What the ash remains silent about

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			What the ash remains silent about Cigar ash can tell you a lot about the cigar it came from – much more than you would think. For this reason, experienced smokers and professional tasters pay as much attention to the ash as to the taste and aroma of the cigar it came from. Essentially, ash is a mineral, an inorganic compound that remains after the burning of the tobacco leaves. All the contents of a tobacco leaf capable of giving off taste and aroma at high temperatures are transformed into volatile compounds, which we sense through our taste buds and olfactory receptors. Everything that does not possess these amazing characteristics becomes ash. So I lit a cigar and spent a pleasant half hour enjoying its wonderful taste and aroma. Then, dragging myself out of the torpor brought on by the cigar smoke, I put on my glasses, took a sip of cognac, and got down to the business of studying the ash, which over the half hour had become an impressive length. Sooner or later the length of ash on the cigar falls off. It is generally thought that this should not happen until the ash is at least an inch long – an absolute minimal length for cigar ash. Given easy hand movements, the ash should not fall before reaching this length; if it does, the cigar is not a quality cigar. The ‘solidity’ of the length of ash depends directly on the quality of the tobacco leaves and the degree of care with which the cigar was rolled. The ash on cigars that have been rolled mechanically is practically never stable. On the other hand, cigars that have been hand-rolled are characterized by the stability and firmness of their ash. But a cigar that has been rolled from leaves that are too short or torn can never delight the smoker with a fine, neat length of ash. The same thing can happen if the roller has been paying insufficient attention to his work and not made the cigar firm enough with gaps between the leaves. In this case, the edges and surface of the ash will be uneven and it will scatter and gradually crumble round the edges. So a stable column of ash that can reach a length of one inch, given easy hand movements, means that long, quality leaves have been used in its making. If the ash on a cigar is firm, does not scatter from a slight movement or a gentle breeze, and does not crumble throughout the whole period of the smoke; if the edges of the ash are even and neat, then the roller has been working conscientiously and doing his job properly. Taking off my glasses after a careful study of the length of ash, I took another sip of cognac, ‘tasted’ the aromatic smoke, and put the cigar in the ashtray... to wait till the ash fell off of its own accord. It fell off fairly quickly, revealing the hot point of the cigar on which there was just a thin layer of ash. It was time to put the glasses on again and return to studying the mysterious characteristics of the cigar ash. No less important than the texture of the ash is the shape of the burning end of the cigar that is exposed after the ash has fallen off. After a long period of smoking, the burning end can assume the most varied forms from a small depression or hollow in the middle with sharply bevelled edges to a completely flat burning surface. But the ideal shape of the burning end is considered to be a cone. Why a cone? It’s all to do with the way a cigar is structured. The roller begins making a cigar with a leaf called the ligero. This leaf, which lies in the very centre of the cigar, provides all the taste. The ligero leaf is found at the very top of the tobacco plant, and it contains the greatest amount of nicotine, sugar and complex gustatory compounds. So it’s not surprising that it burns longer than the other tobacco leaves that go to make up a cigar. And the fact that this leaf takes the longest time to burn means that the burning end of the cigar has a conical shape. Depending on the tobacco blend for a particular cigar, the percentage of ligero leaves will vary. As a result, the cones can be either sharp or blunt. But whichever they are, the ideal shape for the burning end of a cigar covered with a thin layer of ash is conical. Obviously, to retain this shape requires not only a quality cigar, but also the ability to smoke easily and draw evenly and smoothly on the cigar. So a conical shape at the burning end with a thin layer of ash on it is evidence of the fact that it was rolled according to all the rules, and that it was smoked with as much skill as the roller put into rolling it. The colour of the ash – this is the most responsible test for a cigar. Because it doesn’t depend on the quality of the leaves or the skill of the roller, but on the most basic of all factors – the land on which the tobacco was grown. Soil is full of chemical compounds and a variety of mineral deposits, which carried by moisture find their way into plants. The soil in different regions has its own characteristics: in some places certain minerals predominate; in other places others are more common. Consequently, the same plant will have substantially different chemical and mineral saturation levels in different areas. For example, cigars rolled from tobacco that has been grown in the central regions of Cuba (Remedios) produce an almost white ash; but cigars made from tobacco from the Vuelta Abajo produce a grey ash with white veins. And that is despite the fact that the two areas are practically adjacent to each other. The reason for the difference is that the soil in the Vuelta Abajo is full of different minerals in roughly equal amounts, whereas the soil in the Remedios Region shows a predomination of potassium. The link between the chemical constituents of the soil and the quality of the cigar produced from tobacco grown in it has been scientifically proved. Furthermore, in early 2001 one of the scientists from a Canadian consumer organization proposed that in order to protect genuine Cuban cigars from fake ones, checks should be made on their chemical components. His idea was that those cigars labelled as Cuban, whose chemical constituents after analysis proved to be different from the chemical constituents of the appropriate region of Cuba, should immediately be removed from the shops. So the predominance of grey and white in the ash of a cigar mean that it is of good quality. And pure white ash may be looked upon almost as a mark of quality, providing that the cigar is from certain places like Cuba or the Dominican Republic, where there are plantations that are particularly rich in potassium. Black ash is a bad sign. Leaves that after burning deposit a black ash are not rich in minerals and produce a very bad taste and smell. After the ash falls off, there is a noticeable change in the taste of the cigar. The point is that the ash plays a very important part in the actual process of smoking. As it gradually forms on the cigar, the ash cools the smoke, making the process of smoking much milder. This is the reason why when the ash falls off a cigar, the smoker gets the impression that it has become stronger and hotter. So the ash can be not only pleasant to look at and provide information about the cigar, it also has a use from the practical point of view. When cigar ash falls suddenly on clothes, on the table or on the floor, this is not a particularly pleasant occurrence. But it was as a result of this that cigar ash at one time had an important influence on European fashion – for it was cigar ash that directly led to the creation of the smoking jacket. The British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) loved cigars. He smoked them at home, in the street, at important meetings and even in the library after dinner. So it was hardly surprising that every day his clothes were covered with cigar ash. To save his wardrobe from being ruined, Disraeli got his tailor to make him a jacket with satin lapels. This smooth material made it easy to brush off the ash, and furthermore ash leaves no traces on satin. Disraeli’s tailor did the job so well that jackets with satin lapels – smoking jackets – were soon the height of fashion. by ELDAR TUZMUKHAMEDOV