3. CHOOSE A CIGAR

So now that you know what it is that you'll be smoking, it's time to choose from the hundreds of varieties that are available to the cigar buyer. Granted, most people won't know that the cigar you choose is any better than a drugstore brand, but there really is a distinct range in quality. Like wine, cigars can be enjoyed by many but truly appreciated by few. Unlike wine, cigars are solids.

Size
Man-made vs. machine-made
Brand
Cigar shopping

Size

Size is measured in two dimensions: length and ring gauge.

  • Length refers to a cigar's length. (You can read, right?) Length can range from the baby-sized 4-inch Petit Corona to the monstrous 8-inch Double Corona (it's like smoking a ruler!). The most common cigar sizes are 5 - 6 inches. The Davidoff store in London boasts a cigar a yard long. (They are afraid to light it up, as scientists have predicted that the ashes will crush and kill any passersby.) Generally, we suggest that you choose a 5 - 6 inch cigar, avoiding larger sizes like Churchill or Double Corona.

  • Ring gauge refers to the diameter of the cigar in the center (how fat it is). Ring gauge, the cigar's diameter, is measured in 64ths of an inch. Therefore, a ring gauge of 40 indicates a cigar that is 40/64 inches wide. A ring gauge of 55 indicates 55/64 inches. Ring gauge also affects how much smoke you suck of the end; a larger ring gauge (And thus, wider surface area) means that you're gonna get a deep sense of the flavor with every puff. We suggest that you start of with a smaller ring gauge (ask the salesperson for some recommendations), and work your way up.

Man-made vs. machine-made

Microchips are best made by machines; cigars are not. As you probably guessed, the highest quality cigars are painstakingly rolled by hand, and it shows. Machine-made cigars, which can be mass-produced quickly and cheaply, are usually made of broken scraps of tobacco leaves that are unsuitable for hand-rolling. Therefore, they smoke less evenly and burn more quickly. It's pretty easy to tell if a cigar is machine made by looking at the wrapper -- if you see lots of seams suggesting that it's more of a patchwork of tobacco than continuous leaves, you're looking at a machine-made cigar. So opt for a man-made. Higher-end machine-made cigars look (and even smoke) like man-mades, but the highest quality cigars are still carefully made by bona fide human beings.

Brand

The brand of cigar is its most important quality, at least in a superficial sense. This is not to say that different cigar brands necessarily differ in flavor or quality, but everybody knows that a nice Cohiba is "nice" merely because it's a Cohiba.

Because different brands feature different varieties and sizes, no one brand can be pigeon-holed by any factor other than the general quality that goes into each of its cigars. The most legendary brands, like Cohiba and Monte Cristo, are Cubans and thus hard to find. Instead, we recommend that you start throwing brand names around like Arturo Fuente, Macanudo, Dunhill, Davidoff, and Ashton, which are all legal here in the US.

Note: many Cuban brands such as Cohiba and H. Upmann are also manufactured in other countries, but they're not gonna be anything like their Cuban brethren. It just happens to be that the cigar-making factory also gets tobacco from other countries. So if you find a nice, high-priced Cohiba in your local tobacco store, don't wink knowingly at the manager - he's not selling Cubans.

Cigar shopping

Cigars are a luxury item, and the service at cigar stores should treat it as such. So here's our advice for how to handle yourself in a cigar store:

  • Expect the employees to be very helpful in helping you choose a cigar. They're trying to get you hooked on a delicious brand so that you become a repeat customer.

  • Do not hesitate to ask to see a cigar up close. Handle it lightly to check that the cigar is kept at a proper moisture level-it should feel supple and not brittle, but it shouldn't drip water all over your sleeve.

  • Do not roll the cigar near your ear or smell it up close. These supposedly sophisticated means of inspecting cigars are not only unsanitary, they are also pretentious and will tell you nothing.

  • Feel free, however, to take a light sniff of the cigar's bouquet to see if it is agreeable.

  • The cigars in the box should be neatly arranged, with the color running from darkest to lightest and the spiral of the wrapper leaves running in the same direction. These measures are checked in quality control at the factories; if things are out of order, the cigars either slipped past quality control or have been messed around with.