Cigar Pairing Guide for the Holiday Season

Credit: Freepik Via Freepik

The holidays are all about luxury. For many, that means partaking in fine drinks, great food and a long-burning, satisfying cigar. But how do you ensure everyone plays nicely together? How can you pair your cigars with drinks and (to a lesser extent) food for an optimal flavor experience?

This article explores the wide world of cigar pairings by singling out standard holiday drinks. Ultimately, cigar pairings are subjective – what works for some might not work for others. Still, that shouldn’t stop us from establishing a few best practices for combining rich tobacco with holiday treats.

Cigar Pairing Overview: Matching, Contrasting and Complementing

First, let’s get some basic cigar knowledge and guiding principles out of the way.

Cigars exist on a spectrum between light-bodied and mild to full-bodied and richly flavored. You can usually tell by appearance, as lightly colored cigars (claros) tend to be milder and fresher, whereas dark cigars (maduros and oscuros) are deeper and more complex. Lighter expressions might impart grassy, tea-like tasting notes, or even notes of wildflowers and mushrooms. Medium cigars range in flavour from biscuit-like and buttery to peppery and herbaceous. And dark cigars punch you with those bold chocolate, espresso and leather notes.

What do you do with this information? When pairing cigars, you can either choose to match, contrast or complement flavours. Matching involves pairing similar taste profiles: a robust red wine with a full-bodied dark cigar, for example. Contrasting involves counterbalancing flavors to achieve a balance: a grassy claro with a rich Cognac. And complementing involves pairing individual tasting notes the way a chef might: complementing the herbal notes of a Colorado cigar with the brown sugar notes of a bourbon.

Whatever cigars you choose, storing them properly before the holidays is imperative. House your cigars in a dedicated humidor, “tupperdor” or (in a pinch) a heavy-duty bag alongside Boveda cigar humidifier packs. This will keep the cigars from drying out and losing their complex flavors.

How to Pair Cigars with Common Holiday Drinks

Around the holidays, people tend to break out their finest bottles. Cellar-aged wines, single malt scotches and XO cognacs make a rare appearance at parties.

The prevailing wisdom has been that you should match flavors – dark with dark, light with light, etc. But this is an oversimplistic way of approaching pairing. Matching works well with wine, since the subtle complexities of wine tend to taste jumbled next to contrasting flavors. However, contrasting and complementing can be a lovely way to cut through the intensity of a spirit like scotch or cognac.

For red wines, try a peppery Arturo Fuente, a smooth and punchy San Cristobal or a deeply expressive Padron Maduro.

For fine liquors, try experimenting with various combinations. Look at the tasting notes on the back of the bottle, and compare them with tasting notes for your different cigars, making judgment calls according to contrasting/matching/complementing principles. For instance, an earthy, cedary Ashton VSG beautifully complements a bright, honey-forward Highland scotch.

And for rich holiday beverages like egg nog or spiked cocoa, go for a contrastive approach. These rich drinks already blast you with spicy and sweet notes. It’s best to temper them with fresh, grassy, herbal cigars that act as a palate cleanser.

Hopefully, this article helps you create the perfect cigar pairing this holiday season.