Smoking a cigar for the first time, you may worry about holding a cigar in your hand or your mouth.
Knowing how to hold a cigar in your mouth is essential for ensuring the best draw of every smoke. You must be aware of some things that can happen if you hold a cigar in your mouth, as this could tarnish your smoking experience.
Ensure you’re holding it right to fully enjoy your smoking experience, making the most of every puff.
Carefully press your lips around your cigar
The proper way to hold a cigar in your mouth is to carefully press your lips around your cigar. Doing this will close most of the gaps where air can get in. Draw on it every minute to prevent your cigar from burning. Having self-awareness and ensuring you don’t puff too fast or frequently is incredibly important. If done incorrectly, your cigar will burn too hot and create unwanted notes of bitterness.
Not too much
Taking your first draw, you may be wondering — does it matter how long you hold in smoke? The answer is yes, don’t draw too heavily, as cigars can be intense. Another factor to consider is, when taking a draw of your cigar, you only need an inch or two in your mouth to smoke it. If you have too much in your mouth, you will look funny if smoking in a public area.
Avoid biting or chewing
Cigars are carefully constructed, and biting down or chewing on a cigar can deteriorate its structure and cause an uneven draw. If you decide to hold your cigar in your mouth, proceed with caution, and make sure you don’t clamp down with your teeth.
Don’t talk with your cigar in your mouth
We’ve all seen it happen in movies, but the reality of talking with a cigar in your mouth can ruin your overall smoking experience. Avoid talking while holding a cigar in your mouth to protect the integrity of the stick. Most people won’t understand what you’re trying to say if you talk with a cigar in your mouth anyway, so it’s best to hold it while you speak.
Avoid too much saliva
When you begin to smoke a cigar, you can experience saliva naturally accumulating on the head of your cigar. Thankfully, a little moisture is fine and can make rotating your cigar easier. If you experience too much saliva on the end of your cigar, however, the draw will become plugged and ruin your smoking experience. Try to avoid getting too much saliva on the head of your cigar.
Don’t smoke too far down
Of course, while smoking a delicious cigar, you don’t want any of it to go to waste, and making the most of it is essential. However, you must be aware that cigars carry a threshold.
If you cross this threshold, you could burn your lips or set your mustache on fire.
A great rule to follow is that, if you’ve got under an inch remaining and it doesn’t feel remotely safe to hold the cigar in your hand, your lips are in danger. Don’t push your luck with trying to smoke every little bit of your chosen smoke.
If you’re not careful when down to the last bites, you can wind up with a hot nub bouncing into your lap and burning everything it touches, which is not ideal.
The expert cigar smoker will pick up a corncob pipe to finish it off. However, if you enjoy smoking cigars to the bitter end, remove the band before it begins to burn.
When smoking for the first time, you may be unsure of how to smoke a cigar or what to expect, and these tips can certainly help.