cigars..to pierce or cut ?

[charles]

There's no contest I know, I know - cutting is best for many reasons BUT.. antique silver piercers are very collectable and if the cigar is of a shorter length then there isn't that much build up of tar/heat etc around the internal end of the cigar that's usually cited as the argument against piercing. Plus there isn't much of a chance of damaging a cigar with a piercer but with a cutter there's plenty of scope. What do loungers think ?

[Melcombe]

Many years ago when trying to give up cigarettes, I treated myself to a small cigar from Davidoffs (then opposite where I was working) and confirmed to the very solicitous gent selling it to me that, yes, I would be smoking it now.

He expertly guillotined my cigar and lit my somewhat pricey stogie while I asked the same question as I'd heard that piercing makes the cigar last longer (I suppose on account of the lower rate of air passing through /combusting the business end when sucked.

Im sure he paled slightly, and it wasn't just the rush of nicotine through my eyeballs.

He politely indicated that piercing was only for very low quality cigars to stop them unravelling.

There it is. I not only gave up cigarettes but cigars too. And alcohol. And just about everything else...

A decent pair of trousers in a good cloth, now and again, is my only solace!

[davidhuh]

There's no contest I know, I know - cutting is best for many reasons BUT.. antique silver piercers are very collectable and if the cigar is of a shorter length then there isn't that much build up of tar/heat etc around the internal end of the cigar that's usually cited as the argument against piercing. Plus there isn't much of a chance of damaging a cigar with a piercer but with a cutter there's plenty of scope. What do loungers think ?

Dear Charles,

I have never pierced a cigar. Some people believe that piercing would help the air flow better. That may be an issue with a not-so-well-made cigar

To prevent damaging with a cutter, Cuban friends told me to wet the cigar before cutting - which I do when a cut my own But with a well stored cigar, this should not be a big issue either. And if you are fascinated by antique silver piercers, nothing speaks against collecting them

Cheers, David

[couch]

I don't smoke, so am not steeped in the nuances and history of this question. I was just rewatching an episode of the Granada Brideshead Revisited this weekend, in which the rich but unsophisticated Rex Mottram is attempting to extricate young Sebastian and Charles from jail after they'd been arrested for reckless driving while inebriated. While speaking soothingly to the desk officer on duty, Mottram is slowly and carefully piercing a (presumably excellent) cigar, which he offers, as a kind of symbolic bribe, to the policeman—who cheerfully accepts the cigar but ignores the attempt at influence.

This thread makes me wonder whether that's a bit of characterization--that Mottram would pierce a fine cigar when a more cultivated man would cut it. I'll have to look out whether the more sophisticated cigar smokers in the series cut theirs. This part of the series is set in the 1920s, so perhaps piercing was more usual then and there's no special significance to Mottram's act--but it would be consistent with the quality of the series (and perhaps Waugh mentions it in the book, though I don't recall) for this little detail to be intentionally revealing of Mottram's character.

Opinions?