The purpose of the cut is to create an ample and smooth opening for smoking. This allows you to draw evenly, which in turn creates an even burn. The Perfect cutter will always make that exact cut without any guess work.

The Patented Perfect cutter is designed to cut the exact amount of tobacco from the head of any cigar, including Figurado and Torpedo cigars. It’s so revolutionary that it has been featured in magazines throughout the world, including Cigar Aficionado and Smoke Magazine. With this cutter you never have to guess how much of the cigar’s head you need to cut for a perfect smoking cigar. The cutter does it for you. In addition, it’s easy to use. All you have to do is insert the cigar’s head into the large opening of the cutter, hold it in the calibrated chamber and then clip off the tobacco. The exact amount of tobacco is cut every single time. The cut-off tobacco even remains in the cutter’s chamber until you open the cutter to properly discard it. The result is a perfect smoking cigar every time.

Solidly made with brushed stainless steel and surgical grade steel self-sharpening double blades, the Perfect cutter cuts cigars with  ring gauges of up to 54. It will even work with larger ring gauges, up to a 60, but you might have to cut the cigar’s head twice. It’s lifetime guaranteed so you may never have to buy another cutter again.

There are two different styles and these engineered cigar cutters have  extremely affordable prices. They are available through Cuban Crafters’ authorized dealers throughout the nation, as well as many different Internet cigar store. You can also purchase them directly from Cuban Crafters’ web site.

How does humidor solution work? Propylene glycol is the active ingredient in humidor solution. It is a liquid that does not dry up easily and releases water at exactly 70%. The humidor solution should be in a mixture of 50% propylene glycol and 50% distilled water. This is the perfect balance that the humidifier needs to feed your cigars the water that allows them to continue to age gracefully.

The solution should only be applied when setting up your new humidor or when the humidity level suddenly drops. Depending on the temperature and weather, it should be used once every 3 to 6 months. It should not be used more frequently and never exclusively. After activating your humidifier it should only be refilled with pure distilled water until the humidor solution dissipates, at which time it may be used again.

How do you know when it’s time to use the solution again? When you see that the humidity level is erratic or suddenly drops, even though you have distilled water in the humidifier. If you overuse the solution it will clog up the humidifier and render it useless. When you use it too often, it displaces the water and you end up having a humidifier of propylene glycol with no water to release. What do you do if this happens? It’s a simple problem to resolve. Just buy a new humidifier. It will never work as intended again, even if you think that you cleaned it out.

Lately there have been humidor companies, stores and Internet retailers that have been selling solution that is not a mixture of 50% propylene glycol and 50% distilled water, and claiming that because it has a higher concentration of propolyne glycol, it will work better. This is not true and just a way to get more money from you for a product that will eventually harm you humidifier. The higher the propylene glycol percentage, the less room there is for distilled water in your humidifier. Your humidor needs the water so that it can recreate the the tobacco leaf’s original environment.

What is the best relative humidity level to keep inside your humidor? While the standard 70% humidity and 70 degrees is always used because it is easy to remember, humidity levels between 60% and 75% are just fine. The temperature can also vary from 60 to 80 degrees. Remember that in the tobacco fields the temperature changes from day to night. The tobacco leaf is accustomed to such changes. Most of the world’s best cigar makers prefer drier cigars, anywhere from 50 to 65% humidity. Drier cigars burn better and taste better. You must also use more care when you handle them before lighting as the drier wrapper can crack. But once you light it you’ll notice the difference in burn and taste, and the wrapper will no longer be fragile.

After all, for some smokers, the after-dinner cigar is more symbolic than anything – a conspicuous display, perhaps, of taste and leisure, or a social or familial ritual. If, however, you smoke for taste – which is the best reason to smoke – you should probably invest in a humidor: a specially-constructed box designed to maintain your cigars in near-70% humidity and at a proper temperature when they’re not being smoked.

To understand why humidors are so important, remember what a cigar essentially is. It’s a set of rolled-up tobacco leaves that have been cut, dried, cured, and fermented, then maintained at a very slight but essential level of moisture. If the cigar dries out completely – as can happen in open air, at the wrong temperature, or in low humidity – it loses its taste. If it’s kept in an airtight environment, on the other hand, the necessary low level of moisture will, over time, cause mold. A cigar requires a very special set of conditions in order to maintain optimum taste.

