Phase 1: Core Six
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Cigars
Finally, a cigar book that actually makes sense. Nearly three decades of factory knowledge, blind-tasting data, and straight answers. No gatekeeping. No pretension.
Lifestyle & Culture
Phase 1: Core Six
Lifestyle & Culture
The People, Places, and Rituals That Make Cigars Worth Smoking
Miguel's father, Gerardo, smoked cheap cigars on a screened porch every night for thirty years. No lounge memberships. No Instagram account. No humidor. He understood something most of us forget: the cigar isn't the point. The pause is the point. This book is about that pause and the people who share it.
Launches 2026-03-17. Drop your email and we will tell you the day it goes live on Amazon.
Inside this book
- How to navigate cigar lounges (from your first visit to becoming a regular)
- The truth about herfs, events, and cigar culture
- How online communities changed everything for better and worse
- What makes a great pairing (and why rules are mostly nonsense)
- How to create your own smoking space at home
- The unwritten etiquette rules that actually matter
- How women are reshaping an industry that ignored them for too long
- Why travel, festivals, and cigars go together
About the author
Miguel Solano
Lead Author, The Modern Cigar Library
Miguel Solano started smoking cigars in 1997 when his friend Augusto Reyes handed him a Fuente Hemingway Short Story at a lounge in Coral Gables. That cigar changed his life. Since then he has built a career in the premium cigar industry that has taken him to factories in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, to fermentation warehouses in Cuba, and to every PCA trade show since the late 1990s. He consults with boutique producers, maintains relationships with distributors and retailers across the Americas, and writes the books he wishes had existed when he was learning. He lives in South Florida with his wife Liliana, who manages the spreadsheets that track his cigar spending, and their cigar friends who fill the screened porch his late father Gerardo used to sit on every night.
More about Miguel SolanoCommon questions about Lifestyle & Culture
Do I need to be a regular smoker to enjoy this book?
No. The book is about the culture and community around cigars, which is accessible whether you smoke once a year or every night.
Does it cover lounge etiquette for someone who has never been?
Yes. There's a complete first-visit guide including what to wear, what to order, how to tip, and how to read the room.
Other books in the Phase 1: The Core Six series
Phase 1: Core Six
Tobacco Science & Origins
Why does a Padrón taste like cocoa while a Liga Privada hits like dark chocolate ganache? The answer is tobacco science. Most cigar books skip it.
Phase 1: Core Six
Brands & Pairing Guide
There are over 1,000 cigar brands. Most are mediocre. Some are exceptional. A few are legendary. This guide is the filter.
Phase 1: Core Six
Storage & Collecting Manual
Most cigar storage advice is outdated, overcomplicated, or flat-out wrong. This manual is the system Miguel wishes he had read twenty years ago.
Phase 1: Core Six
Industry Intelligence Report
The premium cigar industry is a $10 billion global market most people don't understand. This report tells you what's actually happening and why it matters.
Get launch notifications
Drop your email and we will tell you when Lifestyle & Culture goes live, plus updates on the rest of the series.