Everything you need to buy, keep, and enjoy a fine cigar with confidence — written by the people who stock the humidor.
Guide 01
How to Choose Your First Cigar
There is no wrong first cigar — only one that suits where you are today. Three things decide it: strength, size, and wrapper.
Strength: start low, climb slow
Strength is the intensity of the tobacco, not the flavour. A mild cigar can be wonderfully complex; a full cigar smoked too early can put you off for a year. Cigars are commonly graded mild → medium → full, and the honest advice is simple: begin at mild-to-medium and let your palate tell you when to move up.
Mild-Medium: smooth, creamy, forgiving — think Joya de Nicaragua Clásico or Perdomo Champagne.
Medium: the sweet spot for most people — Oliva Serie G, Flor de Las Antillas.
Full: rich, bold, best after a meal — Liga Privada, Le Bijou 1922. Earn these.
Size: it’s about time, not ego
A cigar’s vitola (its shape and size) mostly decides how long you’ll be smoking. A Robusto gives you a relaxed 45–60 minutes and is the classic first pick. A Toro runs closer to an hour and a quarter; a Churchill or Gordo is an evening commitment. Thicker ring gauges also smoke cooler and a touch milder.
Wrapper: the colour tells a story
The outer leaf contributes a surprising share of the flavour. Lighter Connecticut-shade wrappers lean creamy and gentle; reddish-brown Habano wrappers bring spice; dark Maduro wrappers add sweetness, cocoa, and coffee. When in doubt, medium-brown is the middle of the road.
MAD TIP — cut less than you think (just above the shoulder), toast the foot before you puff, and don’t inhale. A cigar is tasted, not breathed.
One rule governs every good pairing: match intensity. Neither the glass nor the cigar should shout the other down.
A delicate cigar disappears next to a heavily peated Scotch, and a Liga Privada will flatten a light blended whisky. Start by matching weight class, then look for flavours that either echo each other (cocoa maduro + dark rum) or contrast pleasantly (peppery Habano + honeyed bourbon).
Three pairings from our humidor
Mild & bright: Joya de Nicaragua Clásico with an Irish whiskey or a light highball — clean, creamy, easy.
Medium-full & balanced: Oliva Serie V Melanio with a good bourbon — the cigar’s caramel meets the barrel’s vanilla.
Full & after dark: Liga Privada No. 9 with an aged dark rum or an Islay Scotch — espresso, earth, and smoke trading places.
No whisky? Strong coffee is the most underrated cigar companion there is, and sparkling water resets the palate between thirds.
MAD TIP — take a sip, wait, then draw. Tasting them in sequence rather than together is how you actually notice the pairing working.
A cigar is a living thing. Kept at the right humidity it improves with age; left on a shelf it dies in a week.
The target is 65–72% relative humidity at room temperature — we keep our humidor at a steady 70%. Too dry and the oils evaporate, the wrapper cracks, and the smoke turns hot and bitter. Too wet and the draw tightens, the burn wanders, and mould becomes a risk.
Your options, in order of effort
A humidity pouch or tupperdor: an airtight container plus a two-way humidity pack (Boveda 69% is the standard). Near-zero effort, works for months — perfect for your first boxes.
A desktop humidor: season it first (wipe the cedar with distilled water and let it stabilise for a few days), then trust a digital hygrometer over the analog dial it came with.
Travel: never loose in a bag — a two-cigar travel case pays for itself the first time it saves a wrapper.
Reading a cigar’s condition
Gently pinch near the foot: it should give slightly and spring back. Crackling sounds mean it’s dry (rest it beside a humidity pack for a couple of weeks — don’t rush it); a spongy feel means it’s over-humidified and needs a few dry days.
MAD TIP — every order leaves our humidor at 70% and ships with freshness in mind — so the clock only starts when the box reaches your door.