Cigars Are Not Cigarettes
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is treating a cigar like a cigarette. While both involve tobacco, they are fundamentally different experiences. Cigarettes are designed for inhalation, using processed tobacco and chemical additives that allow the smoke to be drawn into the lungs more easily.
Cigars, on the other hand, are made from whole-leaf tobacco. They are thicker, denser, and far more potent. The smoke is richer, heavier, and packed with natural oils and nicotine. Inhaling that smoke isn’t just unnecessary—it’s uncomfortable and overwhelming.
Nicotine Strength: The Main Reason Not to Inhale
Cigars contain significantly more nicotine than cigarettes. Even a small cigar can deliver more nicotine than several cigarettes combined. When you inhale cigar smoke, that nicotine hits your bloodstream extremely fast.
The result? Dizziness, nausea, cold sweats, hiccups, and an overall unpleasant experience often referred to as “nicotine sickness.” Enjoying a cigar should feel relaxing and indulgent—not like you need to lie down afterward.
By keeping the smoke in your mouth instead of your lungs, nicotine is absorbed slowly through the oral tissues, giving you control over the experience without overwhelming your body.
Flavor Lives in the Mouth, Not the Lungs
Cigars are about flavor, aroma, and complexity. Notes of cedar, leather, cocoa, spice, earth, and sweetness are meant to be tasted on the palate, not inhaled into the lungs.
Your taste buds and olfactory senses work together when you gently draw smoke into your mouth and let it linger. Retrohaling—pushing a small amount of smoke through the nose—can enhance aroma without inhaling into the lungs.
Inhaling bypasses most of this sensory experience and replaces it with harshness. Simply put, you lose what makes cigars special.
Cigar Smoke Is Thicker and Hotter
Because cigars burn at a higher temperature and produce thicker smoke, inhaling can irritate the throat and lungs. The smoke isn’t filtered, cooled, or diluted the way cigarette smoke often is. <
Leave a comment