How To Cut Your Cigar Perfectly

How do you clip a cigar properly?  Every cigar lover has his own method but here are basic guidelines to get you started. 

First, study the head, or closed end, of the cigar.  This is the piece of the cigar that will need to be nipped off.  Ascertain where the 'cap' is.  The cap refers to the part of the cigar where the tobacco leaf was utilized to close the cigar.  Once you've detected the cap, find out its length.  As a general rule, you should not cut any further than the end of the cap.  If you cut more than the cap, there's a good risk your cigar will ravel out!

Use a good quality clipper to cut the head at the cap.  You don't want a crummy cutter that will result in frazzled or fragmented cuts.  You can purchase a specialized cigar cutter that is designed to make clean cuts at a tobacco shop.  Once you get your cutter, grasp your cigar at eye level and make a fast and deliberate cut just above the cap.  Less is more when cutting—if you find your cut is too shallow, merely cut it down a bit more.

Now that you've clipped the end, you need to know how to light a cigar.