Do Cigars Give You a Buzz?

Cigars are tobacco products often considered to be luxurious, classy, and sophisticated. This has been a thing for the last few decades and even centuries given the rich association of cigars with powerful figures throughout history. Even the media has framed and continuously put cigars as a symbol of authority, power, and dominance.

Of course, not all cigars are made and priced similarly. Some may feature more premium tobacco blends than others, pushing their prices to the highest end of the spectrum. However, one thing that’s common about these products is they are all made from tobacco leaves. These leaves, which are also found in cigarettes and other tobacco products, naturally produce nicotine. 

This highly addictive substance enables smokers to feel a soothing sensation with their senses, a familiar feeling of a nicotine buzz. Now, can cigars give you a buzz? Even without inhaling cigar smoke, is it still possible to feel the nicotine hits from the cigars? Read more to find out.

Why Do Cigars Give You a Buzz?

Cigars, as stated in the intro, are entirely made from tobacco leaves. From the wrapper and binder down to the fillers, everything about cigars is produced out of tobacco. This is one key difference between them and cigarettes, as the latter takes advantage of a non-tobacco wrapper.

To make cigars more premium, every tobacco leaf used in making them has been mostly cultivated, handpicked, and processed meticulously by experts in the cigar field. It’s very rare to encounter cigars, especially from highly reputable brands, to boast poorly processed tobacco elements. If you’ve smoked one, then you might have been scammed by your retailer.

Going back, cigars are truly a remarkable product due to their pure tobacco composition. Now, one fact about tobacco is it naturally produces nicotine, a substance responsible for giving you a relaxing sensation whenever you smoke a cigar.

As soon as it enters your body and reaches your brain, it causes a surge of endorphins in your body, relieving your stress and pain as well as improving your mood. The same substance likewise generates a temporary feeling of well-being and relaxation. It even increases your heart rate and the amount of oxygen your heart consumes to work optimally. 

These effects, unfortunately, are short-lived. This is among the reasons why many users of tobacco products, including cigars and cigarettes, long for smoking sessions just to get the same hits and keep feeling the pleasurable sensations again.

Over time, frequent nicotine consumption leads to significant changes in the way the brain functions and works. It may then turn into nicotine addiction and withdrawal symptoms, especially if a smoker does not smoke for a couple of days or even hours.

Since nicotine buzz comes from tobacco, it’s safe to assume that cigars can give you the same sensation. This conclusion can be somehow true due to the tobacco content they possess. The only thing that could distinguish one cigar from another is the intensity of the buzz you’ll be getting.

The intensity of the buzz you’ll get from a cigar may depend on numerous factors:

• Cigar size: Different sizes of cigars are being offered in the market today. Cigars that come in large sizes contain more tobacco, which means they can deliver a higher dose of nicotine compared to smaller cigars. 
• Speed of smoking the cigar: Smoking a cigar quickly only leads to a more intense nicotine buzz. Puffing faster, after all, increases the amount of smoke you inhale or absorb in a shorter period. The rapid intake of the substance may overwhelm your body, which leads to dizziness, nausea, or even nicotine sickness. Take slower, spaced-out cigar puffs then let your body process the nicotine compound more gradually as it leads to a milder smoking experience.
• Tobacco blend: If you’ve been a cigar smoker for a long time, then you already know that not all cigars are produced out of similar tobacco types and blends. Cigars made from stronger, full-bodied tobacco are known for having higher nicotine levels compared to milder blends. Darker tobacco likewise has a richer and sometimes more potent nicotine content, while the lighter ones may give you a smoother and less intense nicotine buzz.

Cigars can truly give you a buzz, especially if you opt for those with a larger size or are made from stronger, full-bodies tobaccos. Nonetheless, most cigar smokers would only smoke these tobacco products for their taste and aroma, not to get a buzz. For those who prefer nicotine hits over taste and aroma, it’s better to opt for a cigarette.

How to Get a Buzz From a Cigar

If you want to smoke cigars for a buzz, then you should know how to pick the right one for you.

As discussed earlier, cigars are not meant for nicotine hits. Rather, you smoke them to appreciate the quality of tobacco, which you can enjoy through their taste and aromas. Now, if you are forcing yourself to get a buzz from a cigar, one of the things you must first determine is the size of your cigar. 

Cigars come in many sizes, making sure they cater to the preferences of many cigar smokers out there. If you want to smoke slowly, then you’ll want to opt for cigars that are thick and large in dimensions. They tend to burn slowly and may take a long time to be depleted completely. On the contrary, thinner and smaller cigars may be consumed in just a few minutes, allowing you to smoke them during work breaks.

Portability may also be a factor you must consider thoroughly when picking the right cigar for your much-needed nicotine buzz. If you’ll be smoking a cigar outside your home or workspace, you may want to opt for a cigar that feels comfortable in your hand and in your mouth. Without considering these things, you might not be able to enjoy the nicotine buzz of the cigar.

After getting your cigar, it’s time to know the speed at which you finish smoking a cigar since it may also affect how much nicotine you’ll get.

If you’re always in a hurry to smoke and finish a cigar, you might most likely get sick instead of getting a buzz. A premium handmade cigar, which can be quite expensive, should be savoured and enjoyed slowly. You must puff on it every minute and appreciate its tasting notes and aroma. 

