There are many rather esoteric sounding things that are regularly said about cigars, some of these conventions have become so popular that, though they’re complete and utter myths, they still retain a patina of legitimacy. So let’s briefly go through the three most popular myths about cigars and get to the facts.
Cigar Myth #3: White Ash Makes Your Cigar’s Top Notch
White ash is generally consider to be a sign of a fine smoke, and it may well be, but this isn’t an absolute. Just because one’s cigar’s ash is white, doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily be smoking a great cigar. All that white ash really means is that your cigar is made of, primarily, Dominican tobacco as opposed to the black ash of something like, say, a Cuban stick. It’s important to keep this in mind so that you don’t spend a ridiculous amount of money on nothing more than the brief aesthetic thrill of bone white ash.
Cigar Myth #2: Storing Cigars In The Refrigerator Keeps Them Fresh
While the idea of throwing your cigars into a refrigerator might seem intuitively reasonable, it’s a manifestly terrible idea. What works for most foods doesn’t always work for cigars. A commercial refrigeration unit’s internal temperature and humidity are in direct contradiction to the ideal temperature and humidity cigars require to stay fresh and maintain integrity. Fridges are frigid and desecrated, and what environment do cigars do best in? The opposite, those environments that’re warm and relatively humid. Keeping a cigar in your fridge is a surefire way to ruin the flavor, quickly cultivated a mold colony, or both – so keep your sticks out of the fridge!
Cigar Myth #1: A Cigar Should Be Warmed Before Smoking It.
One of the most popular ceremonies among long time cigar aficionados is “warming.” If someone tells you that you should warm your cigar they mean that you should take a match or lighter and run it briskly, up and down the length of the stick to “draw out it’s true flavor and aroma.” Many people also believe it softens a stick and makes it more pliable, allowing for a easier, smoother draw. All of this is nonsense but the placebo effect is powerful indeed. The reason that the practice of cigar warming is nonsense is that in burning a cigar along it’s entire length, you’ll certainly change it’s taste and aroma – to that of butane. In addition, there’s also the risk of damaging the wrapper, which can lead to the entire thing going up in smoke or falling apart outright. However, even if you only singe the cigar and keep it’s construction intact, you’ll still have done irreparable harm to the taste, aroma and flavor – this is a practice best avoided.
People all over the world smoke cigars and, of course, just like everything else, myths arise and start to circulate. That’s why we wanted to debunk these 3 myths for you today.