How to Cut a Cigar – Video Tutorial from Famous Smoke R&D

Better Cigar Smoking Through Science – Cigar 101 from the Famous Smoke Lab

We’re sharing one of our all-time top Cigar 101 topics today for our budding cigar smokers: how to properly cut a cigar with a guillotine cigar cutter.

Note: smoking jacket optional.

“Thanks for watching!” ~ Jenny, Chief Cutting Office/Famous Smoke Shop R&D

The cigar cutter is more than just a tool of the cigar smoking trade, it’s an integral part of the cigar preparation ritual – no smoking experience is complete without it! And how to use it is one of the Top 10 questions cigar smokers are routinely asking to learn. Here’s the in-depth version summary of what you just saw:

Try to keep the cut above the “shoulders” of the cigar, the spot where the cap and wrapper meet. If you examine the head of the cigar, you’ll notice a strip (or strips) of tobacco just below the cap – cut just above that line. Cutting below the shoulders may result in your cigar unraveling on you; but if your cut isn’t far enough, the cigar won’t draw.

A Note on How to Cut Torpedo Cigars

Cutting torpedoes – or any tapered head cigars, for that matter – is a little different. There is no cap on a torpedo cigar; instead, the wrapper is rolled over itself at the tip of the head. With a torpedo, a good cut is one that’s as small as possible, while still being able to draw easily through the cigar. This is how to do it:

Note that if you cut down too far, you risk the cigar wrapper unraveling. This is why it’s better to start with a small cut, then gradually work your way down.

More Tips on How to Cut a Cigar

There are several different methods for cutting cigars, and a variety of tools to cut them with. If you want the Advisors’ step-by-step details of the ritual around cutting and lighting a cigar, see Gary’s article here and learn how to do it.

If you want to try another tool besides a guillotine cutter, give the v-cutter some love – and you’ll see how versatile a cigar tool it really is. And if you’re into belicosos, figurados and torpedoes, here’s why it’s worth trying a v-cutter to cut your torpedo cigar.

Now’s also a good time to share some tips on cutting big ring cigars. Because as it turns out, some guillotine cutters won’t fit those 60+ RG cigars in your humidor.

And if you’re really in a bind, stuck without a cutter, but still want to smoke – you can still cut a cigar in a pinch with any of these 3 techniques.

Happy Smokes!