Cigar Ashtrays

In this day and age where everything seems to be captured on film, you sometimes have to be careful when and where you light up. Particularly if you're a sports team coming off a game which caused your fans to shout, curse, and throw things at the wall in frustration.

That's what happened to the English soccer team at this year's World Cup. After being defeated by Germany in the Knockout Round, several players unwound by smoking cigars in the hotel, as well as drinking beer and generally seeming to have a good time. If you're not a soccer fan, consoling yourself with a top-shelf cigar might seem like an acceptable way to commemorate the end of the campaign.

Unfortunately for them, English soccer fans are not that forgiving. Many would have rather seen them cleaning cigar ashtrays with their tongues rather than enjoying them, so when a picture snapped on a cellphone got out, the players got lambasted.

In hindsight, that may be understandable. Most of us associate cigars with celebration, and for England, nothing less than a World Cup championship would be worth something like the Padron Serie 1926-9 Natural Toro.

I spend a lot of time grilling, and like many folks I know I enjoy drinking a beer and puffing on a cigar while I do so. When it's just me and the family, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about the ashtray -- I'll dump the ashes in whatever is handy. But if I'm cooking for others, especially non-smokers, I want to keep an ashtray ostentatiously on hand to allay fears that I'm inadvertently flavoring their meat with smoked tobacco.

You can buy outdoor ashtrays, but I don't like how those look and don't need them often enough to have to stare at them out my window. Instead, I move one of my Xikar Havana Collection Black Ceramic Ashtrays right by the grill, and place it on the side table that's opposite of where the meat is.
 
Here's why that works: It's a beautiful ashtray, so it looks snazzy out there. It's dark, so it hides the cigar and the ashes for those who are a bit squeamish about my smoking around the grill. And it easily holds all the ashes, so none come close to the food. Although, to be frank, I'm sure I could learn a lot about flavoring my steaks by taking a lesson from the care that cigar manufacturers take in constructing their top-shelf cigars.

I enjoy buying gifts for friends and colleagues who are new converts to the cigar smoking realm. Not only are they usually eager to try new cigars, I'm also less worried about giving them something they already have or don't need. It takes away some of the pressure that comes from trying to find a gift for the cigar smoker who has everything.
 
For example, I like the Top Leaf Humidor Gift set. For about $60, the lucky recipient gets a humidor, an ashtray, a leather cigar case and a cigar cutter. That's a one-stop shopping trip that offers everything a new smoker needs to care for and enjoy their cigars.
 
Of course, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't get them something to put in the humidor, would I? That's where a cigar sampler comes in. Something like the 10 Most Wanted Sampler, or the 12 for the Road Sampler offer hours of enjoyment and are big hits with everyone I've given them to. The combination has always been appreciated, and it's a low-stress and low cost way of taking care of my cigar-loving friends.

If you are buying cigars for a wedding, you can go
in two different directions. You can be egalitarian
and purchase enough for everyone, or make it more of an
honorific and just take care of the wedding party.

If you plan on giving cigars as a wedding favor, go with something like a Baccarat cigar. These are mild enough that a casual smoker will approve, and cheap enough that you won't start to seethe when guests take a couple of puffs and then snuff them out.

On the other hand, if you're buying cigars for the groomsmen and honored guests only, you have to go with something more elite. How about the Padron Serie 1926-9 Natural Toro? It was named Cigar of the Year in 2007, and is truly one of the finest cigars available.

Also, make sure you have cigar cutters on-hand, as well as enough cigar lighters and ashtrays for everyone to use. That way, everyone will get to enjoy a great smoke to go with the rest of the celebration.

Washington D.C. seems to be the allergy capital of the world, and I share a house with a wife and two children who suffer from allergies, asthma or both. As such I'm pretty sensitive as to how and where I smoke my cigars, as it doesn't take much to cause irritation, particularly in prime hay fever season. That's part of the reason I have a large collectin of Cigar Ashtrays, which helps keep the smell contained.

That's also why I'm such a big fan of the Lampe Berger Essential Square Set. It leaves wherever I’m smoking smelling fresh and clean, even after a roomful of poker players have been smoking for hours. It’s easy to manage, lasts up to 250 uses, and is a huge relief both to my allergy-suffering family and to those visitors who are sensitive to the odor of cigar smoke. It’s been a great addition to my study, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

It seems hard to believe given the long-time associated between cigars and golf, but a growing number of courses are banning smoking while on the premises. Part of that is because of the anti-smoking forces that are particularly active in some areas, but it also may be because not everyone is a courteous smoker on the course.
 
