A smokin' night

The options in the humidor can abound and confuse when you don't know a thing about cigars.

Chrissy and I didn't let that stop us, though. There's probably a lot of people out there like us, who wanna get into cigars, but don't really know where to start, so we ventured in to Fletcher's Cigar Bar & Social in Ormond Beach. 

We didn't give owner Bill Fletcher a helluva a lot of time to prepare for our visit, but we decided on short notice that we'd become cigar connoisseurs on a jazzy Tuesday night, when Kaleigh Baker and Nathan Anderson would play some sultry sounds.

Suprisingly there were quite a few women in there-- maybe just as many as the men that night. (Which reminds me, Bill boasts up to 30 percent of the clientele are indeed the ladies).

Anyway, I've smoked a cigar a couple of times, but it didn't dawn on me just how little I knew about them until we got to talking to Bill that night.

Being a bit lazy, I had gotten my boyfriend to light me a honey-flavored stogie once and the

That night, we somehow lit the little, oil-infused flavored cigars (small-sized cigars are called petite coronas) and smoked for a while, looking at the International Speedway Boulevard Bridge as the lights twinkled from condominiums across the Halifax River.

Bill, 31, tried his first cigar about 15 years ago. Jazz played in the background as he quizzed us about our likes and dislikes and we stepped into the humidor with him to take a look at the selection and figure out what would fit our palettes.

Chrissy, a former cigarette smoker, went for a traditional, light cigar. Bill helped her pick a mild one by Rocky Patel. It was made with Honduran tobacco and a light Connecticut wrapper.

I went to the other side of the spectrum with a dark chocolate-flavored Drew Estate Java. It was a tough choice when offered a white chocolate truffle flavor.

Besides the flavor difference, this cigar had a box-pressed shape, while Chrissy's had a more rounded shape.

Traditional cigar smokers stay away from flavors like mine, Bill said. They go for straight tobacco, which by the way, reminds me of an interesting fact Bill mentioned. All hand-rolled cigars are considered organic.

"Traditional cigars are set up with just tobacco," Bill said. "Wrapper, binder filler-- no additives. No oil-infused flavors."

After making our selections, we headed to the bar, where everyone was puffing away and the smoke was being lifted up into the ventilation system. Fletcher's features a smoke ventilation air purification system that changes out the air 10 to 15 times an hour.

"There's no haze; there's no smoke clouds," Bill said. "When you blow the smoke it gets up and it gets out."

The next step at the bar--as you might assume--involved pairing the cigars with proper spirits. I went for a mild-flavored Stella beer to help me appreciate the nutty, chocolate flavor of my smoke. Chrissy broke connoisseur rules a bit, when she just went straight for a merlot-- no consulting involved on how that would affect flavor--but sometimes you just need your merlot, no?

The point behind proper pairing, which can be suggested by bartenders, is to avoid overpowering the cigar. So don't go drinking a limey Corona with chocolate. It's safe to go with something light bodied, Bill said.

As far as cutting it goes, he first introduced us to the guillotine cut, where you slice the cigar with a special cutter right at the seam.

Before smoking a hand-rolled cigar, you must cut the cap off. The cap is there to prevent it from unraveling and drying out and you should only cut it when you're about to smoke it.

We also saw Bill use a cigar cutting machine--one where you just put the tip in and swing a lever for a wedge cut.

And when it was time to light up it was an eye-opener. 

According to Bill, you're supposed to use a butane lighter or wooden matches. Anything else, like you're average disposable gasoline lighter, is going to affect the flavor.

Unlike cigarettes, you don't need to inhale while lighting it. Just sear the end, without letting it touch the flame, until you get the famous red cherry.

Savor the flavor on your lips, roll the smoke in your mouth, and blow it out. And don't inhale! Beginners could get sick...

All in all, I think most of the cigar lure really comes from the social aspect. It's nice to bring something new to your palette and talk about the flavors you're experiencing. For me, it also has a lot to do with enhancing an already relaxing atmosphere, like sitting by the river at night or listening to live jazz at a snazzy place like Fletcher's.

-Kelly