Fire. Who doesn’t love fire? I could drone on for a while about how elemental it is, but I won’t because as cigar smokers, I’m sure you all know exactly what I mean. Aside from the ritual of cigar smoking, aside from the camaraderie we feel when relaxing with friends over a great stogie, aside from the excitement of finding a box of rare sticks sitting at the bottom of the tobacconist’s humidor, there is always the fact that in smoking cigars, we get to play with fire. What could be better?
Now, here’s the contentious bit: what method to use to light up that precious stogie. For the pipe smokers out there – and I do enjoy sitting down with a good briar once in a while – Neill Archer Roan over at A Passion for Pipes has a nice post on his lighter collection, which ranges from the mundane-but-functional Zippo to the ultra-premium Dupont. And of course, you’ll probably already have read the Stogie Guys‘ post on why matches are the way to go for the discriminating cigar enthusiast. I like both these articles very much, and I’d like to throw another idea out there to add to the debate: I have found that matches and regular-flame lighters have always given me a better burn than torches.
I’ve only discovered this recently, but my two perfectly nice torches (one is a Colibri Firebird with a single flame, the other a no-name three flame job) always seem to get me into trouble. Sure, they come in handy in the wind. I can’t tell you how many wooden matches I’ve burned trying to light a cigar or pipe outdoors – I’ve wasted half a box on a single light! – and of course, there have been plenty of times when these high-powered lighters have served me fine.
However (and keep in mind, I have no data to back this up, just my observations) I am of the opinion that the focused, intense heat of a single torch flame is liable to heat the foot of a cigar unevenly, causing it to burn faster in some places than others. I have tried diligently to toast the wrapper. I have tried to light the cigar from farther away, therefore decreasing the amount of direct contact the tobacco has with the flame. I have tried many different things, and still I find that nine times out of ten, if I’m having burn problems, they show up after a light with a torch.
So, instead of a torch, what do I use? Well, there are, of course, matches. If I’m inside, they’re my top choice. Outside, however, I use – gasp – a Zippo. I know, I know…I’m going to foul up the flavor of my expensive cigar with the disgusting lighter fluid that thing runs on. As it turns out, that’s just not true. I let the flame burn for a few seconds before touching it to the cigar, I don’t puff too much while lighting, and if necessary, I blow out through the stick before starting to smoke in earnest. I’ve never found that my Zippo affects the tobacco’s flavor at all (and with their new low-odor fluid, there’s even less to worry about).
And what’s the advantage of a Zippo over matches? Wind resistance. My trusty silver lighter fires up even in a stiff breeze, and the wide, even flame allows me to light the whole foot at once, eliminating those pesky torch burn problems. The conclusion? When hanging out inside, it’s matches all the way. When out and about, there’s nothing better than my Zippo.
