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How To Properly Light And Toast The Foot Of A Cigar
Knowing how to properly light and toast the foot of your cigar will ensure that you experience all of the flavours in the blend and get maximum enjoyment out of your stick.
The process of lighting and toasting should not be rushed. Here is our guide on how to do it properly:
Why Should You Toast Your Cigar?
The method of toasting your cigar ensures that all the tobacco burns evenly.
Cigars are made up of 3 main parts:
- The filler (the inside tobacco)
- The wrapper (the outer tobacco leaf)
- The binder (the tobacco between the filler and wrapped used to hold the different layers together)
Most of the cigar's flavour comes from the wrapper, which is usually the thickest and oldest leaf in the cigars blend.
Toasting the foot of the cigar seals the wrapper to the binder and binder to the filler, ensuring you get all the flavours from all the tobaccos in the blend. Not toasting a cigar will lead to uneven burns, inconsistent flavour, and a terrible smoking experience.
Here is how to properly light and toast the foot of a cigar:
Choosing Your Cigar
Cigars come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, which you can learn all about in our article Simple Guide To Cigar Shapes And Sizes. Be sure to pick a size, shape, and blend that's right for you.
Inspect your cigar for any physical damage like cracks, discoloured spots, holes, and mold. If you are at a cigar shop, the tobacconist will exchange a damaged cigar for free. If you discover a compromised cigar in your personal collection, inspect the rest of your collection as you may have a tobacco beetle infestation or humidity issues.
If you discover mold or tobacco beetles, please refer to our article The Dangers Of Using Tap Water In Your Humidor And How To Avoid Mold on methods on how to mitigate these issues.
Properly Cutting Your Cigar
The three most common ways to cut a cigar are: punch cutting, straight cutting, and V-cutting. There is a great debate on which style of cut is best, but all three have their pros and cons.
Some smokers claim that a punch-cut cigar has a more intense flavour since the draw area is smaller and the smoke is concentrated, others claim V-cuts provide more flavour by exposing more of the tobacco's surface area, and yet others view a straight cut as the most traditional and only way to cut a cigar.
However you decide to cut your cigar, remember to never cut past the cap (the 2 to 3 layers on the rounded end of your cigar). You only need to remove a dimes width off of the cap of your cigar to get a sufficient draw.
We recommend drawing on your cigar before lighting it—this is called a 'cold draw'—to ensure it is not too tight. If the draw is still too tight, cut a sliver more off the cap or use a small, thin tool like a Perfect Draw Tool or straightened paper clip to bore a tiny hole through the length of the cigar.
Light Your Cigar With An Odourless Flame
Now it's time to light your cigar. You may be tempted to grab a Bic lighter or similar gas station cheapie equivalent, but we highly recommend resisting the urge. The chemicals in these lighters' propellants will cause your cigar to taste bitter and nasty, ruining the overall experience.
Instead, invest in a quality butane lighter or use wooden matches. Butane lighters come in two varieties: soft flame and torch flame. Soft-flame lighters will have a flame similar to a Bic lighter, and torch flames look like miniature versions of the flames from a fighter jet engine.
Torch lighters are come in single-, double-, triple-, and quad-flame varieties. We recommend a double torch because the two flames are typically angled to merge into a single concentrated tip, perfect for precise burn touch-ups and a more uniform toast.
If you decide to go with a wooden match, wait until the head of the match has burned off completely, then take the flame to the cigar. You can also transfer the flame from the match to a thin piece of cedar called a 'cedar spill'. Many cigar shops will offer these in bunches for a dollar or two, or sometimes for free.
How To Toast Your Cigar With A Torch Lighter
Before applying the flame to your cigar, ensure your lighter ignites. Adjust the flame to your liking, and make sure you have enough butane inside the lighter in case you need to touch up your cigar.
With the lighter lit, hold your cigar at a 45-degree angle with the tip of your cigar just above the tip of the flame. This will ensure the heat of the flame does not enter your cigar and burn the tobacco further inside the stick.
You should not put your cigar directly into the flame of a torch lighter as the flame of a torch lighter can reach temperatures of over 2,300F (1,260C), which is roughly double the temperature of their soft flame counterpart.
Once you see the edge of the wrapper at the foot of your cigar starting to burn red, slowly rotate your cigar and focus on keeping a uniform burn. You want the first ¼" to ½" of your cigar to be burning before you move the flame to the inside tobacco, known as the filler.
Some benefits to using a torch lighter include faster lighting time, a more direct and even flame, and the ability to use it in windy and wet conditions.
How To Toast Your Cigar With A Soft Flame
If you are lighting your cigar with a soft flame lighter or match, be sure to have a consistent flame before taking it to your cigar. Once the two meet, you want just the tip of the flame to touch the tip of the foot of your cigar until you have a uniform burn all the way around.
Hold your cigar at a shallower angle than you would with a torch lighter (we recommend 0-30 degrees), and slowly rotate it until you have an even burn all around the foot. A soft flame may not give you the same even burn as a torch lighter would, so be extra careful not to burn too much while you toast.
Some cigar purists believe the only way to light a cigar is with a soft flame. They believe that this method is the best way to experience all the flavours in a stick. If you are lighting your cigar with a soft flame, be sure to stay out of the wind, as soft-flame lighters and matches don't last long in these conditions.
Focus On The Filler After Toasting
Once you have fully lit the outside of your cigar, you can then shift your attention to the tobacco inside the cigar, known as the filler. Using either a torch flame or soft flame, continue rotating your cigar and focus on achieving a uniform smolder across all the tobacco at the foot.
Tip: Some people put the cigar in their mouth and draw while they toast, while others wait until they've fully lit their cigar before drawing on it. There's no right or wrong way, so choose what feels right for you.
You want to see the tobacco glowing red. This is referred to as the 'cherry'. All the tobacco inside the foot of the cigar should change from its dry, natural brown colour to a light or medium grey with the red cherry in the middle.
Once you have achieved this, put the cut end of the cigar in your mouth and take three long, slow draws. Once you have taken your third draw, purge your cigar. Purging is the opposite of drawing; you want to slowly push air through the cigar, stoking the cherry at the end and helping all the tobacco become lit.
You can also blow on the lit end of the cigar, but this could release loose, hot ash off the end of your cigar, which might then land on something flammable.
Once you have drawn three times and purged the cigar, inspect the lit end for any uneven burning or unlit tobacco. Touch up these parts as needed and continue monitoring your cigar every so often for uneven burns.
How To Toast A Closed Foot, Shaggy Foot, And Figurado Cigar
Not all cigars will have an open foot. Sometimes you will find a cigar with a 'closed foot' where the wrapper completely covers both ends of the cigar, a 'shaggy foot' where the filler sticks out past the wrapper, or a 'figurado' shaped cigar like a perfecto where the foot of the cigar is considerably smaller than the body.
In these cases you can just apply a flame to the end of the cigar and burn it until you develop a cherry. You may need to touch it up once or twice once you develop a small amount of ash, but it should naturally even itself out over time.
Summary
A properly lit and toasted cigar will give you the best experience the master blender can offer. Not only will you get the best flavours, but proper toasting will lessen the chances of uneven burns as you smoke. So take that extra couple of minutes before you relax, and you'll be able to kick back and unwind without any worries.
Want to learn more about cigars? Check out these other articles:
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