Xikar XO Cutter Review (Gunmetal)
Verdict: Buy Again... it walked in four months ago and retired every other cutter I own. My wife gave me this for my birthday back in March, and I don't think I've cut a single cigar with anything else since... and I've got a half dozen other cutters sitting right there, some cheap, some not. It's not that she'd care if I used something else. It's that I don't want to.
The Setup
- What it is: Xikar's XO double-guillotine... aluminum body, spring-loaded release, and a planetary gear system that drives both blades together. Cuts up to a 64 ring gauge
- Finish: gunmetal (also comes in black, bronze, blue... no brass, and we'll get to that)
- Street price: $99.99 list, and you'll commonly find it in the $85-100 range
- How I got it: birthday gift from my wife in March... so not my own money, but nobody in the industry sent it either. Judged like I paid street for it
- In service: four months, averaging three to four cigars a week... every single one through this cutter
The Gears Are the Whole Point
The XO is a geared cutter, and that's the feature that sold me. Push one side and the other side moves the exact same amount, at the exact same rate, every time. Regular double guillotines... spring-loaded or not... almost always have one side looser than the other, so you push and one blade moves while the other lags. Does that actually change the cut? Probably not. Does it bug me every single time? Absolutely. The XO's synchronized action is the kind of thing that sounds like marketing until you feel it... then every other cutter feels sloppy.
Four months and maybe 60-some cigars in, the blades cut exactly like they did on day one. No tearing, no crushing, clean every time. And Xikar backs it with their lifetime warranty... if the blades ever do give out, they'll ship you back a sharp one. Between the aluminum body and that warranty, this is a buy-once tool.
In the Hand and In the Pocket
The aluminum hits a sweet spot... enough weight that it feels planted in your hand mid-cut, thin and light enough to disappear into a jeans pocket for a few hours. Gym shorts, you'll notice it. Jeans, you won't. I don't carry a cutter daily anyway... it comes along when a cigar is the plan... and for that it travels fine.
Closed, it's tight as a drum. No rattle, no play. And honestly, it looks the part... this is the cutter people pick up off the table and turn over in their hands.
What I'd Change
The open-blade rattle. Closed, it's a vault. Open, the blades have a little play... shake it and you'll hear it. Nothing to do with cut quality, but on a $100 tool I notice.
The plastic release button. The blade-release button is plastic on an otherwise all-metal tool. That cannot have saved them much money, and it's the one spot where the XO feels less than premium.
No brass option. Personal preference, but I love how brass feels and how it wears in over years... and this is exactly the kind of long-term, buy-once piece where a brass version for a little more money would be an instant upgrade for me. Gunmetal's handsome. Brass would be mine.
The thickness makes you pay attention. The body is deep enough that the cigar sits recessed, and you can't see the back side well... this is not a cutter you lay flat on a table as a depth gauge and clip against. Do that and you'll take way too much off. You've got to place the cigar, feel the blades touch, check your spot, then cut. Ten seconds of attention, every time. Worth building the habit before you learn it on a good stick.
Four Months In
Too early for a real durability verdict... though four months is a full lifetime for some cutters... but the early returns are strong. I don't baby my gear, and this has been set down and slid across concrete hearths and stone tabletops plenty. There are a couple of tiny imperfections in the finish if you hunt for them... hand it to somebody and ask them if it's new, and they'd say yes. I'll report back at a year.
Bottom Line
The geared cut is the story: both blades, together, every time, and blades that stay sharp with a lifetime warranty behind them. The complaints are real but small... a rattle when open, a plastic button that should be metal, no brass, and a body deep enough that you cut by feel. None of that has sent me back to the drawer of other cutters even once in four months.
Would I buy it again? Yes... although the honest answer is I'd ask my wife to. If it walked off tomorrow, a replacement would be ordered by sundown.
Best for: somebody done with $15 throwaway cutters who wants one nice tool that ends the search... especially if uneven, lopsided cutter action drives you as crazy as it drives me.
Gear gets the same one-question treatment as the cigars... would I spend my own money on this again? This one's a yes... it just happens to be a gift I'd replace with my own money in a heartbeat.
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