The humidity in which cigars are stored is important because of the specific conditions in which most tobacco is grown. The natural climate for most such areas is in the neighborhood of 70% relative humidity; the tobacco plant has evolved for such a climate. Thus, humidity control is the sine qua non of a humidor – without that, it’s not a humidor but a box with cigars in it. Humidors are able to maintain a relatively consistent humidity level partly because of the relatively porous wood used to line them (Spanish cedar and Honduran mahogany are popular choices for this reason).

Most humidors also, of course, have some sort of device that maintains moisture levels; some use hygrometers, which indicate interior humidity. (Digital hygrometers tend to be more accurate, though they lack the old-fashioned appeal of dial hygrometers.)

When packing your humidor, make sure you leave some room between the cigars to allow air to circulate between them. (Again, you want to avoid an airtight fit, which would promote mold. On the other hand, too much empty space will allow that all-important humidity level to drop. Check on your cigars frequently, at least once a week, to ensure that nothing needs to be adjusted). The cigars should, at best, exude a small amount of oil when stored; this is a sign that the humidor is working. Slight amounts of water can be added if cigars start to dry out.

If your cigars suffer an attack of tobacco beetles – a species of beetle that preys on tobacco and can sometimes bore through a humidor – you’ve probably been keeping the temperature in the box a touch too high (tobacco beetles flourish at temperatures over 75 degrees.) Remove the affected cigars and put them in your freezer for 48 hours, then move them to your refrigerator for another day, following which they should be safely returnable to the humidor.

Spanish-cedar humidors are a popular choice. This wood, as mentioned above, holds moisture well, maintaining humidity, and it holds an aroma many consumers find pleasant and complementary to that of the cigars themselves. It’s also slightly favored for keeping tobacco beetles out, and it doesn’t warp in high humidity.

When you buy your humidor, “season” it by applying a moist cloth to the interior wood and then leaving a small, closed container of water inside the humidor for 12 hours. If the humidor “drinks up” most of the water, leaving the container near-empty after 12 hours, repeat the process for another 24 hours. Once the water stops evaporating, the humidor is ready for your cigars!

The Basics Of Smoking

First of all, you have to understand that we are talking about quality cigars, not cigarettes – that’’s a different thing. Now, the first thing you must learn is how to light a cigar properly. Take a cigar clipper and use it cut off the section of the cigar you put to your mouth.
After cutting, you may then take a cedar match and hold the edge of the cigar to the flame. Avoid using sulfur matches as they leave a bad taste in the mouth. Also, do not allow the cigar to be in direct contact with the fire. Just hold it over the heat and draw in deeply until the cigar is well lit.
“What about lighters?” you ask. Well, as much as possible, use a wooden match to light your quality cigars. But if you must use a lighter, choose a butane lighter. Regular cigarette lighters produce a nasty odor that ruins a good cigar.
Another point to remember is to light your own quality cigars. Do not offer to light another’’s or to have someone else light you cigar for you. Offer your match or your lighter instead.
Here comes the main part of cigar smoking – and that is smoking your quality cigars! But you can”t do it any way you please. There are certain points a good smoker must follow. First, lightly hold the cigar between your thumb and your index thumb. Anything else is considered in bad taste.

A Couple of Do’’s and Don”ts Every Quality Cigars Lover Must Know

Do not rush the process of smoking. Keep a slow burn and allow yourself time to savor the taste and the aroma of your quality cigars. Smoking good quality cigars usually takes half an hour. Bigger sized quality cigars take at least an hour.
Don”t knock off the ashes of your quality cigars. Rest the cigar in an ashtray every few minutes – don”t huff and puff like a little madman! Place it in an ashtray when not being smoked, and allow the ashes to fall off naturally from the cigar. But be sure you have the right ashtray size.
Never burn your quality cigars down to a nub. Leave at least and inch or two to your cigar. Otherwise, you”ll get a bitter taste in your mouth. So how do you extinguish and discard your cigar? Allow the cigar to sit on the ashtray and it will go out by itself.

