Whether you are on a last minute road trip or camping in the great outdoors, you may have remembered to bring your favorite cigars only to discover that you forgot your cutter. With no cigar stores nearby, you suddenly have a big problem, especially when you feel the strong urge to light up and relax.
(Freeimages / tatlin)
If you find yourself in this scenario, all is not lost. Although you may not be able to cut your cigar in the traditional way, there are other ways of clipping your cigar when you are left without a cutter.
A Pocket Knife
Many people carry a pocket knife wherever they go because it can prove handy in dire situations where you need a simple tool to accomplish a task. If you are one of these people, you can use your handy dandy pocket knife to cut your cigar. To cut your cigar, hold the head firmly using one hand. Holding the knife with the other hand, place the blade of the knife about 1/16th of an inch from the top of the cap. Turn the cigar slowly, following the direction of the wrapper until the cap begins to pop off at about ¾ of the way around. If you don’t want to do it this way and your knife is very sharp, you can always place the cigar on a hard surface and slice its cap off the same way you would slice bread.
Your Thumbnail
Cutting the cigar using your thumbnail is a lot cleaner than biting it off, and you won’t get a lot of tobacco in your mouth during the process. Use the corner tip of your thumbnail, no matter how short it is, to slowly cut around the cigar. Once you have established a groove around the cigar, keep on going until it is finally cut away from the rest of the cigar.
A Pointed Tool
If you are in the middle of nowhere, find a sharp, pointed tool, a small screw, or even a small twig. Using the pointed object, punch the head of the cigar, and you are ready to light it up. You can improvise here; sharp shells on the beach or a broken piece of glass on the ground can work. Whatever you use, though, make sure not to make the hole too deep.
Use Your Teeth
Avoid doing this if you have other options to cut your cigar. If you don’t have a knife or a sharp, pointed object available, you may be left with no choice but to simply bite the head off of your cigar. Just bite hard at the spot where you normally put your cigar cutter and pull away. If you haven’t done this before, be ready to have slivers of tobacco in your mouth after removing the cap.
If you are very eager to smoke your cigar but there is no cutter around, you have to resourceful and creative enough to find a way to light up. With a little bit of ingenuity and an everyday object or two, you can cut your cigar and have it ready for a relaxing smoking experience no matter your circumstance.
