New Member Cutting Techniques

Hello I'm new to the forum and relatively new I'd say to the cigar smoking world. Been smoking for about 2 years and work at my favorite cigar shop now and have been smoking a lot more recently. Normally when I smoke in the shop i V-cut my cigars and smoke them down to the band and then stop. I do not normally like the heat that is produced by smoking much lower than the band. Recently I have started smoking my cigars down a bit further and have noticed a metallic and harsh taste that seems to become prominent after smoking for awhile. I thought it was my ash tray or maybe from the can of Coke I normally drink with a cigar. Tried changing these two factors and still get a metallic nastiness from my cigars after smoking for awhile. One fix I found is to cut the cap off the cigar if this harshness occurs. Why do my cigars taste this way when V-cut?

Tar

Better to guillotine cut to start? Any cigars that will do this more often than others?

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Originally Posted by bharrington423

Better to guillotine cut to start? Any cigars that will do this more often than others?

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http://www.cigarsmokers.com/threads/...053#post173053

I'm guessing smoke slower, purge (blow out through the cigar slowly) more frequently as the cigar burns down, and/or use a bigger cut - either cross the V (two cuts, but you will get more unravelling), or use a guillotine.

When you vcut a cigar it forces the smoke through a smaller openening, resulting in a tar buildup the longer you smoke it. I generally only v cut a box press cigar.

"A gentleman only smokes 1/3 of his cigar."
Zino Davidoff.

I guess that makes me less than a gentleman, but I already knew that. Ditch the V-cutter and get a guillotine cutter.

Doc

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Originally Posted by Devil Doc

"A gentleman only smokes 1/3 of his cigar."
Zino Davidoff.

I guess that makes me less than a gentleman, but I already knew that. Ditch the V-cutter and get a guillotine cutter.

Doc

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Agreed, I've never bothered with a V-cutter. As far as only smoking 1/3 of a cigar, I guess if I was a Gazillionaire
like Zino I'd bin them after a 3rd as well. :smiley2:

thanks guys. the advice and knowledge is a good welcome to the forum.

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Originally Posted by Devil Doc

"A gentleman only smokes 1/3 of his cigar."
Zino Davidoff.

I guess that makes me less than a gentleman, but I already knew that. Ditch the V-cutter and get a guillotine cutter.

Doc

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Makes me much less than a gentleman. Maybe we should think of them as someone else's cigar that we just bought... Unless it's totally horrible, I burn my fingers just to smoke down to the last drop.

:smiley1:

IIRC, the quote is, "a gentleman never relights his cigar after it is two-thirds smoked."

(I realize that many cigars taste like sh*t when re-lit, but I haven't had that experience relighting milder Cubans. I'm not saying that they taste the same, but they don't taste bad to me. YMMV.)

I have never truly enjoyed the V-Cut. I am personally a punch kind of guy. Yet, on bigger gauges, I will use the double-blade, or Guillotine. I, also, smoke mine down to the very last inches. I think that the better cigars can taste good from start to finish (to the fingers). Welcome to the forum! Happy smoking.

Welcome to the forums from another new member!

as for your post, as stated the tar is the culprit. I've tried a V-cut once or twice, and I personally found that it is easier to get a good draw from a guillotine cut, even on the higher ring sizes. I've seen the double V work, but I think that it's only slightly different that a guillotine in terms of how much you cut the cap.

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Originally Posted by craig

IIRC, the quote is, "a gentleman never relights his cigar after it is two-thirds smoked."

(I realize that many cigars taste like sh*t when re-lit, but I haven't had that experience relighting milder Cubans. I'm not saying that they taste the same, but they don't taste bad to me. YMMV.)

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I've had a few go out on me and relit them immediately with no change in taste that I could detect. But keep in mind, I'll never be a cigar reviewer for cigar afficiando either........my palate is not that refined..........LOL

I suspect if you smoked 2/3's and let it go out and then set it in your ashtray for a couple hours, it would probably taste like crap if you relit it. I wouldn't know. When it's time for a cigar, I make a committment to myself to sit for the duration of that cigar and not do anything (short of a real emergency) that would interfere with smoking said cigar. With the real good ones, I'm burning my fingers like everybody else.

I use a double bladed guillotine cutter. I have a couple buy my favorite at the moment is the XiKar. You mentioned another brand I'd never heard of Craig and I passed that along to Santa and I suspect I'll find one under the tree or in my stocking this x'mas..........lol

I've never used anything else with the exception of the Swiss Army Knife cutter I bought off Ken. I've used that a couple times while out camping (works great...thanks again Ken!). It's more like a scissor than a guillotine I suspect because of it's design, but it does have two blades...........

When you get the Palio, I'd suggest using a small round file or some emory paper to smooth out the edges cast in the plastic composite body. For that reason, I'd suggest the basic black (unpainted) version.

A Xikar is cool, but the Palio just seems better-engineered to me. Both cut just fine. I guess I'd say that a Xikar snips, but the Palio slices. I like to take off as little of the cap as possible in Cubans, as these generally have flat-cut filler under the cap. The draw seems better when the cutter doesn't touch the filler (again, in Cubans). In most non-Cubans, you want to cut into the filler, and the Xikar's design does seem to give a bit of leverage for doing that.

Anyhow, the difference is a matter of personal preference.

I am using double bladed guillotine cutter and i think it's the best cutter for cutting the edge of my cigar.

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Originally Posted by angelinajohn

I am using double bladed guillotine cutter and i think it's the best cutter for cutting the edge of my cigar.

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It's the cap of the cigar and stop spamming the board. I am pretty certain you will soon feel the ban hammer.

From what i've seen, they don't really cut the new members around here. You might get a light hazing, but nothing like a Florida band member or anything. If a new meber needed to be cut I don't know that a specific technique would be used.


This angelina biotch looks like she'll find out how new people get cut pretty soon!

If you need to practice cutting, I'd recommend using a torpedo-shaped cigar. They seem to me to be more forgiving on spotty technique.

Then, when you're good enough, you can use those techniques on the new smokers. Remember, you can cut off all the fingers, in several steps if you like, without killing you're victim, but you'll definitely want to stop the bleeding between cuts to make sure there's not too much blood loss.

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Originally Posted by Disney Lincoln

From what i've seen, they don't really cut the new members around here. You might get a light hazing, but nothing like a Florida band member or anything. If a new meber needed to be cut I don't know that a specific technique would be used.


This angelina biotch looks like she'll find out how new people get cut pretty soon!

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Yeppers! Cut as cleanly as a double bladed cutter, angelina's john was... :smiley36:

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Originally Posted by craig

When you get the Palio, I'd suggest using a small round file or some emory paper to smooth out the edges cast in the plastic composite body. For that reason, I'd suggest the basic black (unpainted) version.

A Xikar is cool, but the Palio just seems better-engineered to me. Both cut just fine. I guess I'd say that a Xikar snips, but the Palio slices. I like to take off as little of the cap as possible in Cubans, as these generally have flat-cut filler under the cap. The draw seems better when the cutter doesn't touch the filler (again, in Cubans). In most non-Cubans, you want to cut into the filler, and the Xikar's design does seem to give a bit of leverage for doing that.

Anyhow, the difference is a matter of personal preference.

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I think I"m getting the basic black one. I'm pretty sure that's the one I linked for the wife. I'll definitely tune it up if it needs it, thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to trying it.