Why is the ash of some cigars white?
There are actually several contributing factors that affect the color of the cigar’s ash. First, the soil in which the tobacco was grown has the most impact on the ash color. Specifically, tobacco stemming from soil with a high magnesium content tends to yield a whiter ash, while tobacco grown in soil where magnesium is not the predominant mineral yields a darker ash. To a lesser extent, the curing of the tobacco also has an affect. When a cigar doesn t produce a white ash, it can mean that there are particles that didn t burn all the way the tobacco wasn t fully fermented or properly treated in order to have full combustion. Age may also play a role. Min Ron Nee, one of the world’s leading collectors of Havanas and THE leading expert on cigar aging, believes that a white ash simply means near complete combustion. (Think of a completely burned campfire.) According to him, if a cigar burns a darker ash, it means that the tobacco is leaving un-burnt organic material in the ash. In his ex
