Cigar Cutters – Reviews and Buyer’s Guide

This device helps you get your cigar ready for smoking without damaging it and lessening the quality of the overall experience.

With this in mind, this buyer’s guide will go over some of the best cigar cutter’s that money can buy, highlighting their most important features and characteristics. As a result, you will have an easier time choosing the perfect cigar cutter for you.

Best Cigar Cutter in 2018

Cigar enthusiasts are painfully aware of the importance of using high-quality instruments to preserve, treat and prepare your collection. Without a doubt, one of the most important items in anyone’s cigar kit is a good cigar cutter.

1. Colibri V-Cut – Best Cigar Cutter For Regular Use

Featuring a V-shaped blade that cuts from wide to narrow. This is remarkable due to the fact that most cutters’ blades widen as they cut. This classic way of cutting cigars allows enthusiasts to enjoy their favorite brands in new and interesting ways.

Additionally, the V-shaped blade prevents damage to the cigar because it does not have the point that often crushes its cap. Furthermore, the blade itself is outstandingly sharp and efficient, resulting in precise cutting every time this product is used. In addition to these great features, the Colibri V-Cut is ergonomic and comfortable to use.

The Features You Would Appreciate

This beneficial feature is improved even further due to the sharpness of the cutter’s blades. The combination of these attributes allows the Colibri V-Cut to go through hundreds of cigars without declining in performance. Featuring a 60-ring gauge and being able to cut up to 7 millimeters in depth, it can handle basically any cigar on the market.

Apart from the benefits of its powerful construction, the Colibri V-Cut includes a few extras that make it even more valuable. To the delight of many, the device comes with an exclusive Colibri box. This feature makes it a great option for gift giving, particularly on holidays and special dates such as father’s day or Christmas.

Final Words

As if this wasn’t good enough on its own, the product also includes an incredibly-valuable two-year warranty. Considering all these important features, it can be confidently said that the Colibri V-Cut is a cigar cutter worth looking into.

2. Xikar Xi2 – Best Lightweight Cigar Cutter

Without a doubt, the best cigar cutters on the market are those that boast an efficient design. As an added bonus, these devices tend to be the best looking as well. This sleek cigar cutter comes in an assortment of metallic colors, and even has mesh patterns on the back.

Made of nylon fiberglass, and featuring a very compact size, it is surprisingly lightweight. However, it is still powerful enough to handle cigars of all sizes, providing a clean and precise cut that does not damage them. The result is a device that is as effective as it is stylish.

Basically speaking, this rating means the blades are as sharp and hard as they come, resulting in incredible efficiency and precision when the time comes to cut a brand new cigar. Expanding on its cutting abilities, it should be mentioned that, like all of Xikar’s Xi models, the Xi2 can cut a 54-gauge cigar right in half. Additionally, it can cut the cap off of a 58-gauge cigar without any difficulties.

Featuring Xikar’s classic proprietary shape, the Xi2 is, undoubtedly, an impressive piece of design. Despite being only three by three inches in size, is capable of producing enough power to cut a large cigar in half as if it was made of butter.

Largely, this is due to its spring-loaded double guillotine action, a feature that, combined with the device’s ergonomic shape, allows you to produce a great deal of pressure without effort. In addition to cutting power, the Xi2’s design produces a clean, even cut that does not damage the cigars in the slightest. Put all the previously mentioned characteristics together and you have got one of the best cigar cutters on the market.

3. Xikar XO Cigar Cutter – Best Professional Cigar Cutter

Made of a combination of aluminum and 4034 stainless steel, the Xikar XO Cigar Cutter is a rugged, tough and durable device. Its bold design is not only ergonomic but also efficient enough to generate a great deal of cutting power.

Its uniquely-shaped design can cut effortlessly through the thickets cigars on the market. As a matter of fact, its 64 ring gauge (one inch) aperture is large enough to easily snip the cap off of 70 ring gauge cigars. Despite this ability, the device is very compact and easy to handle.

Apart from producing great power, this mechanism activates both blades in a simultaneously-precise manner, ensuring that the cut will be even and clean every time. The blades are released from the device’s round body using a spring-loaded release button, making the action of cutting cigars incredibly satisfying and effortless.

