You’ve only just begun and you’re already in a quandary. Where to cut? Well, first of all, you are cutting the uncut portion of the cigar – the head. The basic rule of thumb is to cut just past the shoulder (where the cigar stops being round). A half-inch in (or 1.5 cm) usually does it, but that measure isn’t a universal guideline because of the various shapes in which a cigar may manifest itself. That’s why we’ve created this handy-dandy where-to-cut-depending-on-the-shape-of-your-cigar guide.

Handy-Dandy Where-to-Cut-Depending-on-the-Shape-of-Your-Cigar Guide

Cigar heads come in three basic shapes: Round, torpedo and pyramid. Follow the graphic guidelines here when cutting each of these shapes. You’ll notice that in the case of a torpedo, you can’t cut it behind the shoulder because the head of the cigar inclines too gradually (you’d lose too much cigar!). And, although a pyramid straightens itself out much more quickly, in this instance you should cut it slightly before you pass the shoulder.


The Torpedo Cigar


The Round Cigar

Now, it’s on to the actual cutting.

There are three basic methods for cutting your cigar (owing to the fact that there are three kinds of instruments).

The guillotine cut takes the technology responsible for separating many a French nobleman (circa 1792) from his head and applies it to your cigar. When purchasing your guillotine cutter, you can either select the cheaper one-blade guillotine or the more expensive two-blade guillotine. The two-blade is the better choice if you want a cleaner cut. The one-blade is preferred if you want to spend less money; however, you may have an inferior cut because the single blade sometimes has an annoying habit of smushing (that's the technical term) one side of your cigar head.

Guillotine Cutter (single blade)

The Cat-Eye cutter (or V-cutter) offers its own unique benefit. This cutter places a V-shaped notch in your cigar tip when it makes the cut. This is sometimes desirable because the V gives you more surface area without exposing your tongue to loose tobacco (which you would need to continuously spit from your mouth - not terribly suave or sexy). Increased surface area is desirable because it allows you to draw more air through the cigar. The V-cutter is generally only used for smaller ring cigars.

V-cutter

Cigar Scissors are the third  cutting method. "Oh, dandy," you say, "I’ve got a pair of those in my desk drawer!" Not so, we respond. Cigar-cutting scissors are specifically manufactured for the purpose of snipping cigars only. Forged from high-precision surgical-quality stainless steel, they are your optimum choice for a cigar cutter. Small, pocket-sized versions are commonly available.

Cigar Scissors

Last . . . the "bullet" or "punch" device . . . cuts a perfect round hole in the head and that seems to work for many. Sorry but we don't have a picture to show you right now.  If you are a punch cutter and you have a picture please send it to us and we will post it here.