Few noob questions inside...

[Nattyboh74]

Okay so here are a few RANDOM things that have been on my mind here, totally random...

1. Why is some cigar ash white, gray or black?

2. Why is some cigar smoke light blue or gray or white?

3. How come I can smoke a cigar slow and taste super subtle flavors like caramel but if I ramp it up a bit I'll taste floral ones?

4. Should I toast the cigar good and then puff on it or should I toast lightly then puff and retoast it?

[garbandz]

a few random answers.............

1.  because  it is.

2. it's the light.

3. you're delusional,but eloquent.

4. smoke a cigar after you've had your toast.

[kinglingcheng]

1) ask some one get high degree than me 

2) my friend just told me he get high whens smoking cigar , so that happens to you 

3) na , just smoke like a bumper.

4)BBQ it will be even better 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nattyboh74]

Lol. Knew this was going to happen...

[peopleofthesun]

1. Que?

2. No hablo ingles

3. No hablo ingles

4. FoH mucho mucho tolls

[Akela3rd]

1)Cigar ash used to be ash coloured in my day, none of this fancy white, grey, black nonsense.
2) Blue smoke? Shocking. Shouldn't be allowed.
3) This barely makes sense, man. Are you on the crack?
4) Ooh, toast. Haven't had toast in ages, I'm off to make some

[GavLew79]

7 hours ago, Nattyboh74 said:

 

Okay so here are a few RANDOM things that have been on my mind here, totally random...

1. Why is some cigar ash white, gray or black?

2. Why is some cigar smoke light blue or gray or white?

3. How come I can smoke a cigar slow and taste super subtle flavors like caramel but if I ramp it up a bit I'll taste floral ones?

4. Should I toast the cigar good and then puff on it or should I toast lightly then puff and retoast it?

 

I'll try a reasonably sensible approach. Firstly, Welcome. 

1. I guess it depends on the residues left after burning.

2. I guess it depends on what compounds are being burnt, ambient light conditions etc. But yes, I've noticed that too.  

3. When I smoke too quickly I get an acrid, acidic taste that you might associate with floral. The less volatile components are getting burnt which normally wouldn't during a cooler burn and I guess they taste different. 

4. There are a few good "how to light a cigar" vids on the internet that I used when starting out several years ago. You'll find your own rhythm. I toast, then puff, then check and apply the flame again if it hasn't fully caught. 

[Cmelle]

7 hours ago, Nattyboh74 said:

 

Okay so here are a few RANDOM things that have been on my mind here, totally random...

1. Why is some cigar ash white, gray or black?

2. Why is some cigar smoke light blue or gray or white?

3. How come I can smoke a cigar slow and taste super subtle flavors like caramel but if I ramp it up a bit I'll taste floral ones?

4. Should I toast the cigar good and then puff on it or should I toast lightly then puff and retoast it?

 

Not too sure on the ash but I've noticed non cuban cigars generally have whiter ash and cubans have a darker grey ash. 'Generally' in what I've seen and smoked. Please noone kill me haha. 

The smoke colour, I've also realized that the foot smoke (smoke that comes off the end of the cigar u light) is more of a blue colour and the smoke you draw with your mouth and blow out is a more white/grey colour. Maybe your confusing the two, not sure. 

I'm not sure about the floral notes your getting. 

And with lighting, everyone's different. I even do it different a lot of the time. I usually toast slowly, then hold the flame at a bit of a distance and puff.

[Cmelle]

Oh and welcome. I've only recently joined myself, and had so many questions answered by experienced people willing to help. I love this forum 

[Colt45]

9 hours ago, Nattyboh74 said:

 

Okay so here are a few RANDOM things that have been on my mind here, totally random...

1. Why is some cigar ash white, gray or black?

2. Why is some cigar smoke light blue or gray or white?

3. How come I can smoke a cigar slow and taste super subtle flavors like caramel but if I ramp it up a bit I'll taste floral ones?

4. Should I toast the cigar good and then puff on it or should I toast lightly then puff and retoast it?

 

1. It can be due to soil composition, but I fall more into the camp of combustion / moisture / oil content. The less moisture and more complete the combustion, the lighter the ash color.

2. I've also noticed that typically, the smoke wafting from a cigar's foot is more often than not light blue versus white.

3. I think the slower (more time between draws and perhaps easier on each draw) one is able to smoke a cigar, sometimes allows for more nuanced flavor.

4. I torch my cigars so that they are lit before I ever take a draw.

[garbandz]

1. I have read it is the minerals in the soil. Higher calcium content makes whiter ash. Cuban soil contains lithium.

2. Possibly due to the above, and lighting conditions,

3.Possibly the speed of combustion adds to the appearance of flavors,as well as the temp of combustion. I find the same relation of temp and flavors.

4.I prefer to ignite gently,if the light introduces strong bitter flavors into the cigar,they never go away.

I also never double draw, I wait for the cigar to cool between draws, and take a long, slow draw.  Better taste,more even burn,and more of the cool flavors I prefer.

 

Thanks for being a sport about the sarky replies,you will fit right in here.............

[Nattyboh74]

Thanks lol. Yeah I'm talking about the foot smoke, it can be either white or blueish, ive seen both.

What I was wondering is if there was any correlation to the RH the cigar is when smoking it. Basically a byproduct of how much water is in the cigar.

That may correlate to the ash color and smoke hue

[Fugu]

14 hours ago, Nattyboh74 said:

2. Why is some cigar smoke light blue or gray or white?

This is actually a very good question indeed (all are good and worth discussing, but not so easy to answer in brief, so will keep to this one).

As others mentioned, what you always observe is a blue colouration of the smoke emanating from the foot and a rather grey to whitish colour of the smoke drawn through the cigar. That is because the composition of both is very different - so are their light refractive properties (as well as their smell, if you notice carefully): The fine trail of smoke from the foot is almost exclusively containing combustion products, i.e. it essentially is fine-particle smoke (the gases you won't see). Whereas the smoke from the head is, as well, containing combustion products but in addition it contains much more of substances that evaporated from the tobacco due to the action of heat. Such as, foremost, water (hygroscopic moisture plus water generated from combustion) and a wild mixture of other substances that didn't become burnt or deriving from incomplete combustion (smoldering), but volatilize when heated up close to the ember before actually reaching their burning point. Those are mainly substances such as oils, alcohols, ketones, various other aliphatic and aromatic compounds and further cyclic (sometimes even toxic...) carbohydrates etc.. That is what we actually taste and love: Volatilized tobacco "essence". If it were only the products of complete combustion it would taste quite boring and unpleasant and we could likewise "lick" a piece of burnt wood.

In essence - what comes from the foot is smoke (solid particles) - what you draw through the head is smoke and vapor ("steam", i.e. high proportion of droplets), the actual composition of which will influence the aerosol's colouration.

[Nattyboh74]

See... so my questions wasn't THAT dumb.. lol Well at least one of them wasnt.

[Fugu]

You know mate, there is no dumb question. A question always implies the wish to gain a state of being less dumb than before... so that's always a good approach to be supported ... .

[Nattyboh74]

This is true.