情人家的鑰匙

在那個古老的比喻里面，雪茄是高貴的情人，它的香濃馥郁給足了男人面子。不過雪茄的卷制方式讓我們沒辦法拿過來就直接享用，我們需要一樣工具切開雪茄的尾部，就像打開情人的家門，而這件工具就是雪茄刀。

If cigar is your charming lover， cigar cutter is the key to open her door.

熱衷美國西部片的同學(xué)對那些粗大的雪茄并不陌生，健壯的牛仔在馬背上、在夕陽下，咬開一支雪茄，大口地抽吸，每個細(xì)節(jié)都野性十足。不過就像粗暴地踹開情人家的門一樣，這種方式，已經(jīng)離現(xiàn)在的紳士生活愈來愈遠(yuǎn)了。何況由于人類的進化，現(xiàn)在人類的牙齒已經(jīng)不能鋒利平整地切開雪茄了。而如今的雪茄客，一把趁手的雪茄刀就成為了必需品。

除了那些劣質(zhì)的不知用什么葉子卷起來的山寨“雪茄”可以直接拿來品嘗（它其實更接近香煙）。真正的手卷雪茄由于制作的原因，必須在雪茄頭部用上一點天然膠，把煙葉粘起來固定住，這樣整支雪茄的結(jié)構(gòu)才不至于散開。因此，為了好好享受這支手工雪茄，就像拿酒刀開葡萄酒一樣，得借助雪茄刀將雪茄頭剪開。

一支剪得完美的雪茄，茄頭平整干凈，直到抽完整支雪茄，它還可以保持剛剪開的樣子。別看卷制雪茄的煙葉很薄，但一支雪茄由幾十層煙葉組成，像一本并不薄的書，要剪開它也非易事。若剪得不好，雪茄頭會有毛茬且掉渣，那一段很享受的雪茄時光就因此變得很不完美了。

在雪茄的歷史上，一直伴隨著各式各樣的剪開雪茄的工具，有些精美異常，有些簡單質(zhì)樸，而對于資深雪茄客們來說，不同的雪茄可能適合用不同的工具來“對待”；而對同一類型雪茄，能輕松優(yōu)雅“開門”的，就是好“鑰匙”。

If you watch western films， you would be familiar with the way cowboys cut cigars -- biting off the cap with teeth. But like crashing into your lover’s room without knocking， it is a little crude for today’s civilized smokers. After all， tooth is not a cutting tool.

Hand rolled cigars， except for the so called “cigars” made by inferior tabacco leaves， are sealed with natural glue. You need to cut the seal off before you can enjoy smoking a cigar.

The object of the cut is to create an ample， smooth opening for smoking without damaging the cigar's structure. Although the tabacco leaves rolled in a cigar are very thin， it is not easy to cut dozens of layers in one clean cut. A bad cut will ruin a cigar. That is why it is important to have a proper cigar cutter.

There are a number of devices that will help you cut your cigar in a single， swift motion. Many aficionados use different cutters for different types of cigars， from simple cutters to exquisite ones. A cigar cutter is the key to “open the door” of a certain type of cigar.

單刃雪茄刀

單刃雪茄刀是雪茄刀家族中重要的一個門類，這種工具只有一個刀鋒，其工作原理來自幾何學(xué)中一條線和另外一點可以決定一個平面，具體呈現(xiàn)出來的形式又是五花八門。有些人圖省事可以直接用身邊的裁紙刀來代替。還有做成斷頭臺樣子的，這種更適合放在家中或會所中使用。還有一款頗吸引人眼球的V字剪，這類雪茄刀在西洋金銀古董中經(jīng)常見到，一般個頭不大，有的只有3～4厘米。據(jù)說這種剪制方式可以增加雪茄吸嘬端的面積，讓煙味更豐厚飽滿，不過筆者未有這種感覺。這種雪茄刀因為個頭較小，在如今并不實用，那些圓頭或者大口徑雪茄，完全應(yīng)付不了，讓人不禁猜想是否以前人的雪茄都是比較細(xì)？也有那種縮小版的斷頭臺雪茄刀，便于隨身攜帶，不過由于力矩原因，剪制的時候不好發(fā)力，常剪得不夠平整，也不太實用。

