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Smoking half, saving half?

Being just 2 cigars in to this activity, I'm just trying to find my way. One of my smokes was a Arturo Fuentes Short Story, which had the advantage of not taking all evening to finish it. I'm wondering about bigger cigars- I definitely need to try for myself to decide, but can you smoke part of a cigar, decide its time to go do something else and so save the rest of it to smoke another day? Some comments I've seen are that only the first half should be smoked in any event, with the balance being discarded. Does the second half remain smokable?
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Disregard the advice to only smoke half a cigar, I'm pretty sure that originally came from Zino Davidoff, a cigar salesman. Smoke as much as you want, and it's done when it is no longer enjoyable.

Partially smoked cigars go south pretty quickly, and we're talking hours not days. If you do decide to let one go out and come back to it, blowing through the cigar before lighting it will help get some of the stale smoke taste out, and then just relight. If you are saving it for another day clip the ash off once it cools, and definitely don't store a partially smoked cigar with unsmoked ones.
 
I smoke my cigars down to the nub, just don't burn your finger. To save a cigar for later, clip the edge off so you have tobacco that is not burned or ashed. Burned or ashed tobacco, when relight, is unpleasant. Welcome and enjoy the ride.
 
I am a to the nub smoker. I went one step farther when in the military service. I stuffed the nubs in a corn cob pipe and finished them off. Couldn't afford to waste any tobacco.
 
I used to save cigars for later, but only later in the same day. Blow out the smoke, cut off the ash when cool. Don't really do this anymore, but sometimes find it hard to find the time to enjoy a cigar.

I've also taken a nub and put it in my burl pipe and smoked it, just when I'm really enjoying the cigar and don't want to quit.
 
Just as you found with the Short Story, different vitola have a smoke time built in. I pick the cigar depending on how long I'm going to smoke it. There are plenty of choices in each time range.

Derrick is spot on in regards to partially smoked cigars. It's usually not a good thing.

I normally smoke the whole thing, either with a Corn on the Cob holder or in a pipe.
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I can set a pipe down and come back to a partial bowl later but not a cigar. A relit cigar just isn't good.
 

mrlandpirate

Got lucky with dead badgers
I usually smoke mine all the way down but I also choose my cigar size to how long I can spend smoking, short story, nub 20-30 min.
Belicoso,Churchill 1.5-2 hrs
 
If you decide to try, here's some advice I've compiled from a couple posts: While it's still lit (or if it went out unexpectedly and you decide to come back to it later), blow through it at that time -- but don't blow from your lungs. Open your mouth and suck in fresh air and immediately use your cheeks to blow that fresh air through. Fresh air is cleaner than breath and less likely to introduce a micro-ecosystem that will make the cigar nasty.

In practice, I find that somewhere between 50% and 20% a cigar gets nasty on me anyway. I really want to smoke it down to a nub and finish it in a pipe but that just doesn't happen for me. I sometimes wonder if I could create a process to salvage it by opening it up and sun-curing it to air out the nasty and then I could add it to a pipe blend.
 
I can set a pipe down and come back to a partial bowl later but not a cigar. A relit cigar just isn't good.

Isn't good is a vast understatement!! Utterly totally phenomenally horrifically disgusting is more like it!!

in my experience you can't relight a cigar and hope to have a pleasing experience.
 
I'm going to echo the sentiments of most. Relighting a cigar after any length of time is just downright nasty tasting. If your cigar goes out on you a quick relight doesn't hurt (I've found) but beyond an immediate relight it's not worth your time.

And that "only smoke half your cigar" thing sounds like a way to sell more cigars! I smoke them until just before the ember would burn my fingers. Some cigars change flavour as the smoke goes on, with the back third tasting different from the front third and only smoking half would rob you of that full experience.
 
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If you enjoy cigars but don't like to smoke the whole thing in one setting, consider buying cans of smaller ascot cigars. Many popular brands make an ascot option.
 
If you enjoy cigars but don't like to smoke the whole thing in one setting, consider buying cans of smaller ascot cigars. Many popular brands make an ascot option.

I used to buy the mini-cigars in tins and they still would take me 30 minutes to smoke. I used to cut them in half to smoke on lunch breaks at work so I had time to eat AND annoy the cigarette smokers in the designated smoking area.

I smoke cigars down till I can't physically hold them anymore and that is pretty small. On rare occasions I've stopped when I get to under 25% of the cigar because that particular stick got nasty, harsh and too bitter for me.

Its not worth re-lighting a cigar to me after its been out long enough to get cold. I just don't smoke full sized cigars or anything I consider expensive unless I know I have nothing to do for a couple hours. Most times I smoke cigars in the spring through fall in the evenings when the only thing I have left to do is go to sleep or the very early mornings(like dawn) on the weekend while drinking coffee before doing chores or running errands.
 
I used to buy the mini-cigars in tins and they still would take me 30 minutes to smoke. I used to cut them in half to smoke on lunch breaks at work so I had time to eat AND annoy the cigarette smokers in the designated smoking area.

Absolutely! It's amazing how cigarette smokers can be offended when I smoke a cigar or a pipe!
Here's a question: band on, or off?
 
I am NOT an advocate of starting a cigar and saving the rest for another day. IMO a cigar turns harsh after letting it sit after it goes out. Have different cigar sizes in your humidor to fit the time you can dedicate to enjoying it!
 
I've heard the advice to purge the cigar before cutting the ash off if you're going to save it for later; later that same day. I've done that, but I recently came across a website that advocates blowing through your cigar when you get to the halfway point to purge out any harsh flavors that may have built up before continuing to enjoy your cigar in one session. I tried that today, didn't hurt anything. Anyone else do this?
 
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