How to host a sophisticated cigar tasting evening for friends
A good cigar tasting evening isn’t about the priciest sticks; it’s about organizing a series of sensory experiences that your guests can follow, and remember. The preparation, pacing, and attention to a few details that most hosts overlook is all that separates a good smoke with friends from a truly memorable evening.
Build the flight first
It all depends on that initial “starter” cigar, doesn’t it? We can tell just by the expression on your friend’s face that you’ve absolutely nailed it. A “flight” of two to three cigars, growing in body from light to full, seems to be the best way to go. After all, how else will you know what you really like?
After the standard lighter to fuller body selection is made, we honestly prefer to lose the concept of “what feels proper.” It’s too limiting. Everyone should start with a Connecticut shade wrapper out of sheer common sense. Very little nicotine, tastes crisp as a spring breeze, allows your non-smokers to find their feet without hitting them over the head with a stick, and it’s a solid measuring stick for the first third of the night.
The second cigar should just step it up a notch. A Dominican or Honduran preferably; a nice natural wrapper that generally tends to deliver a little more leather and cedar without pushing you into back alley hustler levels of nicotine. If your last cigar is a heavy-hitting son of a gun, either a Maduro or a blend starring Ligero filler from Nicaragua, you hope your guests will have arrived prepared rather than arrived with half their taste buds melted off.
Ring gauge does come into play here too. Thicker naturally cools the smoke more, most people perceive that as being “creamier.” Mix different vitolas between cigars, it gives your guests something to talk about beyond how your roof is slowly combusting.
In terms of procuring your selection, just try to ensure a broad regional spectrum. The difference between the tobacco of Vuelta Abajo in Cuba versus the stuff that grows in the volcanic soil that surrounds Estelí is a fascinating lesson that never once feels like a lecture. You can buy cigars online from retailers that genuinely stock product from these different regions.
Set up a cutting and lighting station
Dedicate a small section of the table for this. Have three types of cutters available: a guillotine cutter, a V-cut, and a punch. Allow your guests to experience the different types of cuts and notice how the airflow changes. It’s a real icebreaker and a practical lesson at the same time.
When it comes to lighting the cigar, stay away from regular lighters. Yes, butane torch lighters are pretty standard, but you might want to keep cedar spills around as well, so that your guests can go for the more traditional lighting option if they choose. The sulfur in a match or the chemical residue in a fluid lighter can really contaminate those first few puffs of your stogie. Rotate the foot of the cigar slowly while lighting it and always toast the foot before lighting up. The first inch will shape the entire cigar.
Pair the spirits deliberately
The pairing should enhance the experience, not steal the show. A peated Islay Scotch goes great with a bold Nicaraguan stogie, the smoke in the whisky mirrors the intensity of the tobacco without either one getting lost in the ash. A good aged rum will complement the sweeter Dominican terroir quite well, molasses notes in the spirit pulling out the underlying sweetness in the wrapper.
Water is non-negotiable throughout. Especially, sparkling water, which severs any residual tobacco oils lingering on your palate between sticks. Dark chocolate and unsalted almonds can also be used for the same purpose, as the industry standard General Cigar Company tasting sheet will tell you, your palate needs about 20-30 minutes to reset between different tobacco varietals. And that’s precisely why palate cleansers aren’t optional.
Give guests a framework to observe
Prepare simple tasting cards with prompts for evaluating the draw, aroma, and flavor transitions in each third of the smoking experience. The first third of the cigar tends to be grassier and brighter, the second third is typically where most of the complexity is, and the last third simply concentrates everything. You might want to divide the cigar into approximate time thirds and encourage the guests to make notes as they go. They’re unlikely to remember things they want to comment on later.
Most guests who try retrohaling won’t go back to drawing without it so here’s what to make sure you cover in your explanation. Encourage them to retrohale every draw. It’s not like drinking it through your nose, in fact, if you’re doing that it can be unpleasant. Instead simply exhale a small amount of the smoke gently through your nose. The nasal passage is directly connected to the part of the brain that does tasting so the aromatic complexity is completely different through the nose than through the palate alone.
Environment and etiquette
A long, firm ash column indicates a well-made cigar, and it’s more elegant to let it form naturally than to keep knocking it off. Deep-welled ashtrays will catch the ashes without your having to look at them the entire time.
Ventilation isn’t sexy, but it’s the hallmark of a bodacious stogie night nevertheless. Open windows or the outdoors will keep your party from going south when half the crowd wants to leave forty minutes in. You shouldn’t be aiming for a room that’s perfect for you to stay in for two to three hours (and letting whoever wants to go wander outside), but a room that’s comfortable for all for two to three hours.
If there’s one thing I’ve seen people new to hosting stogie evenings utterly fail to appreciate, it’s the time. Each stogie is a solid forty-five minutes, but a good hour isn’t unusual. Two stogies with a generous palate-cleansing interval in the middle means you’re on the last stogie and heading for the door three hours after their car pulled in. It all takes care of itself if you keep that in mind when you plan the pairings, the chairs, and the conversation.
