Server: Microsoft-IIS/3.0 Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 07:54:01 GMT Content-Type: text/html Accept-Ranges: bytes Last-Modified: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 22:35:33 GMT Content-Length: 30268 How To Judge A Good Cigar
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Table Of Contents

"The Scent of a Good Cigar" A poem by Kate A. Carrington
Prologue
Biography of Henry Schielein
Biography of Richard DiMeola
How to Judge a Good Cigar
Can Quality Be Judged By Testing Only One Cigar?
What Makes Construction So Important?
What Other Characteristics Of Construction Should Be Considered?
How Do The Aesthetics Reflect Quality?
How Important Is Tobacco?
What Does Fermentation Do To The Tobacco?
Is When and Where A Cigar Is Smoked Important?
What's The Best Temperature and Humidity To Store Cigars?
Is The Size Of A Cigar Important To The Taste And Aroma?
What About Price?
Epilogue



THE SCENT OF A GOOD CIGAR

What is it comes through the deepening dusk,
Something sweeter than jasmine scent,
Sweeter than rose and violet blent,
More potent in power than orange or muse?
The scent of a good cigar.

I am all alone in my quiet room,
And the windows are open wide and free
To let in the south wind's kiss for me,
While I rock in the softly gathering gloom,
And that subtle fragrance steals,

Just as a loving, tender hand
Will sometimes steal in yours,
It softly comes through the open doors,
And memory wakes at its command,
The scent of that good cigar.

And what does it say? Ah! that's for me
And my heart alone to know;
But that heart thrills with a sudden glow,
Tears fill my eyes till I cannot see,
From the scent of that good cigar.

Kate A. Carrington


Prologue

This Inquiry took place as a series of conversations over a two day period at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Nigel in Southern California. The occasion was a cigar event at the hotel conceived by Henry E. Schielein, Vice President and General Manager, and corroborated by Richard DiMeola, Executive Vice President of Consolidated Cigar Corporation.

The event included a demonstration of the hand rolling of cigars at a champagne cocktail party one evening and before and after a gala smoker-dinner the following night which continued into the small hours of the following morning. The dinner, a charity event benefitting The Ruth Berle Memorial Foundation, attracted 160 prominent cigar lovers, including Milton Berle, actor James Coburn and other personalities from the fields of entertainment, journalism and business.

Mr. DiMeola initiated the Inquiry with the intent of ascertaining how Mr. Scheilein arrives at deciding whether or not a cigar is "good." Their dialogue continued over the course of the two days these cigar lovers spent together.

This is a synthesis of their conversations which, as it turned out, developed into an authoritative presentation of what to look for in judging the quality of a premium cigar.


Henry Schielein, noted hotelier, food and wine expert and cigar connoisseur, is Vice President and General Manager of the famous Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, in California. Named the best resort hotel on the continent by "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous," the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, under Mr. Schielein's ebullient direction has continued to receive the Mobil Five Star Award rating each year, with the first award coming after only two years in operation.

A lover of fine cigars for many years, Mr. Schielein achieved notoriety in 1984 when, as General Manager of Ritz-Carlton's flagship hotel in Boston, he set a policy of converting the revered Ladies Tea Room into a special lounge each evening for the enjoyment of cigars, brandies, coffee and desserts.

Schielein inaugurated his smoking lounge with a formal dinner-smoker, with many prominent Bostonians in attendance. The event, which continues there annually and has spread to Ritz-Carlton Hotels across the country, received national and international press coverage and indelibly carved Henry Schielein's mark on the cigar world.


Richard DiMeola has spent his entire business career in cigars. In 1956, prior to the Castro regime in Cuba, he began in an administrative capacity with the most prominent firm of the day importing the ten best Cuban cigar brands and distributing them in the United States. It was there that he became intimately familiar with the distinctive taste and aroma of the world's finest cigars.

Today, DiMeola is Executive V.P., C.O.O. of Consolidated Cigar Corporation and President of the company's premium cigar subsidiary, Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic. There and in Honduras, Consolidated employs 1,200 skilled experts who fashion fine, handmade cigars under such well known trademarks as H. Upmann, Don Diego, Te-Amo, Dunhill, Montecruz, Royal Jamaica, Por Larraņaga and many others.

Richard DiMeola is distinguished by being one of only a very few cigar connoisseurs in the world whose experience spans almost four decades, dating back to the era when Cuba was the Mecca of premium cigar making. He continues to be actively involved in refining and elevating the fine art of rolling extraordinary premium cigars.


HOW TO JUDGE A GOOD CIGAR

What is the single, most important factor in determining the quality of a fine, all natural tobacco, long filled, hand made cigar?

C O N S I S T E N C Y !

