so I just smoked my first Arturo Fuente

So I just smoked my first Arturo Fuente corona and I gotta say it was mighty fine. I was apprehensive about cutting it since the last time I tried to cut a cigar I ruined the end cap by cutting too much off. A friend of mine showed me how to use a golf tee to puncture a hole in the cigar. I inserted it about an inch and twisted it a few times and it smoked perfectly. Is this common practice? I saw a video on YouTube where a guy in Cuba used a flat piece of wood, similar to a thin popsicle stick to do the same thing.

Either way, I picked two types of Arturo Fuente and a Macanudo Cafe. Looks like I'm taking up cigar smoking.

For mist cigars you want to cut off just 1/8" of the cap. Cigars with a pointed head are the exception. Having a sharp cutter is imperative, a dull one will crush or tear the wrapper.

I often use a "punch" cutter -- which in effect does what you did with the golf tee. It's a good way to go with a fatter cigars.
Using a guillotine cutter "by eye" takes a little practice, but with non-pointed cigars, one way of making a nearly perfect cut every time is to lay the cutter down flat on a table, open. Place the end of the cigar vertically into the hole, resting the tip on the table, and snip it that way -- unless you have some kind of crazy thick cutter it should take off just enough.

Also a double bladed cutter (where there are blades on each side of the hole) makes a much better cut than the super-cheap single blade cutters you usually see next to the register for $3.

Man, golf tees are great. They're the perfect tamper/stirrer for a pipe, they are great for plugging automotive vacuum hoses, and now this?

I use a punch cutter. I'd be afraid the pressure from a tee could crack the cap or even the head end.

They were almost impossible to buy around twenty years ago, and they're certainly one of the legendary brands.

AF makes some great cigars. I still love a quick Short Story.

I've been a fan of the folding Xikar scissors for a couple of years now. Great control.

Blue_2 said:

AF makes some great cigars. I still love a quick Short Story.

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+1

AF is one of my favorite cigars, Yum!!