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5. Cutting Your Cigar

Cutting your cigar is more important than you might think. A bad cut can badly damage or render the cigar virtually useless. Cigars that are closed at the head (the part that goes in your mouth) need to be cut. All hand-made cigars are closed at the head, as are most hand-rolled and some machine-made cigars.

A badly cut cigar can impair the enjoyment of your smoke by creating a bad draw, or even causing the wrapper to unroll. Therefore, a straight, even cut should be made close to the head of the cigar without taking the entire cap. The cap is that part of the cigar where a small piece of tobacco was placed at the head which keeps the wrapper from unrolling. If this is completely cut off the wrapper will unroll and render your cigar useless.

Originally, the only way to cut a cigar was to bite the end, pinch it with finger and thumb nail, cut with a knife, or puncture the end. These are still the only methods to do so, some good or not, but devices have since been developed to insure a good cut.

Many people still bite the end off their cigar or use their fingernails. While they get the job done, these do not provide a consistent even cut and can damage a cigar. The best way is to cut the end with a sharp instrument, and for this there are many devices. A good, sharp knife is still good if you are careful and make a straight quick cut, but the knife must be very sharp or it will tear the cigar or wrapper. Therefore, cigar cutters have been developed strictly for this purpose, with those using surgical steel being the best. These include guillotine cutters, scissors, and punches or bullet hole cutters.

Guillotine Cutters come in various types. There are single bladed guillotines and double bladed, and can be hand-held or desk models. They can be encased in simple plastic or as elaborate as gold or platinum studded with jewels. They can slide in one direction or close toward each other in a straight or scissor type movement. Like the infamous devise of capital punishment for which it is named after, the guillotine cutter uses a blade that pushes toward the cigar and cuts. If this device is used, it should be done quickly to make an even cut. Slowly will cause the cigar to be pinched, thus the development of double bladed guillotine cutters which cut from both sides at once. But these also should be used with a swift determined motion. Guillotine cutters are the most popular and easiest to find cigar cutters on the market.

Cigar Scissors are specially designed scissors for cutting cigars, with rounded blades that surround the cigar when cutting. These too are very popular and have the added attraction of being easily sharpened. As with guillotine cutters, cigar scissors should be used with a swift determined motion.

V-Cutters, sometimes known as slit or slash cutters, cut a V shaped slash across the head of the cigar. These also come in hand-held and desk models. Their main disadvantage is that they do not work well on cigars with a ring size of 48 or larger. But if they have a sharp blade they are quite adequate on smaller ringed cigars.

Piercing Cutters are just that, a device that pierce, drill or cut straight into the end of the cigar. There are various types of piercing tools. I have even used a Phillips screwdriver to pierce cigars, although I would not recommend you doing so. Piercing the head creates a small hole, which can cause the juices and smoke to concentrate on the tongue rather than the whole palate. However, using what is known as a "bullet punch" cutter of surgical steel is my preferred method of cutting cigars. I've found that using a large caliber cutter of 1/4 inch or larger in diameter makes a very adequate cut in the head for a pleasurable smoke without any concentration of juices or smoke on the tongue. And it keeps loose tobacco from entering the mouth. I wouldn't, however, recommend using them on cigars with a ring size larger than 52 or using any piercing type cutter which is smaller than 1/4 inch in diameter.

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