There are two general elements involved in the making of a fine, handmade cigar: QUALITY TOBACCO AND QUALITY CONSTRUCTION. They are of equal importance. But the interweaving thread that is the primary consideration in judging whether a cigar is "good" or not, or just how good it is, is the consistency of both.

Consistency then, as in many human endeavors, is the key factor. The sports world provides so many examples of this. The free throw contest in basketball is measured by the number of consecutive baskets achieved: consistency. The golfer gets rated by the number of times his ball lands in the fairway from the tee and the number of greens reached in regulation: consistency. The highest paid baseball sluggers receive enormous salaries because they can hit the ball more often than others. Again, consistency. On and on, as in other walks of life as well, being able to perform on an extremely high level, time after time after time, is the primary way we measure excellence.

So too in judging fine cigars!

Any producer of premium cigars can make an occasional smooth burning, rich tasting product. But, the truly excellent producer will develop a way to do it every time, or almost every time.

If a skeet shooter cannot hit 100 out of 100 "birds." he'll never reach world class ranking, and that's 100 of every 100 he tries. A cigar must be judged by similar standards. Even the weekend golfer will par a few holes during a round. But the real measure of excellence is how close a certain cigar brand, and any shape within that brand, comes to being that good drawing, good burning, good tasting product time after time.


Can Quality Be Judged By Testing Only One Cigar?

Since consistency is an integral part of the quality of a cigar, reason dictates that you cannot judge the quality of any type by sampling only one cigar. But how many cigars should be tested? Statistically, the greater the number, the greater the accuracy. A true test would be like the skeet shooter example: 100 cigars, which would naturally take a period of time. However, to be practical, since cigars traditionally come in boxes of 25, it would seem that one box of 25 would enable one to adequately judge. Besides, acquiring 100 cigars of a given size could get too expensive and, if they do not smoke very well, rather frustrating.


What Makes Construction So Important?

If a cigar is under-filled, constructed by skimping on the number of leaves in the filler, it will draw easily. Now that's often considered a benefit, but the ultra-easy draw will be offset by hot burning and harshness, because, in an under-filled cigar, there are too many air pockets causing a fast burn, thus a hot smoke.

If a cigar is over-filled, it will be hard to draw, sometimes impossible (plugged). This is the cause of the greatest number of complaints by premium cigar smokers. A hard-to-draw cigar gives a much lower volume of smoke, thus much less taste and aroma, and a lot of frustration to the smoker.

Therefore, good construction is essential to achieving good taste and aroma. You can use the best, most expensive tobacco in the world, put together by the most creative and knowledgeable blenders, but if the cigar is not constructed properly, none of the intrinsic quality of that tobacco can be brought home to the smoker.

And again, that quality in construction should be there time after time, if it's a "good" cigar you're smoking.


What Other Characteristics Of Construction Should Be Considered?

While taste and aroma are the most important attributes of the consistently well constructed cigar, there are others as well. Some of these have to do with aesthetics. All are other indicators of how well a cigar is made.

Assuming the cigar is properly lit, it should burn evenly all the way down. A terribly uneven burning cigar is a sign of an improper roll. If it happens with any frequency, the cigar should not be judged highly. It would be unusual for such cigars to taste good anyway.

The ash should be relatively firm and get to an inch long without difficulty (except in small ring gauges). A falling ash is not necessarily a sign of a poorly constructed cigar, but, if your cigars develop a firm, even ash while you're smoking, it is an indication that they are well made. And if it happens consistently, your impression will be reinforced. Anyway, it's really annoying to find a cigar ash in your lap, and a consistently flaky, loose ash is a sign of a poorly constructed cigar.

The cigar should have good mouth feel. While it is not recommended to chew the end, the cigar should feel firm and resilient in the mouth. If it does not, if the cigar is soft and mushy, that's another sign of poor construction. It won't feel good either, thus affecting your overall pleasure.

The cigar should look good and feel good to the touch. It should have some life in it. This does not mean the color itself so much, although it should not show too many blemishes, but the color of the cigars in the box should be consistent from one to the other. If they are not, then the manufacturer did not do his color selecting properly. What we see when we look at the cigars in a given box is the wrapper, and wrappers, even from the same crop, can vary over twenty or thirty shades of color. So a variance in color is not bad itself. It's just that a manufacturer who pays attention to detail makes sure that in a given box all the color shades are the same. Also, the cigars should look and feel smooth when you roll them in your fingers. This is just another indication of good construction and reassurance of quality.


How Do The Aesthetics Reflect Quality?

While DRAW and BURN are the most important factors affected by construction, the aesthetics of that construction can provide early warning signs regarding the quality, taste and aroma of a particular cigar. After all, if a company places so little importance on aesthetics, then is it reasonable to expect that it places any importance on quality? Think about it: does a fine wine taste better from a paper cup or from a beautiful crystal glass?


