subject: Tips For Cigar Relighting [print this page] The short answer is: YesThe short answer is: Yes. A cigar can be relit and it would be a waste of money to toss half of a gourmet cigar away simply because one needed to extinguish it before they were finished smoking. However, there will be some impact on the taste of the cigar when it is relit. Some individuals find this change in taste objectionable while others either do not notice or even prefer the taste of a relit cigar.
There will be an ash at the foot of the cigar. There are two ways to deal with this. One may simply knock the ash off and relight the cigar where it stopped burning or they may trim the cigar back to the point where fresh tobacco is exposed. Generally, trimming the cigar back a little will make it taste a bit smoother. The change in taste results from the buildup of tar in the tobacco as it is smoked so there is some change that is unavoidable no matter how far one trims back the wrapper before relighting the cigar.
The tobacco in the center of the cigar will likely have a different appearance than that around the edges. In most cases, it will be a bit darker. This is nothing to worry about and the cigar will smoke fine. The lighting process for relighting a cigar is identical to the first light, involving turning the cigar over the flame. Torch lighters, liquid-fuel lighters or butane lighters will work fine, there is nothing at all that differs in the lighting process.
Some individuals prefer to blow the first puff back through the cigar. This can help mitigate the taste of tar build-up in the tobacco and spares the smoker a harsh draw off of the cigar. Some smokers blow through the cigar before lighting it, as well, especially if the cigar has only recently been extinguished or gone out in which case there may be old smoke hanging around in the wrapper.
Good cigars can be expensive and, given that they're large, many smokers actually prefer to smoke them in stages as opposed to smoking the entire stogie in one sitting. Generally, the more times a cigar is relit the harsher it will become so most smokers prefer to limit this to one relight per cigar. With a very good cigar, however, the quality of the smoke may well make multiple relights completely acceptable.
