The Cigar Is Not The Experience. YOU Are.

I've watched a lot of cigars get lit in this lounge.

The best cigar I've ever seen smoked wasn't the most expensive one. It was a $9 stick smoked by a person who gave it an hour and a half of his full attention. He didn't check his phone. He didn't rush it. He let it do what it was made to do.

And the most expensive cigar I've seen wasted was a $60 Padron that should have been well over a hour, smoked in 25 minutes. The guy later said, "That wasn't that good." 

That's what this post is about.

Most people buy a great cigar and never actually get the cigar they bought. Including a lot people who walk in here, who ask me what to smoke and then don't take the second part of the advice — how to smoke it.

If you want to get everything out of that next cigar, here's how you actually do it.

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE BUYING: TIME, NOT TOBACCO.

People think they're buying tobacco. You're not. You're buying time.

A premium long-filler cigar is blended to evolve. The first third is one cigar. The second third is a different cigar. The final third is a different cigar again. The wrapper, binder, filler from three different countries start talking to each other as heat moves down the stick. You get spice, then cream, then coffee, then earth. That only happens if you let it.

The most common mistake first-timers and veterans both make is rushing the experience. Puffing too fast overheats the tobacco and it turns bitter. It gets hot on your tongue. You get dizzy because you're pulling too much too fast.

The fix is simple and it's the hardest part for most people: Do nothing.

The pro cadence is one puff every 45 to 60 seconds. Draw slow. Let the smoke sit. Exhale slow. Let the cigar cool. Look at the ash. Take a sip of something.

Even the smaller varieties can take a solid hour to enjoy. A Churchill or Toro wants 90 minutes to two hours. If you only have 30 minutes, you shouldn't be smoking a 90 minute cigar fast. You should be smoking a 30 minute cigar slow.

Tell me how much time you actually have. I'll match the size to the time. That's what the vitolas are for. A Petit Corona, a Rothschild, a Toro — they're not just different lengths, they're different time commitments. Picking the right size for your window is the first step to enjoying it.

THE TWO PLACES MOST CIGARS DIE BEFORE THE FIRST REAL PUFF: THE CUT AND THE LIGHT.

You can do everything else right and kill it in the first 30 seconds.

The Cut: Most guys cut too much. They take way too much off. Now it unravels, you get tobacco in your mouth, it burns hot.

Cut less than you think. Straight cut, right at the shoulder — where the cap ends and the curve starts. One clean, confident cut. Don't use the cheap gas station cutter with a dull blade. A dull cutter crushes the cap instead of cutting it. If you want to know if your cutter is sharp, look at the cut — it should be clean, not frayed. 

The Light - And This Is Where People Mess It Up The Worst:

I watch this every day. Two things kill the cigar before you even taste it.

Mistake #1: Torch-bombing it. Guy puts the torch right on the foot and sucks on it like a Shop-Vac. He chars the wrapper, scorches the filler, and now the first inch tastes and looks like burnt charcoal. You just turned a $15 blend into an ashtray.

Mistake #2: Not toasting it. You don't light a cigar like a cigarette. You toast it.

Hold the cigar at 45 degrees. Keep the flame off the foot — about a half inch below. Let the heat do the work. Slowly rotate it. Let the edge glow. Watch the foot turn even red. Take your time. A good 30 seconds. THEN put it in your mouth and take 2-3 easy draws while still rotating over the flame to finish it.

No Bic lighter. No candle. No Zippo that tastes like gasoline. Use butane. Torch or soft flame butane. Anything else and you're tasting fluid, not tobacco. Matches? Upgrade to a torch.

If you cut it clean and you toast it slow, it starts even, it stays even, and you taste what the blender actually made. If you hack it and use your torch like a flamethrower sucking air through the cigar like your trying to quench your thirst drinking a Big Gulp, you taste your mistake for the next hour.

STOP MAKING ONE CIGAR LAST ALL DAY. YOU'RE KILLING IT.

This is the other one I hear and it drives me crazy.

"I made that cigar last 8 hours."

Or, "I smoked half, put it out, came back to it the next day, then finished it on day 3."

Just no.

I've heard of people going out, lighting, taking a puff 50-60 times to make it last all day long. That's not smoking a cigar. That's torturing a cigar.

Once you light it, the clock starts. The oils are heating, the tar is building, the flavor is opening up. When it goes out, all that moisture and tar and ash sits and goes stale. It turns bitter. Sour. Harsh. The next day you're not smoking a cigar, you're smoking yesterday's ashtray.

You are killing the cigar, the flavor, the experience.

A cigar is made for one sitting. One time. One experience.

If you have 30 minutes, smoke a 30 minute cigar right. Don't make a 90 minute cigar last all day. If you have to put it down for 20-30 minutes and come back, fine — but you don't save it for tomorrow. You let that one go and you start a fresh one next time.

Ask for the right size for the time you have. That's what they're for. They are not for making a single cigar last all week. 

STOP PICKING WITH YOUR EYES AND YOUR WALLET. PICK FOR THE MOMENT.