How Important Is The Tobacco?

When considering the quality of a "good" cigar, it's only natural to think first about the tobacco that goes into it and very often that's the only thing considered. That's why we put CONSTRUCTION first in this Inquiry. Hopefully, you now have an appreciation as to why the construction of the cigar is of equal importance to tobacco in assessing the quality of that cigar. But certainly, TOBACCO is of great importance. And consistency most definitely applies here as well.

Not only must the tobacco be of consistent high quality, but it must also be correctly processed. If he is to maintain consistency in taste and aroma in his cigars, a producer must be able to ensure a consistent supply of the same types of tobaccos that go into the blends. Since crop years vary as to the availability of the various types of tobaccos yielded, he must be able to buy a sufficiently large stock of a particular leaf when the availability presents itself in order to protect against short supply due to drought, heavy rains, too much or too little sunshine, political upheaval in tobacco growing regions of the world, etc. This requires sufficient financial resources, if high quality and consistency are to be maintained. The alternative is to buy leaf hand to mouth from whatever becomes available, thus rendering it impossible to keep blends consistent, and possibly subjecting the cigar to inferior leaf.

Unless a manufacturer has the resources to lay in supplies of high quality tobaccos, taste and aroma will vary from year to year, even sometimes from month to month. And, if inferior quality is used, the cigars will produce a harsh, rough, musty taste with an unpleasant, penetrating aroma, the kind wives tend to become so vociferous about.

But financial resources are not enough. A manufacturer must also possess the expertise to know good tobacco from bad when he sees it. This comes only from experience. The best tobacco men today have been in the business for decades and travel the world buying leaf stock for their companies. They know whether to accept or reject an offer and they have their particular trusted farmers and processors to whom they return year after year. If, in a given year, one traditional source has had a poor crop, chances are another will make up for it. If not, the knowledgeable and experienced tobacco man will have provided the necessary protection in leaf stock to get his company through to the next crop and enable overlapping one crop to the other for slow integration. Again, this means a lot of money becomes tied up in leaf inventory, but it's the only way to ensure having the supplies of high quality leaf necessary to produce tasty, aromatic cigars on a consistent basis.


What Does Fermentation Do To Tobacco?

In addition to the financial resources enabling a manufacturer to stock up on leaf supply and the expertise in acquiring those stocks, it's imperative that the tobacco be properly processed before use. For all the types which make up a cigar - filler (the guts of a cigar), binder and wrapper - the process known as fermentation must be carefully monitored and completed before the tobacco is rolled into a cigar. After the cigar is made, forget it, fermentation ceases.

Tobacco fermentation means laying the leaves into huge "bulks", the centers of which develop heat. The heat in the center of a bulk should not be allowed to exceed about 115-130 degrees F, depending on the type of tobacco, otherwise it will be ruined, burned out so to speak. When it gets up to that temperature, and it will do so in its own time depending on the leaf and its condition, the bulk gets turned inside out and the heat build up (fermentation) begins again. When the heat levels off, the fermentation is complete. This could occur after four turns or eight turns, referred to as "sweats" in the Trade. Over-fermentation will ruin the leaf, cause it to become "spent" and lose its flavor and aroma.

During "sweating", the fermentation process causes the emission of nitrogen compounds and other chemical compounds and reduces somewhat the nicotine content. After fermentation, further aging in bales helps to settle the leaf and enhances flavor and burning quality. Manufacturers who can't afford to wait or who just don't care to wait until this process is completed, produce inferior cigars.

If, when you smoke your box of 25 cigars, you find the following telltale signs, chances are the leaf has not been fully fermented or aged:

If this happens with a few cigars in your box, the manufacturer is not consistent in the use of his tobaccos. If this happens with a majority of them, he is not making the investment in fully aged leaf. He is using the tobacco before its time.

Now you know something about leaf processing and its importance in producing a consistently high quality cigar. One last point on this subject. Once the cigar is made, it is impossible to ferment the tobacco further. How would it be possible it get the temperature up to 115 degrees F (45 degrees + C.) in order to do the job? Some cigar people say that natural wrapped cigars properly kept in the box without cellophane will "mature" and become more mellow. Maybe, but, if unfermented or "raw" tobacco has been used, no amount of aging or maturing in the box will cure it. Cigar tobacco is not like wine.


Is When And Where A Cigar Is Smoked Important?

