Everything You Need to Know About Cigar Ash

Far from being a mere useless residue, ash plays an important role in cigar tasting. It is also full of information about a cigar’s flavor profile and how it was made. When you enjoy a cigar, it is therefore important to take the time to analyze the shape, structure, and color of its ash in order to extract as much information as possible.

What is ash?

When you light a cigar, combustion transforms the organic (or carbon-based) substances present in the tobacco into smoke, while releasing all the aromas of your vitola. Non-organic substances such as oxides, calcium bicarbonates, potassium, silicon, phosphorus, and zinc are incombustible and form the ash of your cigars.

The influence of ash on the burn of your cigars

Beyond all the fascinating information ash can reveal about the terroir and the manufacturing method of your cigars, it is important to keep in mind that ash above all plays a leading role in the enjoyment of your cigars. Ash has a major influence on how a cigar burns. 

Good-quality, firm ash helps limit the flow of oxygen at the foot of the cigar and therefore reduce the combustion temperature within it. The lower the combustion temperature, the more pleasant and flavorful your cigar smoke will be. Conversely, brittle ash that is too short will raise the combustion temperature of your cigar and therefore compromise its proper enjoyment.

Good-quality cigars should therefore produce ash 2 to 3 centimeters long before it falls. Ash shorter than this will tend to warm up your cigar and lead to a stronger smoke that feels harsher on the palate. Conversely, ash longer than 3 cm will not allow proper oxygenation at the combustion point, which may impair the draw of your vitola.

What ash reveals about a cigar’s craftsmanship quality

The structure and shape of ash are closely linked to the method used by the torcedor when rolling your cigars. 

Each cigar is made up of a wrapper leaf, a binder and a blend of tobaccos called the filler. For the filler to provide the best possible balance of aromas, flavors and burn, it must contain three types of leaves: volado, seco and ligero. Volado is the tobacco leaf located at the base of the plant. It contains very few aromas but offers excellent burn. Seco, meanwhile, is found on the middle part of a tobacco plant. It burns less readily but offers a broad aromatic range. Finally, ligero is the tobacco leaf located at the top of a plant. This type of leaf burns poorly because of its high nicotine and sugar content, but it adds strength to your cigar.

An ideally rolled cigar should therefore have a filler that contains these three types of leaves, but that is not all! These leaves must also be placed in a very specific order in order to ensure an even burn for your cigar. The ligero must be placed at the center of the filler (where the combustion temperature is highest), the seco in the middle and the volado on the outside. This type of rolling ensures a regular burn, which will take the form of a cone-shaped ash.

If this sequence is not respected by the torcedor, different irregularities can appear during combustion. There are two main types of irregularities directly attributable to the torcedor: canoeing and tunneling.

Canoeing refers to ash that develops on only one side. It appears when the torcedor has not correctly placed the ligero leaf at the center of the cigar. The closer the ligero leaf is to the outside, the more pronounced the “canoe effect” will be. Tunneling, on the other hand, appears as a spoon-shaped ash. This central cavity occurs when the torcedor places a volado leaf in the center of the filler and a ligero leaf as the wrapper.

What Ash Reveals About the Quality of the Tobacco Used

In addition to its shape and structure, the color of the ash is also an indicator of the quality of a cigar. As a general rule, a good-quality cigar should produce white or light gray ash. But why is that?

The aromatic profile of a cigar depends on the plant variety used, but also on the nutrient content of the soil in which the tobacco grew. A nutrient-rich soil must therefore contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The richer the soil in nutrients in which a tobacco plant has been grown, the richer and more flavorful the aromatic range your cigar will offer. A white or light ash is an indicator of tobacco rich in nutrients. Conversely, black or darker ash is synonymous with lower-quality tobacco.

White spots on a cigar’s ash

It sometimes happens that a cigar’s ash reveals small white spots. Contrary to what many smokers think, these are not beetle eggs. White spots can indeed appear on your cigar’s ash when it is wrapped in a leaf with toothy veins. During combustion, each “tooth” or small bump turns into white specks. 

These spots may also correspond to mineral deposits caused by tobacco that is particularly rich in magnesium, or to crystallization of a cigar’s oils, which can occur after a period of aging. In either case, these spots are by no means a sign of a poor-quality cigar. More rarely, these spots can be caused by mold. In that case, it is advisable not to continue smoking your cigar. 

While the way a cigar is rolled has a major impact on the quality of its ash, it should still be remembered that the way you smoke your cigar also matters. Even the best-quality cigar will not produce a firm ash if you do not smoke it properly. Be sure to draw lightly and evenly on the head so as to obtain a long-lasting ash. It is also advisable to puff on your cigar at regular intervals of about one puff per minute.