Sans the Band

First_Warrior

I was talking to a NA elder last year and he gave me a bit of advice about enjoying a cigar. He always removes the band before uncapping and lighting. I asked why and he told me that the band is advertising and he found it distracting as he smoked. I don't remove the band with every stick but I am doing it more and more. Just hefting the the lit unbanded cigar in my hand allows me to better appreciate the shape,color, and way the cigar was rolled.

peter4jc

For sure, tobacco feels better in hand than a paper band.

Diver43

A wise man indeed

rsherman24

I agree, but sometimes I forget what I am smoking so I have to check the band

Yakster

I don't like to remove the band early in case a glob of cigar glue tears the wrapper off with the band. I usually wait until the burn line is close to the band, the heat from the cherry helps loosen the cigar glue and if I do tear the wrapper the tear will be closer to the burn line at this point and I can usually smoke past it.

dirtdude

^^Agree^^ but a well built cigar is way prettier naked.

ShawnOL

@dirtdude said:
^^Agree^^ but a well built woman is way prettier naked.

FIFY

First_Warrior

I remove the advertising on my smokes about half the time. I keep a little jar of pectin and some tooth picks so I can put a small drop if I have a fractured wrapper. I think there is way to much in your face advertising everywhere and if I can get away from it while enjoying a smoke I will. Some cigars have two adds and the trend seems to adding more. Where's the tobacco? Under the advertising.

Vision

I keep the badges on my car, the Nike Swoosh stays on my kicks, and the lit Apple logo on my computer is uncovered. Most of the time I smoke alone and put zero thought into the band (unless the size literally impedes on the smoking process). I’ve been a part of some blind tastings from @Trident Leaf and Libations (which I highly recommend) and some locally. Bands to me don’t change the flavor profile or enjoyment (unless you smoke to the band) so I guess a band on or off changed my experience zero. I dunno... my two cents.

Edit: I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s just leaves rolled up into a mostly cylindrical shape meant to be enjoyed for its flavor, but any way you enjoy a cigar.... I hope you’re enjoying the cigar for the time you get to spend with said cigar. They should always be enjoyed.

First_Warrior

Actually I like the design on some of the bands. Metallic colors, geometric logos and alike. I always keep the band handy while I smoke. I just find those brightly colored bits of adds a distraction if left on my stick.

YankeeMan

I save my bands and I find they come off better after the cigar is smoked down some, they don't rear as much.

Bob_Luken

I don't have a firm policy on when and or why I remove the bands, but I try to avoid both ends of the spectrum. I recently left one on too long and smoked part of a band,... yuck. And I have sometimes absentmindedly removed bands early only to have the glue tear the wrapper,... yuck. But usually, I'm careful to watch for a band that sticks too well, and I'll make myself wait, hopefully long enough to heat up the glue and get it to release without tearing. But some brand's bands are notorious for their glue. Romacraft Neanderthal and Cro-Magnons never peel off cleanly. Best you can do is slide them off over the head or give up and rip them apart. Luckily they are seldom stuck to the wrapper but if you like to save wrappers, these are frustrating.

Yakster

Bob and I have a project on the back burner to make removing cigar bands easier. I think it's so far on the back burner that we've forgotten it, but someday this will be so simple.

I also have a project on the back burner to commission a cutting laser ash trimmer to allow you to trim the ash off the end of the cigar leaving just enough to ensure a cool smoke. It'll be fantastic, but I worry about the safety ramifications of such a device in the hands of drunken cigar smokers so it may never see the light of day.

deadman

I generally smoke alone so I’m not worried about advertising to myself.

ShawnOL

I don't think about the band after I light up. I take it off when I smoke down to it. I usually don't forget to remove the band, but sometimes I do and the cigar will go out when it gets to it.

Yakster

@Yakster said:
Bob and I have a project on the back burner to make removing cigar bands easier. I think it's so far on the back burner that we've forgotten it, but someday this will be so simple.

I also have a project on the back burner to commission a cutting laser ash trimmer to allow you to trim the ash off the end of the cigar leaving just enough to ensure a cool smoke. It'll be fantastic, but I worry about the safety ramifications of such a device in the hands of drunken cigar smokers so it may never see the light of day.

Does anyone have a hot knife used for cutting Styrofoam? How well does that work at trimming the ash and evening up the burning edge of the cigar I wonder?

VegasFrank

I think that the key to cutting an ash off while still leaving part of it on is that the cigar has to be resting on the surface of something. To me it's sort of like cutting bread with a bread knife. Works pretty well when the bread is on the counter, when the bread is in the air and not grounded, it's a lot more difficult. I would think that you could do it if you set the cigar on the rim of that Camacho ashtray of yours, and took a regular pocket knife to it @Yakster.

Yakster

Thanks @VegasFrank, I'll give that a try.

Bob_Luken

The hot knife idea is a dead end in my opinion. It's been decades, (Like 30 plus a few years), I cut large sheets of styrofoam with a long thin wire hot knife set up on a table similar action to a cut off saw, or chop saw. The styro was melted (more so than cut) in a medium-quick cut, you couldn't go slow or it would catch fire or melt. Since ash on a cigar has already been burned, a hot knife would provide no cutting action.

Vision

What about a wire cheese cutter?

Bob_Luken

@Vision said:
What about a wire cheese cutter?

That would work as poorly as a hot knife. The problem was well identified by Franklin De Las Vegas's metaphor about slicing bread. but, I'll phrase it another way,......How do you stabilize a supremely brittle and especially lightweight structure well enough to precisely cut through it, without it falling apart?

Vision

@Bob_Luken said:

@Vision said:
What about a wire cheese cutter?

That would work as poorly as a hot knife. The problem was well identified by Franklin De Las Vegas's metaphor about slicing bread. but, I'll phrase it another way,......How do you stabilize a supremely brittle and especially lightweight structure well enough to precisely cut through it, without it falling apart?

....By flicking it off after a nice long draw?

Vision

Or LASER?

Yakster

How about a section of an aluminum cigar tube slipped over the end as a cutting guide?

IndustMech

@Yakster said:
How about a section of an aluminum cigar tube slipped over the end as a cutting guide?

The tube could cut in half, lengthwise

deadman

d_blades

Rolling the ash off seems to work for me and no tools required, ashholes.

Yakster

Ok, Dave, but the idea here is to trim the ash and leave say 1/2” of ash left on the cigar to help the burn instead of knocking off the ash completely. Mostly just a thought experiment, but I’ve got some ideas I may try to put in practice.

silvermouse

Ashes are a good insulator. It takes a lot of time to light a cigar through 1/2" of ashes, I usually knock the ashes off before lighting. Anyway, maybe a very thin bone saw blade would work:

rsherman24

Just Ricky that ash. @Rhamlin

YankeeMan

@deadman said:

You know my Uncle Guido!