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Cigar guides
Plain-English answers to the questions every cigar smoker asks. New to cigars? Start with Cigars 101.
How to store cigars
The humidity and temperature cigars need, how to season a humidor, and how many humidity packs to use, explained simply.
Cigar wrapper types explained
What Connecticut Shade, Habano, Sumatra, Cameroon, Corojo, Maduro and sun-grown wrappers taste like, with example cigars for each.
Cigar strength explained
The difference between a cigar's strength and its body, why ligero leaves make cigars stronger, and how to pick the right strength.
How to cut and light a cigar
Which cutter to use, how much of the cap to remove, and how to toast and light a cigar evenly.
Flying with cigars
Can you take cigars on a plane? What TSA says about cigars, lighters and cutters, and how many cigars you can bring back into the US.
Parts of a cigar
What the wrapper, binder and filler do, plus the cap, head, foot, band and ring gauge, explained simply.
Cigar sizes and shapes
A clear cigar size chart: length and ring gauge for robusto, toro, churchill, corona, lancero, gordo, torpedo and more, plus how size changes the smoke.
The Churchill cigar
What a Churchill cigar is, its typical size, why it's named after Winston Churchill, and well-known lines that make one.
How to smoke a cigar
How to smoke a cigar step by step: choosing, cutting, lighting, how often to puff, whether to inhale, and what to do with the ash.
Why are Cuban cigars illegal in the US?
Why Cuban cigars can't be bought in the US, what the embargo covers, whether travellers can bring them back, and the legal non-Cuban versions of Cuban brands.
Cigar vs cigarette: what's the difference?
How cigars and cigarettes differ in tobacco, size, nicotine, how they're smoked and health risks, with facts from the National Cancer Institute.
Do cigars go bad?
How long cigars last, how to tell if a cigar has gone bad (mould, beetles, dryness) and how to slowly rehydrate a dry cigar.
Cigar cutters explained
The main types of cigar cutter, how each changes the draw, which suits big ring gauges, and how to make a clean cut.
Types of cigars
The main types of cigars explained: premium handmade, machine-made, cigarillos, little cigars, infused cigars, short and long filler, parejos and figurados.
