How to cut a cigar... Cutting tools
Cutting a cigar is easy, cutting a cigar well is something else : choosing the right utensil, the best distance and opening, the type of cut for each band… But what if it’s just a simple cut? Some of you will say; The cut is as important as good care of the cigar or as good as lighting , it can turn our smoke into a great experience or turn it into a real nightmare. Beyond the qualities of each cigar, the cut will largely mark the shot that we enjoy.
We could summarize a good cut in three points :
- CLEAN : It must cut ‘all’ the cigar, leaving no burrs or pieces. For this you must have sharp blades.
- WIDE : It must give us a sufficient size to have a good shot
- CAREFUL : We must be careful not to cut excessively or destroy the elbow of the cigar
When we make a cut, we must resort to “less is more”; it is always better to fall short than to go too far, since we can always make a new cut but we will never be able to join the cigar again.
We could summarize that the maximum limit for the cut is the elbow or knob (marked by the line where it joins the body of the cigar), we must always leave a bit of it to prevent the wrapper from ending up falling apart in our hands. For V-cut or perforators (which we will explain later in this article) the limit is not to penetrate excessively and end up creating a channel in the cigar.
The best cut would be, at the knob, about 2-3 millimeters before the cigar ‘straightens up’ .
In the case of figurados, the knob is usually much lower and our cut can be located at 6-7 millimeters.
In the end, the cut (as well as the utensil used) is a matter of taste, but we must be clear that a bad cut will destroy our cigar and our smoke.
CUTTING TOOLS
From biting the cigar (never please this) to the most complicated cigar cutters and scissors can help us in our ultimate goal: preparing the cigar for smoking. Which one to use will depend on the taste of each one (in this club there are those who prefer the double-bladed guillotine, who choose the V-cut, and who opt for punch) and/or the type of cigar.
From tiny punch cutters to large desktop cigar cutters, in this post, we are going to focus exclusively on the most common ones: those that we can carry with us on a day-to-day basis.
We could group the different tools into three large groups:
GUILLOTINES/SCISSORS
They are the most widely used systems since their versatility allows them to cover any size with a single cigar cutter.
One or two blades make a clean circular cut. We recommend the ones with two blades when making a simultaneous cut on two sides as helps prevent the layer from breaking or leaving burrs.
CIGAR CUTTER IN V
Formerly highly appreciate, it was a type of cigar cutter that was falling into disuse due to its complicated transport. Until the appearance of new designs (the Colibrí brand is the benchmark here) easily transportable and with excellent blades.
They are very good cigar cutters for regular cigars, but not for figurados. At the same time, you cannot ‘play’ with the size of the cut when it is established.
By making a slit over the cigar, it slightly changes the nuances you enjoy from the cigar. By concentrating all the flavors and smoke in the slit. A double cut can be made, generating an X, which you can enjoy much more.
CIGAR PUNCH/CIGAR PIERCER
Here we can have a certain ‘controversy’ between smokers, there are those who love them and those who hate them.
It is true that a cigar punch is very comfortable to transport and cut. And the system is even include in some lighters. It is a simple circular blade that is push on the cigar. Thus obtains the cut; the drawback is that it only has one measure. At the same time it creates a small tunnel in the cigar.
The cigar piercers are already big words and practically nobody uses them anymore. It is design to pierce a hole into the cigar. In this case, a tunnel is create inside the cigar that generates two roblems. An accumulation of tobacco at the limit where the perforator enter (which makes it difficult to shoot from that area). And a tunnel where smoke, tar, and oils from the cigar are concentrate.
There are as many models of cigar cutters as there are cigars. Look for the one that best suits your taste, experience, budget… Do not make the mistake of using a bad-cutting tool on a good cigar. And everything is just beginning. It is very likely that you will end up with a good collection of cigar cutters over time.
AUTHOR: DAVID A. BLASCO DELGADO