Granted, the Xikar XO is not the most affordable cigar cutter on the market. However, the high-quality of its materials, in combination with the efficiency of its design, makes the Xikar XO one of the most reliable products of its kind.

4. MYON PARIS Cigar Guillotine – Best Cigar Cutter for Stationary Use

This MYON PARIS product is a hefty, sturdy and efficient guillotine-style cigar cutter that looks fantastic in an office or cigar room. Before going any further, it should be mentioned that this cigar cutter is meant for stationary uses, being at its best when it is on an office’s or cigar room’s main desk.

Made of pure metal, it has a healthy amount of weight that provides it with great stability. So much so, in fact, that it can easily and seamlessly double as an elegant and decorative paperweight for your desk. However, there’s much more to this cigar cutter than weight.

This, as long as it is used indoors, makes the MYON PARIS Cigar Guillotine simultaneously stylish, powerful and practical. On the other hand, however, it means that the MYON PARIS Cigar Guillotine is not as portable or versatile enough to be used reliably by outdoorsy and socially-active cigar enthusiasts.

Almost geometric in shape and more angular than most products of its kind, the MYON PARIS Cigar Guillotine could be easily mistaken for a stylish bottle of perfume. However, the hole in its center reveals its true purpose. Unfortunately, the diameter of said hole is not as ample as lovers of high-gauge cigars would surely desire.

To the contrary, it may represent a bit of trouble when the time comes for you to split a cigar with an elevated ring gauge. When this happens, the need to push the button down harder will often cause stability problems that may result in a slightly uneven cut. Even though it may seem unimportant to inexperienced cigar smokers, this problem may lead to difficulties lighting up the cigar. All in all, this is a good product, particularly when it’s used as a stationary centerpiece.

5. BLINKEEN Cigar Cutter – Best Cigar Cutter for Traveling

Boasting a rather unique look, the BLINKEEN Cigar Cutter may not be instantly recognizable as a cigar cutter. Instead, it looks like a ninja weapon or a secret spy device. However, it’s actually a very efficient tool for snipping and splitting cigars.

Made of 100% 420J2 stainless steel, and featuring a solid and compact construction, this cigar cutter is a tough and powerful little device. Despite its unusual design, it features a classic pair of blades that close down guillotine-style in order to produce clean, smooth and precise cuts. Additionally, featuring a hole diameter of 0.892 inches (22.66 mm), it can cut cigars of up to 60 ring gauge.

Without a doubt, the thing that stands out the most regarding the BLINKEEN Cigar Cutter is its construction. Due to its customized steel nail grip design, it has the ability to produce a great deal of pressure evenly on each side of the cigar. On the other hand, its fine sanding-polished craftmanship ensures utmost precision and cleanliness when the time comes to cut even the thickest of cigars.

Despite its amount of cutting power, however, the BLINKEEN Cigar Cutter is as compact and portable as they come, making it a great option for outgoing, friendly, socially-active and extrovert users. At the same time, these characteristics make it a great option for traveling. Moreover, this cigar cutter comes with a stylish and elegant velvet pouch that protects it when it is not being used.

A similar thing tends to happen with the overall construction of the cigar cutter: After some use, it will loosen, causing the cutting action to become less precise, resulting in uneven cuts and perhaps even a slight amount of ripping.

Taking all this into account, it can be said that this BLINKEEN product is worth looking into, particularly when you only need a cigar cutter for special occasions or traveling. However, it may not be the best option for those looking to give their cigar cutter extended use.

Cigar Cutters – Buyer’s Guide

Frequently Asked Questions About Cigar Cutters

What is a Cigar Cutter?

In order to properly smoke a cigar, it is necessary to first cut its sealed end. A cigar cutter is a mechanical device that helps its users perform the cut in an effortless manner that is also even and precise. Evenness and precision are important considering that any damage to the end of the cigar can result in problems smoking it, hurting the overall experience.

What Parts Does a Cigar Have?