Whenever you smoke cigars from a certain box, see if you can determine any significant variance in taste and aroma. If you can, now you the probable cause. But be careful. A cigar will taste different depending on when it's smoked: morning or evening, after a meal, with coffee, or cognac, indoors or outdoors. Maybe one of the box of 25 isn't sufficient after all to really test test for consistent quality. It probably is, but the point is that slight variances are acceptable. It's the wide swing in quality you must watch out for. Remember, the bad cigar costs as much as the good one. You're entitled to some assurance of getting value for your money.


What's The Best Temperature And Humidity To Store Cigars?

If you keep your cigars at 70% relative humidity and 70 degrees F, they'll dry out over a long period of time. To combat this, get a decent humidor, keep the cigars at room temperature, charge the humidifier in the humidor regularly and you'll have no problem. For large walk in humidors, remember that a manufacturer equilibrates cigars after rolling at room temperature and about 72% relative humidity. At this level of temperature and humidity, the three parts of the cigars are allowed to equalize in moisture content, to slowly, ever so slowly, dry down. So room temperature and 72% humidity will keep cigars over time and 73% humidity will keep cigars perfect forever.

As the temperature gets lower, the humidity has to get higher to keep the cigars fresh. Never let the temperature get high. High temperature and high humidity create an incubator atmosphere and before you know it, the will be little bugs flying around to ruin your entire selection or a white mold will develop, or both. Dry cigars have less flavor and aroma, are less mild and flake off in the mouth. Dryness is the major cause of unraveling wrappers, the second most frequent complaint among premium cigar smokers.

So when you purchase that box of cigars for smoking (testing), make sure your source has kept them properly. Otherwise, if they're not in good condition, you'll never be able to tell if they're good or not good, consistent or inconsistent.


Is The Size Of A Cigar Important To The Taste And Aroma?

In general, a cigar smoker likes a particular size so when considering the quality and consistency of taste and aroma of a cigar, unless you're smoking the size you're accustomed to, your sense of comparability is liable to be thrown off and it will be difficult to judge that cigar fairly. In other words, the same cigar blends in different sizes taste different - if there's a big difference in ring size and length. This because a big ring gauge, say 50 or 52, produces an immense volume of smoke compared to a 28, 36 or even a 42 ring*. Naturally, taste and aroma are strongly influenced by this.

To a lesser extent, length also influences taste, but not so seriously as ring size. Besides, if you start with a 7 inch cigar when you're used to one 5 1/2 inches long, it'll become 5 1/2 inches long soon anyway - although, believe it or not, the 7 inch cigar at 5 1/2 inches will taste a little different than the one that starts at 5 1/2 inches.

Thus, if a manufacturer excels at making a great cigar 42 ring x 6 1/2 inches, it does not necessarily follow that the same brand in other sizes will be as good or as consistent. You'll have to try a box of each. But if you're not accustomed to smoking a certain size that you might be curious about, maybe you should enlist the cooperation of a friend who does smoke that size regularly.

* 1 Ring = 1/64" in diameter, thus a 50 ring cigar is a bit more than 3/4" in diameter.


What About Price?

Is the price of a cigar indicative of its quality or its consistency?

Regardless of the price, you still have to smoke those 25 cigars in order to determine consistency. High prices do not guarantee a good cigar. The highest priced cigars are still hand made products, subject to the same construction idiosyncrasies as their less expensive brethren.

Generally, the biggest element of cost in the make up of a fine cigar is the tobacco, assuming they're packed in the common type of box. Fancy packaging can add greatly to the overall cost. Individual aluminum or glass tubes, polished or beveled cedar or mahogany boxes, gift selections of 5 or 10 cigars, etc. are very expensive and significantly increase the price of the individual cigar.

So, we find prices varying greatly. Some cigars cost 8 or 10 times more than others of the same size and it's the smoker's dilemma to judge their relative worth. And we all know how the price of an object can affect our psyche and thus our attitude towards it. So, as far as how much you're prepared to pay for a cigar is concerned, practice a bit of caveat emptor and you'll be all right. Whatever you pay, you'll still have to go through the same analysis to determine just how good the cigars are.


EPILOGUE

We hope this little piece of information on how to judge a "good" cigar helps you in your search for excellence. At the very least, we trust that you now understand why you can't test one cigar and from that singular experience label it "good", or even not so "good". Notice, we have not tried to tell you how a cigar should taste or smell. That's too personal. As a rule, with cigars as with food and wine, if you like the taste and aroma, it's good. And, if that pleasing taste and aroma is delivered every time, then the cigar is "good." But, if you personally do not enjoy the taste of a particular cigar but find all the other aspects of it to be sound, it might be considered "good" by another person. It's something akin to all those people in the world who do not enjoy caviar. The subjectivity of taste is one of life's fascinations and it definitely applies to cigars, as well as caviar.

Enjoy.

Used with permission from Consolidated Cigar Corporation