Learn ›
Learn · Reading a CigarThe Nub
The nub is the last inch or two of a cigar... the hottest, strongest, most concentrated stretch, and the point where plenty of good smokes turn bitter.
What's happening
A cigar works like its own filter. Every puff drags smoke through the unburned tobacco ahead of it, and that tobacco collects tars, oils, and moisture as it goes. By the final third you're smoking the leaf that's been catching everything the first two thirds sent downstream. Add an ember sitting an inch from your lips, so the smoke arrives hotter, and the math is simple: more concentration, more heat, more bite.
The same filtering concentrates nicotine, which is part of why the end of a cigar reads stronger than the start... the leaf itself didn't change, the accumulation did.
How to handle it
- Slow down. Heat is the main villain at the nub. Longer gaps between puffs keep the ember cooler and hold the bitterness off longer.
- Purge it. Blowing gently out through the cigar pushes out stale smoke and some of the built-up tars. A purge can buy a fading cigar a little more pleasant time... it lives in the burn issues glossary with the rest of the repair moves.
- Spot-check it. A quick retrohale tells you whether there's still aroma detail left or it's gone acrid across the board.
- Let it go when it's done. A cigar that has turned doesn't turn back for long. When every puff needs managing, the cigar is telling you it's finished.
Badge of toughness, or judgment call
Nubbing... smoking a cigar down until it's burning your fingertips... gets treated like proof you respected the cigar. The real read is simpler. Nubbing a great cigar means the flavor held to the end. Putting down a cigar that turned means your palate did its job. Both are correct calls.
This site works the same way. The WSA review of the Perdomo Double Aged 12 Year Sun Grown Epicure put it down midway through the final third as the bitterness kept building, and rated it a Not Even Free (1/4). No cigar earns a finish out of politeness. When it's done, it's done.