雙刃雪茄刀

這是當(dāng)下最受歡迎的雪茄刀樣式。其最大特色是有兩個刀刃，所以在使用上比單刃雪茄刀更容易發(fā)力，剪切效果也更加平整。常用的有兩種形制——鍘刀與剪刀。雙刃鍘刀和單刃剪中的小斷頭臺樣子差不多，不同的是有兩個刀刃，雙側(cè)發(fā)力。除了開雪茄頭，雪茄抽不完時，也可以用來剪掉已經(jīng)碳化的部分，讓雪茄還有二次生命。這種雪茄刀多數(shù)個頭很小，方便攜帶，《天下無賊》里面葛大爺用來懲治小弟的就是這種。剪刀式雪茄刀的樣式比較接近我們平時用的剪刀，只不過其兩個剪刀片分別呈半圓形，合起來的時候更方面剪制雪茄。同時，由于杠桿力矩的關(guān)系，長柄的剪刀會比短柄的更好使用，切口也較為漂亮，這也是一般雪茄俱樂部中，最標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的雪茄工具，不過在隨身攜帶方面比較不方便。

打孔器

嚴(yán)格來說，打孔器不能叫做雪茄刀，它也不能將雪茄頭切下，但由于它也是最常用的雪茄開口工具，并且由它開口的雪茄更完整，所以也被歸為雪茄刀一類，且成為雪茄客的最愛之一。當(dāng)然，它也是有刀片的，只不過它的刀片是圓形的，它也是把圓形雪茄的頭部挖下一個圓餅，在不損害雪茄結(jié)構(gòu)的同時，保證抽雪茄的暢快。許多雪茄客喜歡在車鑰匙乃至隨身錢包中放一個小小的打孔器，好用不貴。缺點是，這種雪茄刀只適用于圓頭雪茄，對于尖頭雪茄完全沒辦法。同時，打孔器的最好效果是把圓頭雪茄的頭切掉較大面積的一個圓餅，而針對不同環(huán)徑的雪茄，要想一器走天下，就有點難為它了。

Single blade cutter

As the most basic type of cigar cutter， single blade comes in many forms.There is the single blade guillotine， which is best used at home or in a cigar club， and the “V” cutter， which is often found in western antique shops. Some people even use paper cutter as an substitute. The V cutter， normally 3-4 cm long， is said to be able to enrich the flavor of smoke， though not proved in my test. But it is still a practical tool because of its small size. And the popularity of the V cutter in history makes me wonder if cigars in the past are thinner than they are today. The compact version of guillotine is also not practical because it is too small to apply a clean cut.

Double bladed cutter

Double blade cutter comes in two varieties： guillotine and scissor. Double blade guillotine generally create better cuts as its two razor sharp blades cut through the cigar from both sides. It can also create a clean cut for unfinished cigars. A guillotine is often small and easy to carry. A double blade scissor looks like average scissors， except for its round blades. Long handled scissors usually create cleaner cut than shorter ones. Double blade scissor is the standard tool used in cigar clubs because it is not convenient to be carried along.

Hole punch

Hole punch is not exactly cigar cutter because it cannot cut the entire cap of the cigar off. But because of its popularity and effectiveness， it is classified as one type of cigar cutter. Hole punches also have round blades. It will cut out a little plug of tobacco from the head of the cigar. Many aficionados prefer to bring a punch in their wallets or along with car keys. It is inexpensive， easy to use， but only applicable to round head cigars and cigars of certain ring sizes.

tips

雪茄刀還有三刃式

還有一種雪茄刀是三刃式，本以為根據(jù)幾何學(xué)中三點決定一平面的原理來設(shè)計，不過卻犯了基本錯誤，它不是三點，而是三條線，所以用這種剪刀剪雪茄，切口永遠(yuǎn)不平整。不過由于力矩關(guān)系，它比較容易施力，再加上外形看起來復(fù)雜，操作看起來很專業(yè)，因此也有人會用。

There is also a three blade cigar cutter

There is also a three blade cigar cutter. Though designed according to the principle that any three points determine a plane， the cutter is flawed because it has not three points， but three lines， and it could not create a clean cut. But because it is easy to use and looks professional， it is still a popular cutter among aficionados.

剪切也是種表演

剪雪茄有時更像一種表演，如果操作熟練，將是展現(xiàn)雪茄魅力的絕佳方式。你甚至可以通過這個表演讓新茄客感受到雪茄的文化，展示不同雪茄刀各自的魅力。同時，剪切雪茄也是品味雪茄的一部分，可以在每一次的剪切中享受品茄的樂趣。

Cigar Cutting As A Performance

Cigar cutting is also a kind of performance. If well performed， it could add more flavor to the smoking experience. You could bring new cigar smokers closer to the cigar culture and the charm of different cutters with such a performance. Cutting could be part of the smoking experience.