For example, when I was on the course recently, a group ahead of us was apparently puffing away throughout their 18 holes, because we found ash around every green and butts around several of them (and actually on the green twice). Not only is that rude, but it also messed up a couple of my putts. Or at least, that’s my excuse. Dispose of your ashes in a way that doesn’t use the greens, sand traps, or fairway as nature’s own cigar ashtray, and you’ll make the people in charge of maintaining the course, as well as your fellow golfers, much happier. Cigar ashtrays are your friends.
 
Also, if you’re sharing a cart with a stranger, ask if they mind you smoking cigars before lighting up. If they strenuously object, it will be worth the added expense to pay for your own cart and ride alone. Trust me on that one. I’ve learned from sad experience.
 
Make things easy on your fellow smokers, and don’t do anything that would encourage someone to throw up their hands and smoking cigars entirely. And if you see a less courteous cigar-smoker violate these suggestions, you might want to gently encourage them to smoke in a way that won’t affect their fellow golfers.

 

Any cigar review will talk about the basics -- what the wrapper is, how it was constructed, and all about the smoking experience. But for me, one of the underrated aspects of cigars that I need to know about before I buy (especially in bulk) is the smell of the smoke.

There's a simple reason for that: I have a wife and child both of whom are non-smokers with sensitive noses. If I'm around cigarette smoke at work, the first thing I have to do when I get home is change my clothes and toss them in the wash. So I like to make sure that whatever odors I’m going to carry with me when I smoke are ones that won’t offend.

Arturo Fuente Cigars tend to draw positive feedback, even among the non-smokers in my life. So does the Thompson Cameroon, which is both a great smoke and an incredible value. With either, I’m very unlikely to be greeted with a frown and a wrinkled nose by the rest of the family, which helps make my nightly cigar more enjoyable.

It’s also why I like the Xikar Havana Collection Black Ceramic ashtray, which does the job of keeping my ashes from spreading around and makes it easy to dispose of them at the end of the night.

While the most treasured cigar ashtrays are probably the ones that a child made for you in art class or in summer camp once upon a time, when smoking was more accepted and children still made them in arts and crafts, these days you have to consider both form and function when deciding which ashtray to use in a particular setting.

I love the Xikar Ceramic cigar ashtrays. The one I use is the Xikar Havana Collection Black Ceramic model, for a number of reasons. I like how the four grooves that serve as a cigar holder to help keep my cigar from falling into the ash bin before its time, and it looks stylish. 
 
It might not be lovingly made by a grade-schooler, but it gets the job done by keeping my cigar fresh and the ash away. Can’t ask for too much more than that.

For many, fine cigars are just as big a part of a poker game as the chips and the profanity that greets a particularly bad beat.
Heck, Phil Ivey was just on the cover of Cigar Aficionado. But in many casinos, you’re not allowed to smoke any more because of rules against taking a puff indoors.

However, that doesn’t apply to poker nights at your house or at a friend’s. For me, it isn’t a game of cards if I’m not smoking a cigar – if for no other reason than it gives me another variable to watch while searching for my opponents’ tells.

People who are otherwise pretty good with the poker face aren’t as solid when holding an Arturo Fuente Hemingway or a Padron cigar. Watching how they smoke – and when they stop – is worth more than the price of a couple of cigars per person on the night.

There’s more to cigar smoking that just providing the smokes. In particular, you need a lot of cigar ashtrays, lest people spill ash on the green felt on the table or use your good beer glasses to put out their smokes. Forgetting that step is a good way to ensure that it’ll be a battle before your spouse doesn’t make a fuss when poker night is at your place.

It's probably not a huge surprise that I am a giant fan of cigars; all cigars, I try my hardest not to discriminate (although Rocky Patel will always have a very special place in my heart!). If you asked my colleagues when I started smoking, they would probably guess that I started smoking when I started here at Thompson Cigar, however how wrong they are! I started smoking a little over 10 years ago (working here for three) so I've been buying cigars for quite some time. With all of that said, I know what it's like to crave a great cigar but not the high price tags. This is where the Thompson Cigar Auction comes into play, saving you boatloads of cash.

The Cigar Auction site is your one stop online auction where you can bid on all of your favorite cigars, humidors, cigar memorabilia, cigar accessories, and more for great deals you can't find anywhere else! Most cigar auctions start at just $1.00 and inventory turns quickly as there are literally thousands of cigars and cigar products just waiting for your bid! Shop top of the line smokes, cigar lighters, ashtrays, humidors and humidor accessories, and so much more - and get them all at the price you want! To start bidding now, register here.