Cigar Lighting

[Scarhead]

In my inaugural post here on FOH I wrote: "From the time that I was really involved with cigars until today I find that so much has changed." I began smoking cigars when I was an adolescent and that was smoking cheap "drug store" cigars. I got more involved with cigars at a bad time because it coincided with the Cigar Boom of the mid 1990s. Cigar shops were busy and the market was flooded with below average cigars because factories were trying to keep up with demand. Since the cigar shops were busy with customers buying the "latest and greatest" cigars profiled in Cigar Aficionado (CA) the staff at the shops I visited did not have the time to properly educate new smokers as to how to cut, light and smoke a cigar. At least this was my experience, and in the end, I learned about cigars through trial and a whole lot of error.

I could go on about this and extend in many different tangents, but I am going to keep it to one: Lighting a cigar. From what I remember there was no toasting of a cigar back then. From memory, the proper, for a lack of better term, method was to put the cigar in your mouth and rotate it whilst holding a flame to the end and puffing slightly. I cannot recall that toasting was a part of the lighting. Nowadays, we are instructed to hold the cigars away from the mouth, bring a flame to a relatively close proximity to the foot of the cigar and toast or warm the foot. Then, bring the cigar to the mouth, reintroduce the flame to the cigar and puff to light the cigar.

Am I correct or was this my "Whole lot of error" that I had missed in my early days? I find that when I light a cigar with the "Toasting method" it makes my cigars bitter. But when I light the cigar as I originally did by rotating it in a flame and puffing on it the cigar is very smooth. I have correlated the "Pepper" many smokers describe as bitterness from this toasting method.

I am very interested to see what others think about what I have said.

[randomhero1090]

1) Toast = Yes

2) Flame doesn't touch the cigar

3) Hold cigar at a 45* angle to the heat of the flame while toasting and puffing to light

4) Blow on end of cigar to even the burn

5) Repeat 3 & 4 til end of cigar is completely lit

I think I got it.

[pedromendes]

VERY interesting issue. I have always toasted my cigars and have never, ever, puffed while also applying a flame. In fact, when I'm done toasting, I usually purge the cigar. The idea I've heard is that puffing with the flame is dragging impurities into the body of the cigar, whereas the toasting/purging doesn't.

I've had plenty of wonderful cigars lighting them this way, perhaps I should try it old skool and see what happens?

[randomhero1090]

VERY interesting issue. I have always toasted my cigars and have never, ever, puffed while also applying a flame. In fact, when I'm done toasting, I usually purge the cigar. The idea I've heard is that puffing with the flame is dragging impurities into the body of the cigar, whereas the toasting/purging doesn't.

I've had plenty of wonderful cigars lighting them this way, perhaps I should try it old skool and see what happens?

I will try your way tonight. Always thought about doing it that way, never actually did. Good post.

[Colt45]

As I smoke outside almost exclusively, I do away with ceremony and simply scorch the foot until lit - the cigar is lit before

I ever take a draw. I don't think this would be considered toasting

I've found the end result to be the same no matter the method used - burning tobacco....

[CptKloss]

same here - i smoke outside only pretty much - if it's windy i use torch and toast the cigar, otherwise i'll use soft flame lighter, no toastin in that case

[gigabyte056]

Toasting is the norm for me.

I sometime fail to do so , but only on trips when I use matches since I travel carry on only.

[ucmba]

I always light the cigar purely with the lighter (no puffing), ensuring I have an even light, then I purge the cigar and let it sit for a minute before starting to smoke.

[Scarhead]

I will try your way tonight. Always thought about doing it that way, never actually did. Good post.

Him or me?

Good post in terms of my question or DonPedro's response? Just joking.

[KarlJ]

I usually light my cigar with a torch. I work the flame around the foot of the cigar and gently blow on the foot until I have a nice uniform cherry. I like to inhale a bit of the smoke that is comming off the foot during the lighting process, I guess a sort of preview of what Im about to enjoy. Gets the senses excited

I've also lit cigars while its in my mouth and Im puffing on it. Ive used regular matches, sulphur free matches, zippos, disposable lighters, a burning stick from the fire pit, acetylene torch.. Just about every sorce of ignition short of spontaneous combustion. I personally dont taste a differance in the tobacco no matter how I light it.

The way I light my cigars is more of a ritual. I dont believe there is one right way to do it, its all in your head

-Karl

[Strada]

I toast also, I saw Ajay from Lcdh in UK toast it before cutting. It helps to build the flavors he says. I will be trying that soon

[Van55]

Patience is almost always richly rewarded when lighting and smoking a Cuban cigar.

