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It takes a little time to smoke a cigar, it takes patience and certainly some practice, especially to begin with and it takes some thought, and therefore I find it the best time to just clear the mind and think. Whether you are having a cocktail with yours or something in the single malt variety, a double espresso or even walking the dog, the cigar takes the foreground freeing up everything else.
Summer is the perfect time to indulge in cigar smoking. After an alfresco dinner or sitting outside of your favourite wine bar, sipping a red Bordeaux with a cigar in hand is just bliss. Ideally, I go to an outside seat at a wine bar with my Calibri Julius double flame lighter perched on the table beside me as I watch the world go by, shrouded in that light cloud of smoke, letting it find its own way as the taste lingers on the tongue.
The evening light, golden in colour, shining on the world, where my time has stood still as the warm night approaches around me like the smoky plume my cigar creates.
My personal choice of cigar that I have, over time, acquired, is for a light vanilla laced cigar from the Dominican Republic, the Leon Jimenes Petit Corona Blond, Leon Jimenes being one of the oldest cigar makers in the country. Apart from the obvious sweetness you get as you place the carefully chopped end to your lip, a mix of top leaf tobacco and vanilla, it is a fifteen-minute joyous smoke at a transportable four inches in length and a 38-ring gauge, in my novice opinion a good size. Any bigger and you can get lost in the smoke, the drying mouth and the headrush of so much heavy tobacco, Winston Churchill I am not. Cigars are to be enjoyed not to be waved around, they can be left, they can be held but never waved there is no room for pretentiousness here, even though with anything classed as luxury it happens.
I am not one to advocate smoking, we are all aware of the dangers and would never assume anyone would want to join me just because I say it is an enjoyment, we are all created equal and different. If you are new to the idea of the cigar and have no idea where to start, go with a mild or light smoke, short smoking time and something you don’t need to unhook your jaw to comfortably place in your mouth. Any good cigar tobacconist will be able to guide a new smoker to what you want and need and treat you well, after all, this is a luxury item.
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