Welcome to the Cigar_Smokers_Doghouse basic cigar accessories guide.  As you know cigar smoking involves all kinds of accessories. Getting the cigars from a physical store or the Internet is easy but to keep them in shape you will need a humidor for safekeeping and to keep them moist.  There are many different types of humidors out there today.  You can buy small travel humidors that only hold just a few cigars for the road or a more serious larger capacity humidor to keep your stock at home nice and moist.  In addition, if you are planning to store your cigars for a while you should have a humidor with a hygrometer and humidification device.  The humidification system will keep moisture present in your humidor.  I suggest distilled water as your solution.  If you want to spend a little more money you can also add some activation solution.  You should only add activation solution to your humidifier twice a year or if your humidor suffers from a sudden drop in moisture.  Also more importantly watch your hygrometer, I get best results with my cigars when I keep the humidity around 70 percent.

Cigars need to be cut or have a hole punched on the end, so a blade, punch or bullet cutter is one of the accessories you will need. There are many different types of cutters and each one provides a different twist to your cigar smoking experience, but the number one rule in using a cutting device for a cigar is to make sure the blades are sharp! There is nothing more horrible than to ruin a fine cigar because of a dull blade. Believe me, I know!

Lighting a cigar is another ritual that many cigar aficionados take very seriously. My personal favorites are the torch type lighters. You can buy different types of torch lighters, but use about what you feel most comfortable with. To me prices don’t make that much of a difference when your goal is to give your cigar a nice even burn.

Another accessory you should keep in mind are carrying cases. Carrying cases are very popular when traveling for the day or just to have a few cigars around while outdoors or playing golf. I find that leather cases are the most popular but tubes are also useful and a bit better for protecting your stick.

This is just a quick summary of some of the accessories and their functions. There are many more things out there that you can try to make your cigar smoking experience a pleasant one.

If you are new at this hobby I recommend you read about it. There are many books, magazines and Internet web sites that offer a lot of information regarding accessories and cigars that are available for our enjoyment. Remember cigar smoking should be fun so if you find yourself taking this hobby too seriously you may just find yourself in the Doghouse like me! Now you know why I named my store what I did! Enjoy!