THERE ARE MANY ways to cut a cigar, no one technique is particularly better than another. As with many things cigar-related, lopping off the end of one’s cigar is a subjective matter of personal preference. The key takeaway: No matter how you cut, do not botch the task. A poorly cut cigar can ruin your day.
As we all learned in elementary school, the three elements of combustion (a.k.a. the “fire triangle”) are fuel, heat and oxygen. The fuel in this case is cured, fermented and hand-rolled tobacco leaves; heat is the foot of the cigar you toasted and lit with a match or lighter; and the oxygen is provided by you: taking in the smoke and exhaling or retrohaling said colloid.
Therefore, in order to smoke a cigar, you must remove part of the cap to allow air to flow evenly through the body.
Each basic type of cutter below will make this happen; the one you choose is a matter of personal preference. Could you use your teeth? Sure, if you must, but please don’t. Fingernails? Only if (pardon the pun) you’re in a pinch. As for the rest:
STRAIGHT CUTS: Single-blade guillotine cutters, double-blade guillotine cutters, butterfly guillotine cutters, cigar knives (popularized by Les Fines Lames) and cigar scissors can all be grouped together in the “straight cut” category, which is decidedly the most popular way to cut a cigar. For good reason—it’s the most effective, in my opinion, and thus my preferred method.
All these cigar tools produce a symmetrical opening—a circular slice that eliminates some of the cigar cap (wrapper and binder) and exposes the filler. This is the best (really, the only) way to cut figurado (torpedo, belicoso, perfecto or pyramid) format cigars, no matter what others say.
When cutting a parejo (straight) cigar, it’s important to keep the perimeters of the cap intact. In other words, don’t lop off the entire end of the cigar—keep your cut above the shoulder. If you do, the head will start to unravel, and the rest of the wrapper leaf will soon follow (the exception to this rule is tapered-end cigars). Once a cigar is cut, you are ready to toast and torch up.
V-CUTS & PUNCHES: V-cut (a.k.a. cat’s eye or wedge) and bullet (a.k.a. punch) cutters are the other popular options. The V-cut tends to go in and out of style. It was quite popular through the first seven decades of the twentieth century and has enjoyed a renaissance of late thanks in part to the reissue of the classic tabletop dual-V-cut cutters originally popularized by the presence atop Alfred Dunhill humidor-room countertops worldwide.
The bullet/punch cutter, as well as the anachronistic piercer (essentially a pronged sterling-silver or steel straw commonplace in the late-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries) are old-school devices worth mentioning only due to the au courant nature of the cigarspear, which is direct progeny of the O.G. piercer. The bullet/punch and piercer achieve the same result—puncturing the head of the cigar, creating a hole in which the wrapper, binder and filler are all penetrated, drilling down like a core sampler. What results is a marginally narrow and (relatively) deep hole that creates a highly concentrated stream of smoke. (To note: Personally, I am not a fan of the bullet, or especially the piercer, but to each their own.)
FINAL TIP: Regardless of the style of cutter you opt to use, keep in mind that as with any blade or point, sharper is better.
