1. What you need before you start
You don't need much, but the few tools you do use matter. A ragged cut or a harsh flame can ruin an otherwise excellent cigar.
- A good cutter — a sharp double-guillotine, a punch, or a V-cutter. Sharpness is everything; a dull blade tears the wrapper.
- A proper lighter — a butane torch or long-stem soft-flame lighter, or plain wooden matches. Never use a scented lighter, a candle, or a stove: petrol and paraffin fumes will taint the first third.
- Time — set aside at least 45 minutes to an hour. A cigar rewards patience and punishes rushing.
- Water or a simple drink — to cleanse the palate. Water, coffee, whisky and rum are classic companions; sweet sodas tend to fight the smoke.
2. Choosing and inspecting the cigar
If you're new, start with a mild to medium cigar. A gentler blend is easier on the palate, far less likely to make you queasy, and lets you notice individual flavours instead of a wall of strength. Smaller ring gauges (the diameter of the cigar) also smoke faster, which is friendlier for a first session.
Before lighting, roll the cigar gently between your fingers. It should feel firm and even, with no hard lumps or soft spots. Look at the wrapper: it should be smooth and lightly oily, without cracks or dryness. Give it a sniff at the foot (the end you light) — you'll often catch cedar, hay, cocoa or barnyard notes before any flame touches it.
3. Cutting the cap
The cap is the rounded, closed end you put in your mouth. Your goal is to open it enough for an easy draw without unravelling the wrapper.
Find the shoulder — the line where the rounded cap meets the straight body of the cigar. Cut just above it, taking off only a small slice. Commit to a single, confident motion; a slow, hesitant cut crushes and tears. If you're using a punch, press and twist to remove a small plug instead. A V-cut makes a wedge-shaped channel that concentrates the smoke.
Cut too little and the draw is tight; cut too much and the cigar can come apart. When in doubt, take less — you can always trim more.
4. The cold draw
Before you light anything, put the cigar to your lips and draw air through it as if it were a straw. This is the cold draw (or dry draw), and it does two things: it tells you whether the cigar is packed too tightly, and it gives you a preview of the flavour. You'll often taste faint sweetness, cedar, coffee or dried fruit. If almost no air comes through, the cigar is plugged — a gentle cut deeper toward the cap sometimes helps.
5. Toasting and lighting
This is where beginners rush and pay for it. Don't jam the cigar into the flame. Instead:
- Hold the cigar at roughly 45 degrees, foot just above the flame — not touching it.
- Toast the foot: rotate the cigar so the whole rim of tobacco glows evenly, without the flame licking the wrapper. This takes 10–20 seconds.
- Now put the cigar to your mouth, keep the foot near the flame, and take slow puffs while rotating, until the whole foot is lit.
- Gently blow on the ember to check for an even burn. Correct any unlit patches now.
A patient light gives you an even burn for the whole cigar. A hurried one gives you a lopsided burn you'll be fighting the entire time.
6. The draw — how to actually smoke it
Here is the single most important rule for a new smoker: you do not inhale a cigar into your lungs. You draw the smoke into your mouth, hold it for a moment to taste it, and let it out. That's it.
Pace yourself to roughly one gentle puff per minute. Cigars are meant to smoulder slowly. Puff too often and the cigar overheats, turning bitter, harsh and hot — the fastest way to ruin the experience. If it does get hot, simply set it down for a minute and let it cool.
Roll the smoke around your mouth the way you would a sip of wine. Notice where flavours land — sweetness on the tip of the tongue, bitterness at the back, salt and spice along the sides.
7. Retrohaling: where the flavour hides
Most of what we call "taste" is actually smell, detected through the back of the nose. That's why the retrohale is the technique that separates smoking from tasting.
Take a small amount of smoke into your mouth, then — with your lips closed — gently push a little of it up and out through your nose. The first time, use a tiny amount; it can tingle. Suddenly aromas appear that you never caught on the palate: baking spice, cedar, espresso, leather, honey, black pepper. Retrohale a few times through the cigar and you'll build a far richer picture of the blend.
8. Describing what you taste
To taste well, it helps to separate three things people often blur together:
- Strength (or "body") — how powerful the cigar feels, from mild to full. This is about intensity and the nicotine hit, not flavour.
- Flavour — the actual aromas: earth, wood, spice, coffee, cocoa, nuts, cream, dried fruit, pepper, leather, grass.
- Finish — what lingers after you let the smoke out, and for how long. A long, evolving finish is a mark of quality.
You don't need a sommelier's vocabulary. Start simple: is it sweet or savoury? Woody or earthy? Smooth or spicy? Then get more specific as your palate sharpens. The single best way to improve is to write it down every time — memory is unreliable, and patterns only emerge once you have a record. (That's exactly why we built the Cigar Taste app: a place to log aromas, strength and finish, and watch your palate develop over time.)
9. The three thirds of a cigar
A good cigar is not one flavour — it's a journey. By convention, smokers talk about it in thirds:
- First third: often the brightest and most straightforward. Flavours are clear and the cigar is at its coolest.
- Second third: the blend usually deepens and shows more complexity as oils warm up. Many cigars peak here.
- Final third: the richest and strongest, and the hottest. Some love it; others put the cigar down when it stops being enjoyable — which is completely fine. There's no prize for smoking to the nub.
Noticing how a cigar changes from one third to the next is the heart of tasting. It's also the most rewarding thing to record, because it turns a single cigar into three distinct impressions.
Don't tap the ash nervously like a cigarette. A firm ash actually insulates the ember and keeps the burn cool and even — let it grow to an inch or so, then release it gently over an ashtray.
10. Common beginner mistakes
- Inhaling. It's harsh, it's dizzying, and it hides the flavour. Keep the smoke in your mouth.
- Puffing too fast. Overheating is the number-one cause of a bitter, disappointing cigar. Slow down.
- Smoking on an empty stomach. Nicotine on an empty stomach causes the dreaded "nic sick" — nausea and lightheadedness. Eat first.
- Starting too strong. A full-bodied cigar as your first is like starting wine with cask-strength spirits. Build up.
- Dry cigars. A cigar stored too dry burns hot and tastes flat. Good storage matters — more on that in an upcoming guide on humidor humidity.
The fastest way to develop a palate is to record every tasting — aromas, strength, how it evolves across the thirds, and the finish. Cigar Taste gives you a clean, elegant journal to do exactly that, plus humidor tracking and AI-assisted analysis of your notes.
Start your tasting journal — freeFrequently asked questions
Do you inhale a cigar?
No. Unlike cigarettes, cigars are not inhaled into the lungs. You draw the smoke into your mouth, taste it, and release it. To pick up more aroma, gently push a little smoke out through your nose (a retrohale).
How long does it take to smoke a cigar?
Roughly 30 minutes for a small cigar up to two hours or more for a large ring gauge. A cigar is meant to be smoked slowly — about one gentle puff per minute.
What is a retrohale?
Exhaling a small amount of smoke through your nose rather than your mouth. Because most flavour is detected through the nose, it reveals aromas — sweetness, spice, cedar, coffee — you can't taste on the palate alone. Start with a tiny amount.
Should a beginner start with a mild or full-bodied cigar?
Mild to medium. It's easier on the palate, less likely to cause nausea, and makes individual flavours easier to notice while you learn to pace yourself.
Cigar Taste is a tasting-journal application. This article is educational and intended for adults of legal smoking age (18+, or the legal age in your country). The app does not sell, distribute or promote any tobacco product. Tobacco use is harmful to health.