And remember, a good smoker is considerate of the people around him. So when you want to light up your quality cigars in public, make sure to ask the person beside you if he minds you lighting up one.

Experts are developing drugs that copy the active ingredients in tobacco that stimulate the brain without causing heart disease, cancer, stroke or addiction.

The move follows the discovery that nicotine can boost the intelligence and recall ability of animals in laboratory experiments.

The researchers, who present their latest findings at a brain conference today, hope that the new drugs, which will be available in five years, could have fewer side effects than existing medicines for dementia.

But they stress the new treatment would not be a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. At best it will only give patients a few extra months of independent life.

Tobacco has long been known to have a stimulating effect on the brain. Victorian doctors recommended smoking as a means of sharpening the wits and boosting concentration.

However, the deadly side effects of cancer, stroke and heart disease, mean its benefits have been neglected by medical research.

Professor Ian Stoleman, from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, has shown that nicotine can improve the performance of rats in an intelligence and memory test.

“The substances that we call drugs have, in the majority of cases, do have a mixture of beneficial and harmful effects and nicotine  no exception to this,” he said.

“When we started this work 10 years ago we didn’t think that we would find beneficial effects on cognitive performance on normal subjects.

“But we were able to find an effect in the sense of the acute administration of nicotine producing small improvements in performance of tasks in normal rats.”

His team trained rats to respond to a brief flash of light by standing in an area of a cage. If they moved to the right spot, they were rewarded with a food pellet.

After they mastered the task, the rats responded correctly around 80 per cent of the time. But after being injected with nicotine, the success rate went up 5 per cent.

The difference was much starker when the rats were distracted with loud noises. Then they got the task right 50 per cent of the time without nicotine – but 80 per cent of the time with it.

Prof Stolerman’s team have studied how nicotine alters the brain’s circuitry to boost memory and concentration – and identified some of key brain receptors and chemical messengers – such as dopamine and glutamate – that are involved.

They also found differences in the chain of events that leads to boosted brain power – and the chain of events that leads to addiction.

“We believe that by building on these differences it may be possible for medicinal chemists to devise compounds that produce some of the beneficial effects of nicotine,” he said.

The findings are being presented today at the Forum of European Neuroscience in Geneva.

Drugs companies have been working for 10 to 15 years to develop compounds based on nicotine that produce only beneficial effects. The new discoveries could lead to a new drug – based on nicotine – within “a few years”.

The size of your humidor depends on how many cigars you want to store and whether you want the humidor to travel. Consider separate humidors for use at home and away. Multiply the length, width and height of humidors to compare cubic inches, as cigar-count measurements may not reflect the actual storage of the cigars you prefer.

But if you had to extract the essentials, it would look something like this:

DO…

• Neatly trim the end of your cigar with an appropriate device.

• Hold your cigar between the thumb and index finger.

• Take time to warm the foot of the cigar slightly prior to lighting it

• Rotate the flame around the edge of the foot until it starts to burn, then puff lightly.

• Cigar smoking is a LEISURE activity, not a race — a puff a minute is about right.

• Let a cigar go out on its own, without excessive grinding in an ashtray

• Let it go out if there’s less than one quarter of its leaf remaining

• Re-light a viable cigar by scraping the ash and turning it in the flame for a moment or two until it catches again

Dispose of the dead cigar discreetly and quickly.

DON’T …

• Use a penknife to cut, a lance to pierce, or your teeth to chew off the end of the cigar

• Touch the flame directly to the foot of the cigar:

• Ask someone else for a light

• Be a show off – no one wants to see a narcissistic cigar-smoker calling attention to himself/herself with an elaborate display of cigar smoking technique or accoutrements like cigar holders.

• Put a dead cigar into your mouth and puff furiously while lighting to re-ignite it

• Don’t chew on your cigar, slobber on it, gesture with it or clench it between your teeth (unless you’re a 1930’s homicide detective)

Chain smoke.  Cigars are to be savored.

