It’s said that the cigar goes through as many as 300 different hands before it makes it to the humidor shelf. In a brick and mortar scenario, the freshly opened box of cigars you’re looking at on the humidor shelf has typically been resting and aging long enough that you can pretty much count on it being safe to handle without fear of contracting something nasty like COVID-19 or the Flu.
Once a box is open on the shelf, the cigars are on display and at risk of being tainted by coughs, sneezes and unsanitized handling — that’s the way it has always been. Up till recently, it was a relatively small risk. With the introduction of COVID-19, the use of masks and hand sanitizers have actually lowered the risk of coming into contact with anything from the black plague, COVID-19 to the common cold.
Problem solved! Right?
WRONG! Part of the problem has been solved, but danger lurks where we don’t think it exists.
No matter how many mask, gloves, sanitizers, etc… the biggest chance of contracting something nasty from a cigar is when using community cutters, lighters and ashtrays. These risk points all happen once the buyer begins their cutting, lighting and smoking ritual.
There’s the community or public cutter. Many people use these cutters without a second thought. However, a large percentage of cigar smokers with lick or dampen the head of the cigar before cutting. Once you put the cigar in your mouth to dampen the caps before cutting, you have now potentially transferred any communicable disease you might be carrying through the spit residue left on the cutter after you use it. All the masks in the world can’t protect you once you’ve lowered your guard and used what may be an unclean cutter.
We solve the cutter issue by either requiring you use your own cutter or by allowing us to cut your cigar before you take it out of the cellophane.
Once cut, safely or unsafely, the next step is lighting. In the olden days (before we all became COVID-19 savvy) we picked up pretty much any lighter and used it. However, that behavior has always held a little risk because the surface of the lighter, or even match box, may be contaminated. People touch the germ-ridden surface and maybe take away something they would rather not have gotten — germs!
The lighter problem is easily solved by either using a fresh untouched box of matches or by using your own lighter.
At this point, let’s say you dodged coming into contact with a disease you really don’t want to get. You’re enjoying smoking your cigar. What can mess that up?
Where are you putting your cigar down between puffs? You may lay the cigar you just had in your mouth on the stirrup of an ashtray that other people have been using before you. The same stirrup that some person that just realized they might be coming down with something had just used.
All those precautions you took helped you dodge infection like Neo dodging bullets in the Matrix, but then, you dropped your guard a little too early. It’s like DeShaun Watson spiking the football BEFORE he crosses the goal line.
CHESAPEAKE CIGAR STANDS
Our Chesapeake Cigar Stands take you over the goal line and replace what may be a germy ashtray stirrup with your own clean surface.
We designed the perfect Cigar Stand for the regular guy. It’s inexpensive, modular, folds flat and 100% recyclable.
Tom Pearson or Commonwealth Cedar Spills worked with us to design and produce our wooden Cigar Stands (I think he uses lasers!)
I’ve always recommended my customers use something like this during cold and flu season, but it seems more important than ever with this whole pandemic thing we got going on now.
We’ve got these on sale for just $7.99 at the shop and online.We’re not saying you absolutely need one of our stands, but we’re saying you might want to think about it. If you decide you WANT one, you can pick one up at the shop or buy it online here >>>
Chesapeake Cigar Stand
$7.99 Buy Me
