Tactical Cigar Smoking: An Exercise in Vigilance

“Tactical smoking is learning to palm your cig so the enemy can’t see the cherry”

-Mikhail

Have you been here, and had this happen?

Your sitting, relaxed, having an in-depth conversation with a fellow cigar-smoker, and as you go to take a draw, you realize your ember has decided to take the reins and burn itself into a shape you might as well eat cereal out of. You attempt to re-light the unburned section, cringing at that fresh road-tar taste making its way into your mouth as you hastily try to add heat and retake control from that heinous usurper of flavor: Your runaway ember. You attempt to recover, but to no avail, and you can hear the sirens and someone screaming “Eject! Eject!” far in the background. It’s no use, however, and you go down in, well, NOT in flames. Dejectedly, you toss the traitorous bastard into the nearest ashtray, and try to forget those last few minutes. Quality? Gone. Money? Gone. Flavor? Asphalt. Your next immediate goal is to find the nearest source of refreshment, and spend the next few minutes doing your damnedest to get that road crew working overtime out of your mouth!

Or: Your not paying attention (again) and you ash on the floor, friend, furniture, or family pet (Believe it or not, big old, black labs’ skull crest is not a good place to leave behind a solid chunk of cigar ash) possibly damaging your, or your (worse) friends’ carpet, furniture, or family pet, causing a conversation stopping, embarrassing, awkward moment not just for you, but your patron, and anyone else in the room who might be affected by the sudden, screeching halt of all conversation.

How can we prevent this?

Well paying attention for one, thats always a good one, but I feel your pain; I have been deep inside those conversations, I’ve put on those blinders, and I have paid the price for it.

So what to do?

Number:

1. Always try to keep your cigar in your field of vision; if you can’t see it, your brain seems to think it doesn’t exist.
2. Never let your cigar rest against any sort of heat-sapping material; this includes thick glass ashtrays, window treatments, areas of surrounding furniture, and the family pet. We wouldn’t want a inconvenient trip to the vet’s office to spoil your evening of relaxation and rampant hedonism, now would we?
3. Try and develop the habit of slowly turning your cigar half to full rotations every 20-30 seconds for the duration of the smoke. Eventually you may find your doing it without thinking, much to your gratified surprise.With this technique remember to keep it close to you and in your field of vision. Play that game of “how long will the ash stay on” but play it well.
4. Have a cigar buddy spot you, and let you know if your drifting, or about to ash in a most inopportune place. That way, a conversation can pause with a simple point and grunt, allowing it to resume a mere 2-3 seconds later, when the issue is corrected.
5. Remember, sometimes cigars won’t let you know in a visually obvious way there is something wrong. Quite often you find them plotting behind your back, hiding their dying embers behind a crisp, clean well manicured ash-line. Make taking a draw at least once or twice a minute at force of habit, as a preventative check and routine upkeep.
6. Keep an eye out, or rather a strand of hair (beard or otherwise) for that misplaced breeze, or gust of wind. A cigar that might not be resilient with its ember at the best of times will seek to betray you if any flow of air is allowed caress its ash-covered exterior. Adjust your seating or cigar accordingly to keep that tag-team from forming up. Watch especially for that old foe: Central Air. Not only can it create a stiff breeze that can unconsciously let itself go ignored; it also moves COLD air! Make sure you keep your ears attentive to any quiet rumble that heat exchanging beast may make, and be ready for it!
7. Don’t smoke a previously untested cigar brand in outside weather; unless you know how its previous brethren reacted to weather during delicious consumption, its not a wise idea to tempt fate.
8. As a general rule, watch for ripples in the ash on your ember, not any discolorations or spots. Darker rings can imply the ember is cooling off, whereas a minimally rippled homogeneous white texture should usually signify a stable ember.
9. Do not tap your ash until absolutely necessary. It serves double duty; once it was tobacco that imparted flavor, and now it insulates the ember from heat fluctuations, and continues to serve as a ‘flavor preserver’. You might even notice a slight change in flavor immediately after tapping your ash off. I believe this is directly due to heat fluctuations from sudden loss of insulation.
10. Watch for excessive/too little smoke coming off the ember of your cigar; Excessive can imply that part of it remains unburned and could need tending. Too little smoke could mean a dying ember, which also needs tending.

Be Vigilant, know your enemies! Be aware and prepared! Enjoy!

T.