OPTIONAL

• Remove the band carefully after lighting the cigar

• Share

Humidity
At the least, keep your cigars in a tight fitting cupboard, drawer or box, away from radiators and other sources of heat. Pick the coolest indoor spot in your house. Leave the cigars in their original boxes as this will help preserve them, stop them from being damaged, and prevent any cross-tainting of flavours between different varieties of cigars stored in the same area. If the humidity in your make-shift humidor is low, a damp sponge in a cup will serve as a basic provider of humidity.
When you purchase your cigars from Tomtom, they will be packed in an airtight zip-loc bag, which will maintain the humidity of your cigars while you transport them from the shop to your humidor. These bags are a very efficient short term humidor, however we would not recommend that you leave your cigars sealed in these bags for more than one month. Although humidity will be maintained, cigars also need to be exposed to some fresh air to allow them to ‘breathe’ and age correctly.
A variety of desk-top and travel humidors can be purchased (see ‘Accessories’) and are an essential item for the dedicated cigar smoker (more information below).
Temperature
The danger of excessive temperature (combined with too much humidity) is that the cigars can either go moldy or be damaged by weavil attack. If cigars go moldy, this is generally not a problem, as long as it is spotted reasonably soon and the mould (or bloom) only appears on the wrapper leaf. The mould can be removed with a soft brush (e.g. a badger shaving brush) and then the cigar can be returned to store in the correct conditions. If mould gets into the end of the cigar, we recommend that you do not smoke it. Weavil, or tobacco beetle, is a more serious problem. If you see any small holes in your cigar, you should take immediate action. Please call Tomtom for further advice. Never store cigars near direct sunlight or for long periods exposed to sea breezes (salt will not enhance your smoke). The lower the temperature, the higher the humidity required to compensate.
Desktop Humidors
There is a very wide selection of these humidors on the market. The basic design requirements are that they are sealable (and generally lockable!), but allow the cigars to breathe. This is normally achieved by leaving the base of the box unvarnished: and no portion of the inner cedar box should be laminated. The box contains a fitting, which provides the humidity: this is normally a pad containing a sponge or chalk, which can be dampened. The box may also contain a dial showing humidity and temperature.
As a rule of thumb, the smaller the box, the harder it is to maintain a steady level of humidity within its confines. These humidors do not regulate temperature. The price range starts from about 125 for a plexi glass humidor, which will hold approximately 50 cigars to 2000 and above.  Fabulous humidors can also be created out of antique boxes which many families have inherited as writing slopes or medal cases and which have since become redundant. This is a very cost-effective way of storing your cigars in a unique and personal humidor.
Travel Humidors
Ranging in price from 100 upwards. These are not suitable for long-term storage of cigars, however they are essential if you are moving about: the wrapper leaf on a handmade cigar is very thin and delicate and will easily damage. The safest way to prevent this is to keep the cigars in their original box, in tubes or in a purpose-built travel humidor.
Cigar Cases
Generally these do not offer humidification systems built in, but will protect your cigars if you take them in your pocket for the day. There are some metal tubes with hermetically sealed screw tops that will act in the same way as a cigar tube and seal in moisture. The majority are made from leather and offer protection from damage as well as limited protection from fluctuations in humidity and temperature.
Reviving Dried-Out Cigars
This is not an exact science and not always successful. Dry cigars need to be re-humidified very slowly and with care. We suggest you try Stogies Humidors with any questions you may have regarding this.

HUMIDOR INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place a shallow container (ideally, a shot glass) filled with distilled water in a corner inside the humidor
2. Place a calibrated hygrometer inside the humidor (see instructions on calibrating your hygrometer)
3. Fill your humidifier with the activator solution. Otherwise, you can fill it with distilled water. (see instructions on charging your humidifier)
4. Let the humidifier sit for approximately 2-3 hours so that it is moist, but not soaked.
5. Place the humidifier inside the humidor

You should check the relative humidity often. Note that opening and closing the humidor will affect the relative humidity inside as it will escape if opened often. This can take up to a week or two depending on the size of the humidor. When you get in the 70 range it is safe to store you smokes inside. As long as you constantly recharge your humidification device you will never have to wait to store your cigars again.