• Cap: Simply put, the cap is the end of the cigar that is not open. Before smoking a cigar, it is necessary to remove the cap. After its cap has been snipped, the end that is freshly open goes in your mouth.
• Foot: The foot of a cigar refers to the end that is opposite to the cap. The foot of the cigar is the part that you light up in order to smoke the cigar. Unlike the cap, it does not need to be cut before the cigar can be smoked.
• Band: Most cigars have bands that are wrapped around them. Typically, a cigar’s band is closest to its cap. A band depicts the brand of the cigar, and it displays important information about it such as its type and place of origin.
• Wrapper: As its name implies, the wrapper is the leaf that wraps up the contents of a cigar. Unlike a cigarette, a cigar wrapper does not use a paper wrapper. Instead, it uses a large and un-shredded high-quality tobacco leaf. As a result, everything that makes up the body of a cigar, with the exception of the band, is tobacco.

What Does Ring Gauge Mean?

Quite simply, ring gauge is a term used to talk about a cigar’s thickness. However, going more technical, a lot can be said about the implications of this measurement. To be sure, thicker cigars tend to have a fuller flavor. Of course, more thickness also means that the cigar will burn for a longer period of time. Furthermore, the thickest the cigar is, the cooler its smoke will be.

What Types of Cigar Cuts are There?

1. Straight cut: Without a doubt, the straight cut is the most common one out there. It is preferred by many cigar enthusiasts because it provides the most surface volume on the end of the cigar that goes in the mouth. As a result, the cigar releases more smoke with each puff. The straight cut is an angular, straightforward and clean kind of cut. Ironically, however, it can be hard to execute. Often, people ruin their cigars by using a knife or a pair of scissors in order to perform a straight cut. By most accounts, it can only be performed using a premium cigar straight cutter (such as a guillotine cutter or a double blade cutter) with sharpened blades.
2. Punch cut: In comparison to all the others, the punch cut is a small and subtle type of cut. As its name implies, the punch cut produces a small hole in one end of the cigar. Be warned, however, as there are both pros and cons to this type of cut. The biggest pro is that the chances of getting small pieces of tobacco in your mouth are greatly decreased by using the punch cut on your cigar. However, on the other hand, the biggest con is that this type of cut makes it easier for the cigar to become clogged with a combination of tobacco and saliva.
3. V cut: This is a more refined type of cut. It is typically used for cigars with a larger ring gauge. It is also commonly used to cut torpedo cigars. There are two main reasons why this is: On one hand, it reduces the surface volume, decreasing the possibility of accidentally getting small pieces of tobacco in your mouth. On the other, it makes it easier to prepare a thick cigar since most straight cutters are not able to fit the thickest cigars on the market. Additionally, it should be mentioned that the v-cut is one of the most difficult to pull off. As a result, they are not recommended for first-time cigar cutters.

Are cigar cutters allowed on planes?

Somewhat amusingly, one of the most frequently asked questions regarding cigar cutters is whether they are allowed on planes or not. Sadly, the answer is that the TSA does not allow cigar cutters to be carried onto planes.

However, the smallest and most harmless cutters may be carried on board under the justification of being similar to scissors for personal use. At any rate, however, it is advisable not to try to carry expensive cigar cutters onto a plane as you never know when you will come across a particularly strict TSA employee.

How to Properly Cut a Cigar

• Step One: Before doing anything, remember that the most important virtues when trying to cut a cigar are patience and calm. Make sure to measure the cut at least a couple of times before performing the cut.
• Step two: Once you have measured the cigar and decided precisely where you want to cut, try to see (and feel) how much tobacco will be lost. It is not only a matter of losing tobacco, however. If it is too far from the ideal spot, the cut can create burn and taste issues. At the same time, try to align the cigar perfectly in order to make the cut as even and balanced as possible.
• Step three: Finally, the time to make the cut has come. When you cut, try to enact enough pressure to go through the cigar completely in one motion. Multiple cuts can cause unevenness. Even worse, they can cause the wrapper to unravel as you smoke it, resulting in a lower quality of experience.

In Conclusion

Going over the benefits of using them, it’s easy to see why the five products featured on this buyer’s guide are so highly-regarded by cigar enthusiasts and critics alike. Each of them has particular features and characteristics that make it stand out among the great majority of similar devices on the market. By learning about these features, you will be better prepared to choose the perfect cigar cutter. At the end of the day, after all, only you can decide which one is best suited for your particular lifestyle and your individual taste.

Summary

Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson

Review Date

2018-08-23

Reviewed Item

Colibri V-Cut

5