The Cigar Spike

A few weeks ago Walt at Stogie Review posted a press release for the Cigar Spike, a new device for opening your cigar.  I say “opening” your cigar because it’s not meant to punch or cut the cigar, it’s made to poke a hole in the cap.

My initial reaction to the Cigar Spike was skepticism, I like a fairly open draw on my cigar and didn’t see how a 1/8″ piece of plastic could deliver that.  But, I don’t knock something (OK, most things) until I’ve tried it, so after seeing a couple tweets about the Cigar Spike I decided to take advantage of their 3 for $2.99 deal.  A week later I received an envelope containing my spikes.

The Design

The design is simple enough – a small, pie shaped piece of plastic with CigarSpike.com and Patent Pending stamped into it with a hole to attach it to a key ring.   The spike is very light and would easily not add much bulk to your key ring.  I heard a few people comment that they wouldn’t want to carry something in their pocket that could poke their leg, but the keys in your pocket are more likely to inflict a wound than the Cigar Spike… toughen up, Nancy.

Prepare to be Spiked

To test the spike I wanted to smoke a cigar I was very familiar with so I grabbed a trusty Illusione eccj, a rum and Coke, and one of my Cigar Spikes and headed out to the StogieLife.com Test and Research Facility / garage.  The card that these come on says to prepare the cigar but I’m not quite sure what they mean by that – I went through the normal routine of feeling for soft/hard spots, and checking it out for any damage, I did moisten the tip to make the spiking a bit easier on the cap.

After eyeballing the center of the cap I took the plunge, a well placed push gave me a very neat and symmetrical rectangular hole in the cap of the cigar.  A few test puffs on the cold cigar let me know that one spike would not give me the draw I was looking for so I turned the spike 90 degrees and cut the cap in plus-sign fashion.  A few more test draws and this time it gave up a bit better flow – this may work out after all.

Fire it Up!

I grabbed my burner lighter, toasted the foot and began enjoying my cigar.  To my surprise, the Cigar Spike did a fine job of opening the cigar.  The draw was acceptable (I prefer a little more open but it did just fine) and the cigar smoked quite well.  The one thing I did notice was that, due to the small opening, I got a lot of residue build-up on the cap.  I had to spike it a couple more times and finger roll it some to keep it open – but it didn’t require a lot of effort at all.  I was able to enjoy my cigar to the nub.

The Lowdown

Cost: 3 for $2.99, delivered
Liked it: Yep
Recommend it: Sure
Pros
- Small and lightweight
- Very inexpensive
- It works.  This won’t replace my regular cutter but I will keep it on my key ring for times when there isn’t another cutter handy.
Cons
- Requires a bit of maintenance to keep the hole open – finger rolling, re-spiking
- Because of the small opening it does build up residue.

If you want a quick, cheap and easy way to get your cigar opened then pick up a Cigar Spike.  You can order directly from the web site at www.CigarSpike.com.