Using Cigar Spills

Cigars — one of my favorite forms of tobacco, second only to a pipe or a dip of snuff. There’s all sorts of tobaccos and shapes, but I’m partial to maduros myself. Just as I like a good stout or porter I like a good dark cigar. I don’t smoke cigarettes because I don’t inhale. Just like I don’t inhale the cigar smoke either. But there’s just something about sitting by a campfire pit at night, sipping a fine single malt scotch while quietly enjoying a really fine maduro.

A lot of guys light them with matches or a small butane lighter and there’s not one thing wrong with that at all. As for me, I’m sort of a traditionalist. (Read that as borderline cigar snob). I light my cigars with a spill.

Bottom of spill plane

What exactly is a spill ? A fire-starting spill is a narrow piece of material, often rolled paper or thin wood, used to transfer a flame from a source like a hearth to light a candle, pipe, or other item. Historically, spills were used before the invention of matches, and could be made from various materials like paper or wood shavings.

Spill plane on a board

One of the reasons some cigar smokers prefer a spill over a match or lighter is that, when lit, the cedar strip imparts a slight cedar flavor to the tobacco. Plus, cedar is “cleaner” than typical matches, and since spills are longer, you have more time to properly light your cigar.

Peeling off a spill

I bought a small spill plane and I shave my spills from white cedar boards. Sure, you can buy factory spills but half the fun of smoking a cigar in the traditional manner is making your own spills. My spill plane came from Lee Valley.

Packets of spills

I keep my fresh spills in little ziplock baggies and whittle off a few at a time as I need them. Of course this is an old fashioned… maybe archaic… way of cranking up a fine cigar, but traditions have their own ways of getting things done. I don’t mind some traditional ways since I don’t do them often. In a way this is sort of a “ritual.”

Acid brand Plush cigars

Lately I’ve been fairly partial to the Acid brand cigars from Drew Estate. They have some that are flavored and I normally don’t like flavored tobacco, but the Plush brand are excellent. Sweet without being overpowered. They go great with the taste of Macallens Double Cask single malt scotch and a decent fire in the pit with a hardwood that doesn’t smoke you out of your seat. I’m not a complete scotch snob though, and I enjoy mine with a single cube of ice in the tumbler. Makes me as mellow as a stick of butter left on the kitchen counter overnight.

Another Acid brand cigar

Of course I’m a barbarian and have ice in my scotch. It’s not like it sits in the tumbler long enough for ice to melt and dilute the scotch. I don’t know how the rest of the world unwinds after a rough week at work, but I’m partial to sitting around a wood fire behind my house sipping scotch and burning a good cigar. Watching the flames dance around and the line of thin smoke wafting up into the trees. Amazing how you can stand the bullshit of this world if you have a few tiny luxuries to take the edge off.