to questions related to contraband detection, determination and origin of goods...". Link..

I'm all for "good reading" but I think we deserve good, good reading.

Wilkey

Excellent critique, Wilkster! It's great to observe critical reading in these uncritical times.

Steve