[scinmyheart]

As I smoke outside almost exclusively, I do away with ceremony and simply scorch the foot until lit - the cigar is lit before

I ever take a draw. I don't think this would be considered toasting

I've found the end result to be the same no matter the method used - burning tobacco....

that's pretty much for it for me, too

[DinoCop05]

VERY interesting issue. I have always toasted my cigars and have never, ever, puffed while also applying a flame. In fact, when I'm done toasting, I usually purge the cigar. The idea I've heard is that puffing with the flame is dragging impurities into the body of the cigar, whereas the toasting/purging doesn't.

I've had plenty of wonderful cigars lighting them this way, perhaps I should try it old skool and see what happens?

X2 Exactly!

[Scarhead]

I really find a difference. The toasting method seems to char the tobacco for me resulting in a more burned tobacco flavor. Very similar to puffing too frequently. I've also noticed a difference in taste when using different flames to light a cigar. A soft flame lighter or match gives me a smoother flavor than a torch.

I've found the end result to be the same no matter the method used - burning tobacco....

[CaptainQuintero]

As I smoke outside almost exclusively, I do away with ceremony and simply scorch the foot until lit - the cigar is lit before

I ever take a draw. I don't think this would be considered toasting

x2

Get the end glowing white and then stick it in the old sucker

[Murri]

same here - i smoke outside only pretty much - if it's windy i use torch and toast the cigar, otherwise i'll use soft flame lighter, no toastin in that case

Same with me, get it lit and get on with it.

Never really noticed a difference.

[Ginseng]

I have tried all manner of lighting from matches to triple torch butane units and cook's torches. I honestly cannot say that any variation has made any meaningful perceptible difference in the quality of the smoke. I usually use a single-flame torch and I almost always get the foot and the outer perimeter of the foot (a millimeter or two up the barrel of the cigar) toasted up before I will take a puff. Then again, I have also been known to puff while lighting until I get 2-3 good sized fireballs before I remove the flame. As far as I can tell, all of these work just fine. That said, this is a perfect situation for a controlled experiment.

Wilkey

[Ghabanos]

I toast.

I may be crazy but I prefer a soft flame over a torch. Although a torch is what I use the most. The reason I toast is I don't want to burn or over heat the tobacco... If i get it too hot, i feel that the burnt tobacco may over power the flavors. Right or wrong this is my current preference. Good question. Love learning from others.

[Omskakas]

I toast gently and blow to the amber until the cigar is lit. Once it's lit, purge once and there you go.

I never puff while lighting. I find it overheats the cigar and causes bitterness.

[MoneyPit]

I toast gently and blow to the amber until the cigar is lit. Once it's lit, purge once and there you go.

I never puff while lighting. I find it overheats the cigar and causes bitterness.

That's exactly what I do and it is my preferred method.

[Fitz]

Since I switched to a torch lighter (very recently) I let the flame do most of the work and hardly puff at all when lighting. I tend to get the whole foot glowing with the torch, then puff gently and blow on the foot to ensure it is fully lit. It seems to work wellfor me and the cigar is usually less bitter than it was when I used matches.

However I am intrigued by the idea of purging rather than puffing... makes perfect sense now I think about it so wil have to give it a try.

[Ginseng]

Once I was a proponent of purging (blowing back down into the cigar rather than drawing up through it). But not any longer. I found that while it can temporarily push out some cigar nastiness, it can rapidly spiral out of control: purge, nasty, purge, nasty, etc. The end result is not good. The reason I think this is, is that when you blow down, you are pushing saturated air (RH=100%) into the cigar. Since water is a product of combustion, adding back substantial quantities can alter the combustion equilibrium. See this Wikipedia article (note the section on incomplete combustion). I've only met one combustion engineer on any cigar forum and I haven't seen him post in a while. But anyway, nowadays, I find it much for effective to light up the coal with the torch and then take a few short pulls in quick succession. This gets the burn zone deeper into the cigar and keeps combustion going.

Wilkey

[Habanos2000]

Typically I use a dual flame jet lighter. I toast it to make sure I have an even burn across the foot, lightly blow on it to make sure it's all lit, apply extra fire if/where necessary and then draw while having the flame a fraction of an inch away to get the fire ball going.

It's more ceremony and habit than anything that affects the taste as far as I can tell. If I'm traveling and only have matches i'll apply the flame directly to the cigar. But as a rule that's more like lighting a cigarette than a cigar.

[canadianbeaver]

Thank you for this insightful and informative thread. I am a toaster with a small blow torch. I find I have to be very careful not to over do it and just add enough heat to get the job done. When a cigar is burning unevenly, or should it go out midway for some weird reason, I hold it lightly up to the flame too to re-ignight. But that irritates me if it happens too often and I may move on to a fresh stick.

CB