This Article Was Updated On September 26, 2023
As a new cigar smoker, it can be difficult to know how to hold a cigar properly. This blog post will teach you how! You’ll learn how to prepare your hands for the task and how to maintain proper form while smoking. We’ll also discuss how cigars are made and provide some recommendations on what type of cigars might be best for beginners like yourself.
Table of Contents
Picking Your First Cigar
We’ll start with how to pick the perfect cigar for beginners. When selecting a cigar, it is best to first think about how you would like your experience to be. Do you want something mild and light? Or are you wanting bold flavors that will hit your palate hard? You may also consider how much time (or money) you have before deciding which type of cigar suits your needs best and how often do you plan on smoking cigars in the future.
There are many different types of cigars, flavors, and brands. We recommend you read our best place to buy cigars online guide as well as our best cigars for beginners guide to understand everything you need to know before smoking your first cigar.
Learn How To Smoke A Cigar
Before you can begin to learn how to hold a cigar, you need to have a basic understanding of how to smoke a cigar. We have put together an in-depth guide on how to smoke a cigar to help our less experienced cigar smokers look like a professional!
Now that you have the background knowledge that you need to know about cigars, lets learn how to hold a cigar.
How To Hold A Cigar In Your Hand
There are many ways to hold a cigar, but it is important to hold it in a way that is comfortable for you. The index finger and thumb of your dominant hand should be touching each other with the palm facing up. This will form an “O” around the very top part of the cigar which is called cap. The cigar will rest on this area between your fingers while you smoke it.
Next you want to lightly pinch together both sides of your middle three fingers from that same hand so they too make an “O” formation around the lower half or bottom third of the cigar directly below where you have formed it’s first O shape with your index and thumb.
There are many slight variations of this way of holding a cigar but you can tweak this in order to find a way of holding a cigar that is the most comfortable for you.
Gently Press Your Lips Around The Cigar
This step is more for how to hold a cigar while you smoke it rather than how to actually hold the stick.
The best way of holding your mouth around the cigar, how to hold a cigar when smoking, depends on what kind of smoker you are. There’s no one right way that will work for everyone because we all have different mouths and lips but here are some tips.
Now I know this might sound weird or gross at first but please bear with me! A lot of people don’t realize that there can be saliva build up in their mouth from talking or eating before they get ready to smoke so if possible try not doing those things beforehand as it could cause an unpleasant taste in your cigars flavor which would defeat the whole purpose of smoking a cigar in the first place.
Only Hold The Edge of The Cigar In Your Mouth
The first important thing to note when you’re smoking a cigar is how to hold the cigar in your mouth. It is important to only hold the edge of the cigar in your mouth and not to put too much of the cigar in your mouth. There are two options, one for beginners and one for experts:
-Beginners can only hold the edge of the cigar in their mouths while they smoke, this way it’s hard to accidentally inhale some of that harsh tobacco smoke into their lungs! Experts can use whichever method they prefer as long as it doesn’t put too much pressure on either side of his mouth which could cause them throat irritation or even swelling.
Now I know this might sound weird or gross at first but please bear with me! A lot of people don’t realize that there can be saliva build up in their mouth from talking or eating that can actually ruin your cigar smoking experience.
Don’t Bite The Cigar
A lot of cigar smokers don’t realize how much damage biting the end off a cigar can do to their teeth. That’s not all, it also releases some of those harsh flavors and chemicals that we want to avoid inhaling! This is why many experts recommend just using your fingers if you’re looking for a way to hold on tight with no worry of breaking or damaging anything in your mouth while still preserving flavor.
Biting into a cigar will create cracks in its wrapper which will lead outwards from the seams like an accordion so when you smoke this newly bitten-off piece it won’t taste as good as one would hope… Not only does biting destroy the enjoyment but there are health risks involved too!
Don’t Wet The End of The Cigar
Similarly to not biting the end of the cigar, we recommend you don’t wet the end of your cigar or the leaves of the cigar will stain your lips.
When you wet the end of your cigar, it will have a very different taste because the leaves can’t burn off all their flavor without any flame. It’s possible that some people might like how wet cigars smell but we recommend trying out some dry ones first to test the waters before experimenting with something new!
Don’t Smoke Your Cigar Down Too Far
It can be tempting to smoke your cigar down all the way to the end but it is important to note that this isn’t recommended.
The oils and flavors that are in the cigar will be gone before you know it which can make your experience lackluster. The best thing to do is hold onto how long you want to smoke for and put out when desired. It is also possible to burn your lips if you smoke your cigar down too far.
