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What Lighting a Cigar and True Scotsmen Can Teach Us About Gatekeeping and Joy
What is behind the urge to yuck somebody’s yum?
Do you know the proper way to light a cigar?
With fire! some clever person says. Yes! Exactly, but what kind of fire? Contrary to non-smoking belief, cigars and cigarettes are very different vices. Pull out a little plastic bic lighter in a cigar salon and you’re likely to be tackled to the floor by any number of aficionados.
Well, not really, but it really is considered bad form. You really should use a butane-fueled jet lighter, because the flame burns cleaner and won’t interfere with the taste of the cigar.
Except, of course, that’s only really for the most gauche cigar enthusiasts; the true flame that a connoisseur would choose would be a long cedar match, burning clear and long enough to fully toast the end of the cigar.
Unfortunately, even those matches have the aroma of sulfur on the end, which you should just let burn off before bringing the lit wood to the end of the cigar. So few cigaristicians do that, though — to be really sure you’ve eliminated the chemicals, you should use that cedar match to light a sliver of cedar wood, which will give you the purest flame.