There are two ways most people choose, and both will let you down.

The first is by what you see. You recognize the band. Your buddy smokes it. The wrapper is dark and oily so it looks strong and cool. The box is fancy.

The second is by price. "I'm not paying $25 today" so you've already decided the $8 cigar is superior before you light it. Or "I only smoke $20-plus" so you ignore half the humidor that would have been perfect for right now.

Your skill level or wallet does not dictate the best cigar. What's going through your head and heart at the moment does.

The Mood Matrix is how real tobacconists think. We reverse the conventional way of choosing.

Instead of asking "What's good?" I ask myself "What am I trying to get out of the next hour?"

Be honest about it:

• Time: Do you have 30 minutes between meetings or do you have the whole afternoon? If you rush, you miss the key aspect of the experience — the fact that it's meant to be relaxing.

• Energy: Do you want to be calmed down after a long day, or woken up and punched a little? Mild to medium will soothe. Full will sit you up straight.

• Intent: Are you celebrating a win? Decompressing from a loss? Do you want to talk with friends or do you want to sit quiet and not talk to anyone?

• Pairing: What are you drinking? A Connecticut with cream and cedar loves coffee and a light pairing. A Maduro with chocolate and espresso loves a big red or a heavy stout. Pairing changes the flavors you taste more than anything else.

When you give me that, I can put you in a cigar you'll actually remember. Different occasions call for different sized smokes. That's the whole job.

And this is the part a lot of regulars skip: they ask for a recommendation, and then they don't take the recommendation on how to smoke it correctly. If I tell you "this one is going to want 90 minutes and a slow draw," and you take it outside and power through it, you didn't take the recommendation. 

WHERE YOU SMOKE IT IS AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT YOU SMOKE.

Honestly, Phoenix is a terrible place to smoke a cigar outside.

Too many people do it, rather than using the lounge when it’s 108 degrees in August, sun beating down, sweat in your eyes, your cigar burning uneven and hot and drying out. Or 45 degrees in December, shivering, hands cold, trying to look like you're enjoying it.

You can't taste anything when you're uncomfortable. I hate smoking cigars in the wind, and if the temp is too cold or too hot it distracts you from the cigar.

That's not an opinion, that's human nature. When your body is fighting heat or cold, you're not tasting spice and cedar and leather. You're just trying to get through it.

A premium lounge like ours is not just a place where smoking is allowed. It's a tool built for flavor enjoyment.

Think about what's happening when you sit in here:

• Climate control: It's 73 degrees. Your palate isn't fighting.

• Airflow: Proper smoke ventilation keeps the air pure. You're not sitting in stale, heavy smoke. You can actually breathe and taste.

• No wind: The burn stays even. The ash stays on. The flavor stays consistent from first third to last.

• The chair: A real leather chair, good light, a table for your drink. It sets the mood with lighting and seating. It tells your brain "we're slowing down now."

That's the difference between burning a cigar and experiencing a cigar. Step into our lounge and leave the outside world behind. It's a place to meet friends, make new acquaintances, and savor the tranquility that comes with enjoying a premium cigar.

You don't pay for a premium cigar and then go make yourself miserable. The lounge is what makes the premium actually premium.

THE TRUTH ABOUT $7 AND $25 CIGARS.

Let's end the dumbest argument in cigars.

I hear it every day. "A $25 cigar isn't worth it." And "I would never smoke a seven or eight dollar cigar, it's not worth it."

Both are right. And both are wrong.

A $25 cigar is not worth it if you don't make it worth it.

A $7 cigar is not worth it if you don't make it worth it.

It's not worth it if you don't make it an experience. Period.

I've watched a guy have a $100 experience on a $7.50 stick because he sat in here, gave it an hour and a half, paired it with the right pour, talked to the guy next to him, and paid attention to it.

And I've watched a guy have a $2 experience on a $35 stick because he treated it like a cigarette.

Price tells you about tobacco cost, age, rarity, and brand. It does not tell you about your hour. You tell you about your hour.

If you make it an experience, any good cigar in the humidor will be worth it. If you don't, no cigar in that humidor will be worth it, no matter what you paid.

HOW TO GET EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR NEXT CIGAR HERE.

So here's my advice, and this is the advice a lot of people who come in here hear but don't actually take.

Next time you walk in, don't just point at the wall.

Walk up and tell me this:

"I got 45 minutes and I want something smooth."

"I got all afternoon and I want to sit and not think about anything."

"I got an hour, I want something full, I'm drinking the Sam Adams Boston Lager."

Give me the moment. I'll give you the match.

Then take the second part of the advice too. Cut it clean. Toast it slow — don't torch it. Sit inside. Sit down. Give it the time it asks for. One cigar, one sitting. Sip something with it. Let it cool between puffs.

Don't sit outside in the heat. Don't suffer in the cold. Don't make it last all day. Don't save some for tomorrow. Don't rush it.

Ask for the moment, not the price.

You'll taste the difference on the first draw.