Now, if you want to get a buzz from your expensive cigar, you must draw on it five to six times a minute. Do remember that the nicotine will speedily surge in your bloodstream, which can make you nauseous later on. For a satisfying cigar-smoking experience, just puff it gradually. Once your free time is up, you can let the cigar go out and finish smoking it later.

The best way to get a buzz from a cigar, even with a milder cigar, is to smoke it occasionally. 

You don’t need to smoke cigars regularly to get your desired nicotine buzz. If you do this, it will only make your body more tolerant to nicotine. So, even if you smoke the strongest cigars out there, you won’t get your desired nicotine hits anymore since you’ve been smoking cigars regularly. You might even get addicted to smoking cigars.

If you smoke a cigar, say, once a year, you’ll be more likely to get a buzz from smoking it.

Do Cigars Give You a Buzz Without Inhaling?

Knowing how to smoke a cigar should be one of the first few things you should know if you’re new in this highly luxurious cigar world.

For beginners, you most probably picked up a mild cigar. You can then give the cigar’s wrapper a casual sniff or a quick inhale. This way, you’ll have the first clue to the flavour profile of your picked cigar. Next, you must cleanly cut the cigar’s closed-end or the cap with a cigar cutter. 

After cutting the said part, you can light your cigar with wooden matches or a butane lighter. Take note, lighting a cigar is different from lighting a cigarette. When lighting a cigar, you should hold the flame near the foot or the open end of the cigar and gently toast it. Rotating the cigar is the best thing you can do here to guarantee your cigar an even burn.

Once the foot is glowing, you should take a few puffs without inhaling cigar smoke. If you do inhale cigar smoke, try to refrain from doing it again since cigars are best consumed for tasting, not filling your lungs or getting nicotine hits. 

How about the draw? The right way to do this is to pull the cigar gently and let the smoke linger in your mouth for a few seconds. During this time, your taste buds will savour all the complex yet highly satisfying flavours from the cigar’s carefully aged tobacco leaves. You may feel a slight buzz after smoking a cigar for a few minutes, but you have to ensure that you’re still on track to appreciating the sophisticated processes related to making the tobacco product you’re currently smoking.

You might be, however, wondering if you can still get a buzz despite not inhaling the cigar smoke. The short answer is yes. 

Even without inhaling the smoke from cigars, you can still feel the nicotine buzzing through your body since the substance can be absorbed by your body through the mucous membranes in your mouth. Do expect that the nicotine buzz from the cigar smoke is slightly weaker than the hits you often get from the cigarette smoke, especially if you are opting for a mild cigar.

Regardless of the type and strength of cigar that you will be smoking, you can still feel the nicotine buzz rushing through your body through your mouth. To increase the amount of nicotine absorbed by your body through the cigar smoke, you can draw in more cigar smoke and hold it in there for a longer time.

Do Cuban Cigars Give You a Buzz?

Cuban cigars are premium cigars produced out of handpicked tobacco leaves from select parts of Cuba. They have been manufactured delicately, making sure they ooze with strong natural flavours and aromas of aged tobacco leaves. Most manufacturers of Cuban cigars stick with the natural process of cigar rolling, which further cements the reputation of such cigars as a luxury product.

Some notable brands of Cuban cigars you can buy in the market today are Montecristo Cigars and Cohiba Cigars. One stick of these cigars can cost you more than $10, which is already expensive by today’s standards.

If you like quality cigars without spending too much, you can opt for cigars made locally in Canada. NativeSmokes4Less currently offers these cigars at competitive prices and can ship them country-wide.

But if you truly want to try and smoke a Cuban cigar, you may wonder whether it can give you a buzz.

Same with other cigars in the market right now, Cuban cigars can indeed give you a nicotine buzz, particularly those with more robust and stronger tobacco blends. However, the main highlight of these cigars doesn’t have anything to do with nicotine. 

Instead, smoking a Cuban cigar lets you indulge in a flavourful and aromatic tobacco experience you won’t easily find from other cigars. You might even have to really slow down your Cuban cigar consumption since a single cigar costs a lot of money.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do cigars give you a buzz?

Yes. Cigars can give you a buzz due to their high tobacco content, which directly translates to high nicotine content. The nicotine from the cigar can then be absorbed through your mouth and gums, which can then give you a sensation of relaxation, light-headedness, or a mild euphoric feeling.

Do cigars make you feel high?

Cigars don’t make you feel high like drugs. However, the nicotine from cigars can create a sense of relaxation or light euphoria. This feeling, which is somehow linked to feeling high, is often described more accurately as a buzz as it’s primarily due to the nicotine stimulating the brain’s reward system. 

How long does cigar buzz last?

A cigar buzz usually lasts for about 30 minutes to an hour, but this duration can vary based on the cigar’s strength and the smoker’s tolerance to tobacco and its nicotine content. Consequently, infrequent smokers may experience the effects for a longer duration.

Summary

Cigars, like cigarettes, can give you a buzz since they release nicotine from the tobacco ingredients every time you smoke one. As the cigar smoke lingers in your mouth, the nicotine is absorbed by your mouth and gums and travels throughout your body until it reaches your brain. From there, it gives you a buzzing sensation that is manifested by feeling relaxed or lightheaded.

When smoking a cigar, you should always remember to do it responsibly. Smoking too many cigars only puts you at risk of developing gum disease, chronic bronchitis, and other serious illnesses.