How to Judge a Good Cigar
Judging a good cigar takes experience, but in order to build that experience to be able to judge a cigar, here are a few pointers. I personally suggest that cigars should be kept in a humidor. Even though cigars can improve with age, cigars will always taste sour if not aged properly.
Storing Cigars
Before attempting to judge a good cigar, you need to ensure that you store your cigar collection correctly. If you store your cigar collection in the store box then they are likely to dry out in a few weeks, and no matter how good the cigar was in the first place, you will end up with stale cigarsleaving them stale. It is advised that you leave your full collection of cigars in a humidor. Good humidors are available in a range of sizes and materials. Humidors can be made of canary wood or grain woods, such as cherry or burl, (my personal favourite). The interior of the humidor should be made from Spanish cedar and there should be a method of testing the humidity. Larger humidors will have different panels so you can keep your different cigar brands separate. One thing to pay close attention to when purchasing a new humidor is the quality of the hinge.
It’s significant to know to keep your cigars in a store which has a temperature of around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 65-70 degrees of humidity. Any good humidor system will come with a device that allows you to maintain the correct humidity levels. Without proper care during humidification the risk of mould will be heightened due to excessive moisture. If you rotate your cigar collection from top to bottom, this will evenly distribute the dry and moist cigars inside the humidor. When buying a green (or fresh) box, you can test one every three to six months.
Cigar Bloom
From time to time you may get bloom on your cigar. These are little dots which is just a sign of correct aging of a cigar. You simply brush this off with a soft brush before enjoying your cigar. However if you see small bugs in your cigar box then you need to remove the cigars that are infected. Lacioderma bugs are likely to hatch if the storage of your cigars has over humidification and an overly high temperature. To avoid this just keep your humidor settings at 70 degrees humidity and below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Travel humidors are also good to have if you want to smoke a cigar when away from your home. Good storage techniques will keep your investment safe and sound. Letting your cigars age will result in greater enjoyment when flame hits leaf.
When you’re away from home you may want a relaxing cigar, which is where the travel humidors come in very handy. It’s easy to keep your cigars safe with the use of good storage methods. It is well known that if you let your cigars age properly you will enjoy it far more when you decide to smoke it.
Judging the Cigar by Quality of Construction
The construction and making of the cigar is the crucial element when it comes to cigars. The look and feel of the cigar should be good and smooth.
The cigar’s wrapper should be soft and smooth, with no rough sections or blemishes.
The leaves on the cigar should be heading in the one direction and it should not be too hard or dry.
The cigar should be soft to the touch, like a sponge, and strong enough to maintain its shape. Some signs of poor construction are hard and soft spots.
To tell if the cigar is a great one, run it past your nose and smell for a rich aroma.Taste and smell are considered to be significant elements for a finely constructed cigar; however these aren’t the only attributes that need to be taken into consideration.
Once a cigar is lit correctly, it is expected to evenly burn to the end, and if it doesn’t then this is a sign of an improper roll.
The ash of the cigar should remain somewhat firm and intact for at least an inch without trouble; however a small ring-gauge cigar can be an exception to this. It is a sign of a well made cigar when the ash becomes firm whilst smoking it, however, if there is any falling ash whilst enjoying your cigar, it does not necessarily mean that the cigar has been poorly constructed, although there is a chance that it has been.
I wouldn’t recommend that you chew the end of your cigar; however it should feel strong and firm in your mouth.
When you are appreciating a good cigar you should compare it to appreciating a fine wine – consider the following aspects of the cigar, the aroma, the body and the flavour.
Aroma: It is important that you are pleased by the aroma of the cigar. If a cigar has a cloudy, pungent smell, all is not well with it.
Body: There are three different types of body, or strength of tobacco. These are light, medium and heavy. The varying strengths will have a different overall effect on the smoker.
Flavour: There can be four different basic categories when it comes to the flavour of cigars. These are acid, bitter, salty and sweet. The simplest flavours to determine are bitter and sweet. The other flavours aren’t as easy to detect. Cigar experts prefer to use terms such as floral, fruity, herbal, nutty and spicy in order to reference the balance and mixture of tastes. They can recognize flavours such as cedar, chocolate, cinnamon, citrus, coffee, cream, nut, nutmeg, pepper, leather and wood. They also classify the degree of the flavour under mild, medium and full.
Quality Tobacco
When judging a good cigar it is important to remember that the tobacco itself is very important. If the filler being used is of inferior quality then the cigar itself will produce a nasty aroma and a rough, musty taste in your mouth. An improperly processed tobacco will lead to a bad taste and aroma so the producer must ensure that they are providing a consistent supply of tobaccos that make their unique blends every year. Before the cigar is ready to be rolled then it is imperative that the elements of the cigar such as the binder, filler and wrapper, complete the entire fermentation process. Judging a cigar is all the more difficult when you know that the same cigar will always taste different depending on what time of day it is smoked, but try and determine any significant differences if you are smoking cigars from the one box.