I recently had a chance to meet up with an old buddy in Miami, havnt seen hime for quite awhile. We sat back after dinner to enjoy a good smoke, I had a few Opus x Chateau, the ones that are wrapped in cedar. I cut mine and lit it, passed my cutter and lighter, he cuts it and kinda rolls up the cedar sparked it then used that to lite the cigar.

Has anyone else heard of this, Ive been smoking for awhile and have never seen or done this?

Cedar contains small amount if Silica, I would think that the fumes would not be wise to ingest, besides I like my cigars to taste like cigars not burnt cedar.

Let me know if this is just me turning a blind eye to some wierd tradition.

Stickbuild

It's you turning a blind eye to a long established tradition ... with some cigar smokers.

Actually, it'd be more accurate to say that it's you simply being unaware of it ... and like charring the foot before lighting the cigar, it's really more than just tradition ... it imparts flavor to the cigar that many find pleasant

My local cigar bar has splints of thin cedar (gotten from cigars like these and/or boxes) near every ash tray along with wooden matches just for this purpose. I don't personally use them but some do. They say it's a cleaner flame than a ligher or matches. To each their own.

I wouldn't worry about Silica (SiO2), in it's purest form it's nothing more than glass. Found naturally in nearly every rock and on every beach (aka sand) It won't burn or give off fumes in this application. You'll need a much hotter flame to break it down.

Oops, sorry, my alter ego Materials Engineering geek slipped out. "You, back in your cage! Work is over for today and I don't want to see you until tomorrow!"

I've only encountered that 'glassy' flavor in certain, rare ISOMs. I hear some Dominican manufacturers actually doctor sticks with ground up glass to try and immitate it.

Heck ... every decent cigar has been aged in cedar rooms, are kept in cedar boxes, humidors are cedar lined, most of the best cigars even have a cedar sleve around it ... etc., etc., etc.

Lighting it with a cedar stick, only enhances the experience ... and keeps the cedar flavor alive!

Isn't that why the best B-B-Q'ers in the world have that 'special wood' they use to smoke their finest cuts of meat ?!?

Well after the verbal abuse.....just kidding, i tried this method.I have to say not really a big fan of it. Oh well to each is own

And no moths will bother you.

I regularly use cedar matches or cedar strips to light my cigars. I think it adds a bit of flavor.

I believe the proper term is a 'spill'. Supposedly the individual cedar wrapping was intended so you would have a spill for each cigar, along with its attendant aging characteristics (also supplied as dividers, and top layers in many boxes). Every so often you can find actual cedar cigar matches. I personally have trouble keeping it lit enough to make it worth the effort, and I think it made more of a difference when most cigars were ultra-mild, and just about anything you did affected a cigars flavor. I still use it occasionally, when I'm going all out on the ritual for a special cigar, or situation.