Basic tools

You can smoke a cigar with four things. The rest is optional.

What you actually need

• A cutter, to open the head. A straight guillotine is enough to start. A punch is the small one you can carry. How each cut behaves is on Cutters 101.
• A flame that does not taste of lighter fluid. A butane torch or a match. Not a gasoline lighter. Lighters 101 is the longer version, including how to refill one.
• An ashtray with a wide, level rest. A cigarette tray tips the cigar and the burn runs off to one side. Ashtrays 101 is how to choose one and how to wash it.
• Somewhere the cigars stay at a steady humidity between smokes. A desktop humidor is the usual box. A sealed bag with a humidity pack will hold a few cigars for a short time if you do not have a box yet. Setting one up is Humidor 101.

What you can skip at first

A second cutter, a table lighter, a cedar spill, and a large cabinet humidor are later purchases. They do not make the first cigar better. A hygrometer is worth having once you own a wooden box, because the box can look fine while the cigars are drying out. That check is on Care.

Before you light

Take off the cellophane. Cut the cap, not the body. Toast the whole foot. Draw the smoke into your mouth, not your lungs. The sequence, and how long a given size lasts, is on How to smoke. The names of the ends you are cutting and lighting are on Parts of the cigar.