Old Dogs and New Tricks
Old Dogs and New Tricks
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I have known a few old dogs in my time and I’m gonna give a yes to that. But you can also look at it from the other side of the fence; if you’re not learning new tricks, you’re just an old dog.
My current new tricks are two things: cigars and coffee. (Well, photography too, but I have lots of posts on that.) I’ve consumed both for a long, long time, but only in the last year have I actually learned anything about them.
Cigars
Is it possible to smoke cigars for forty plus years and miss the boat? I can answer a resounding yes to that. As much as I have enjoyed the act of puffing on a cigar over the years, I have learned that I have been doing it completely wrong. Not the kind of wrong like sipping tea from a cup with your pinkie finger sticking out or using the little spoon for your soup. This is the kind of wrong where you go, how the heck did I miss something that makes such a difference in enjoying a cigar for all these years?
How to buy and smoke cigars;
Understand how they are made; there is the filler tobacco (the middle filling and largest part), the binder (it holds the filler in place) and the wrapper, often a different tobacco depending on the flavours desired. Most cheating occurs in the filler - those $10 Cohiba’s you bought in Cuba? They’re filled with a bunch of little off cut pieces all stuffed and crammed in. The $50 ones in your local and honest cigar shop have full length rolled filler leaves. They also have different labels if you know what to look for. Interestingly, the ring size (diameter) of a cigar affects the flavour - big fat cigars, like Churchills, have more of the taste of the filler and less of the binder and wrapper in each puff. They also tend to burn cooler. Vice versa for skinny cigars like Petit Coronas; they have more of their wrapper taste and less filler and tend to burn hotter. Having said that, the wrapper, the least amount of tobacco in a cigar, dominates the taste of the cigar.
Learn how to buy them; ask a lot of questions, and try and try and try. Don’t buy Cubans in the beginning (and rarely after unless you have tons of money) - start with Dominican and Honduran and Nicaraguan. Brick House and Rocky Patel and La Flor Dominicana are some brands that I enjoy, but you’ll still spend $15-20 (CDN) for a good cigar. Find a cigar store (relatively) close to you and someone in it who knows his stuff.
Learn how to cut it; if you look closely you’ll see the line of a cap at the end of a cigar (Cuban cigars have three). That’s where you trim the end off - in the case of multiple caps, cut it at the smallest. Have a good sharp cutter.
Learn how to light it; toast the end first (lightly heat it away from direct flame) to fuse the wrapper, binder and filler around the outer edge. Then light it out of the direct flame but in high heat, usually just above the visible flame of a match or butane lighter, rotating and puffing until the end is nicely red. Now, before you start smoking, let it sit for a minute so the burn evens out and it gets less hot.
Learn how to smoke it; two puffs per minute is a good average. Long easy draws and let the smoke linger in your mouth. The smoke must be cool and not hot - if it is hot you are drawing too hard and/or puffing too fast. DO NOT inhale the smoke.Talk and drink and unwind while you smoke. A Churchill should take an hour and a half to finish. If the cigar makes you dizzy you are smoking too fast.
Learn how to taste it; this is the big one. The admonition above that the smoke be cool isn’t just that it’s the right way to smoke, it is so that you can taste the cigar. Most of your taste buds are on the roof of your mouth so start by getting the smoke to go there. Let it linger in your mouth and drift around before you exhale. It may take a while, but soon you’ll start to recognize flavours - the ones l I have found are; wood, spice, leather and nut. I’m sure there are others but I can put most cigars into combinations of these tastes.
And where you you used to go, that was pretty good cigar, you can now drift into heaven with the silvery plumes of a maduro Brick House wafting around your head, a small glass of Tyrconnell Irish whiskey by your side and good company, even if it’s just your own.
Next up: coffee