Torch Lighters in Morocco: Lighting a Cigar, Fuel and Windy Terraces

Lighting is the last gesture before the first puff, and the first that can spoil everything. A foot set alight unevenly burns crooked for half an hour; a flame laden with impurities can be tasted down to the final third. If the torch flame has won over aficionados within a generation, it is no matter of fashion: it is simply the tool that best answers what lighting a cigar actually demands.

What a proper light must accomplish

Lighting a cigar is not setting fire to it: it is bringing the entire surface of the foot (wrapper, binder and filler together) to a uniform glow, without charring the tobacco or lending it any foreign taste. Three constraints follow:

1. Heat: the foot of a cigar is dense; it takes a source energetic enough to ignite it in depth, not merely at the surface.
2. Precision: the rim of the foot must glow right to the edge without the flame licking the wrapper beyond it: a centimetre of scorched wrapper is paid for in bitterness.
3. Neutrality: everything that burns near the tobacco ends up in the smoke. The fuel must vanish without a trace.

Judged by that standard, the classic solutions show their limits. The yellow flame of an ordinary gas lighter is soft and broad, sensitive to the slightest breath, and its incomplete combustion leaves deposits. The petrol lighter, whatever its prestige, steeps the first puffs in hydrocarbons. The match remains honourable, sulphur burned off first and several at a time, but calls for three hands the moment there is any wind.

What the torch does better

A torch flame is a flame of complete combustion: the butane is mixed with air under pressure before being ignited, as in a miniature blowtorch. The result is a blue jet flame, dense and short, that changes everything:

• Around 1,300 °C (≈ 2,370 °F), against 800 to 1,000 °C for a yellow flame: the foot ignites in seconds, evenly, even on a gordo.
• A directional jet: the heat goes where you point it and nowhere else; the wrapper is spared, and toasting becomes a gesture of precision.
• No residue: the complete combustion of butane produces essentially nothing but carbon dioxide and water vapour. Nothing to taste.
• Indifference to wind: where yellow flame and match surrender, the pressurised jet holds its line on a terrace.

The flip side of that power: a torch chars quickly. The golden rule is to heat at a distance, the foot held two to three centimetres from the core of the jet and never inside the flame.

The ritual: toast, then light

Regulars speak of toasting the foot before lighting it, the way you toast a slice of bread: warming and drying the surface to prepare an even burn.

1. Hold the cigar at 45 degrees above the flame, foot towards you, without bringing it to your mouth.
2. Toast the rim: run the jet around the edge of the foot, turning the cigar between your fingers, until a grey-white ring appears around the circumference.
3. Work towards the centre with the same circular motion; the foot should glow without any flame catching on it.
4. Now bring the cigar to your lips and draw gently, the flame two centimetres away, still turning. Two or three puffs are enough.
5. Check: blow softly on the foot; the glow should be uniform. A dark patch? Touch it up on its own, with one pass of the jet.

Thirty seconds of ceremony that spare you ninety of corrections: a cigar properly stored and properly lit burns straight, untouched, down to the final third. And if the draw feels tight despite a fine light, the diagnosis often traces back to the cut.

The fuel: where breakdowns begin

Almost every tantrum a torch lighter throws comes from the tank, not the mechanism. Two rules take care of it:

Use only refined butane. Supermarket refills carry oils and impurities that gradually clog a jet’s micro-nozzles. So-called quadruple-refined refills (or better) cost barely more and keep the nozzles clean for years. The marker is simple: a quality gas advertises “near zero impurities” and is explicitly intended for jet lighters.

Bleed before every refill. With use, air accumulates in the tank and skews the pressure, the number one cause of sputtering flames. Lighter upside down, press the filling valve with a small screwdriver until the hissing stops, then refill, still upside down, in presses of a few seconds. Then let the lighter rest for five minutes: the gas, chilled by the refill, must return to temperature before giving its true flame.

Maintenance: ten minutes a season

• Set the flame as low as it is useful. A two-centimetre jet lights everything; tall flames drain the tank and overheat the lighter’s head.
• Clean the nozzles with dry air (canned air or a firm breath) when the flame turns asymmetric. Never a needle or a paperclip: a scratched nozzle is dead.
• Empty the tank before a long spell without use; gas left sleeping clogs.
• Keep the lighter away from the coin pocket: dust and lint are, along with bad fuel, the leading causes of blockage.
• At altitude, turn the flame down: lower atmospheric pressure makes the jet climb, and a sea-level setting becomes a flamethrower at 2,000 metres.

Choosing your torch lighter

Beyond the number of jets, four criteria make the difference in use: a visible tank (fuel window) so you never set out empty, a standard filling valve compatible with every nozzle tip, a lid that opens well clear of the burners (narrow lids concentrate the heat and burn fingers), and a weight in the hand that invites a calm gesture. The extra functions (built-in cutter, fold-out punch) will get you out of trouble when travelling but rarely replace a proper cutting tool. Well chosen, a torch lighter is also a safe bet among gifts for the cigar lover.

In Morocco: wind, heat and fuel

Three local realities weigh on the choice. The wind: in Morocco a cigar is smoked outdoors — a hotel terrace in Marrakech, a riad patio, the Casablanca corniche, the ramparts of Essaouira where the trade wind never drops — and a single jet spends its time going out. The double jet is the right compromise; the triple is for large formats, rare among the everyday vitolas on the price list. The heat: a lighter forgotten in a car at 50 °C empties itself through the relief valve and loses its flame; keep it in the shade and half full in summer. The fuel: refined butane is not on every shelf, and ordinary lighter gas clogs the nozzles within a few refills; when you find a quality can, take two, and bleed the tank at every fill. For the flight to Marrakech or Agadir, the aviation rule does not change: the torch stays at home, the cedar matches travel. CIGARA is preparing a selection of torch lighters and refined butane for Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech.

One last note on vocabulary for the spec sheets: jet, jet flame, toasting and the rest of the lighting lexicon are gathered in our cigar glossary: better to have them in mind before comparing two models in a shop.