Cigar Lighter / How I Light my Cigars

**Nature** · 12-15-2021, 08:49 PM

This is my cigar lighter during cooler months.

41,000 btu with a never ending natural gas fuel supply.

Don’t let the brute force deceive you into thinking that it doesn’t possess surgical precision for the perfectly toasted foot and evenly lit wrapper.

Not like some of those welding torches disguised as cigar lighters. The ones where you have to hold the cigar 12” away or risk charring half your wrapper; on one side. You risk losing an eyebrow or scald your nose every time you finish the light while drawing on the cigar.

These seem better suited to sweating copper pipes or in a kitchen, caramelizing a créme brûlée.

The technique is easy.
Just hold the foot directly on the heat source for a few seconds. Although, you do need to be careful with robustos and the like. You’ll end up toasting your hand as well. A repetitive, intermittent technique works better on these shorter varieties. Touch and go, touch and go. Usually 3-4 cycles are all that is required.

Reminds me of those push in cigarette lighters they used to have in cars. Although, it’s obvious they were really designed for cigars. They have the perfect diameter. The younger kids probably don’t know what I’m talking about. Those, round 12V accessory power sources in cars used to have a plug that when pushed in, would energize the coil inside and pop out when heated to red-hot.

As a kid, we used to play with it when our mother left us in the car at the grocery store or running errands. We would touch bits of paper or other material found in the car until they lit up. Gosh, it’s a wonder we never lit the car on fire!

The light results in the foot being evenly toasted and a glowing edge around the perimeter. A ring of fire. Does Johnny Cash come forth for anyone?

No charred wrapper, even light. A few draws later, perfectly lit.

That is how I light my cigar. Strength and agility.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk