Learn · Smoking Basics

Cigar Accessories You Actually Need

Updated 2026-08-28 · by Eric

Three purchases cover the entire job: something that cuts, something that lights, and something that holds humidity. Everything else on the accessory wall is either earned later or shelf decoration.

The need list is three items long

A cheap double-guillotine cutter, a soft-flame lighter, and a two-way humidity pack in a freezer bag. That's the whole load-out, it costs under $20, and the beginner cigar kit walks through buying it. Nothing below this line is required to smoke cigars well. The rest of this page sorts the wall the shop will try to sell you anyway.

Earned later: gear that solves a problem you actually have

Each of these is worth owning the day its problem shows up, and not before:

An airtight tub and more packs. The moment the hobby sticks and the freezer bag gets crowded. Your first humidor covers why the tub beats the wooden box, and two-way humidity packs do the maintenance. The Boveda review is the shelf's own long-term test.
A hygrometer. Only once there's a container worth monitoring... and then calibrate it before trusting it.
A torch lighter. Wind and a soft flame don't mix, so a deck or golf habit earns the upgrade. The shelf's pick at the budget end is the Guevara Lux single-flame, rated Buy Again at around $20... and a can of decent butane rides along with any torch.
A travel case. For actual travel. A zip-top bag with a pack covers most trips first, and traveling with cigars covers when the rigid case earns its slot.
The fixer's pouch: a draw tool and cigar glue. Cheap insurance against a plugged stick or a lifting wrapper. Fixing a tight draw and cigar glue and field repairs cover when each one eats its keep.

The skip pile

Expensive cutters. The Xikar Xi2 Hero rated Wouldn't Buy at $60 on this site. The $7 double guillotine has to die first, and it mostly refuses to.
Multi-jet flamethrowers. More jets means more fuel burned and more scorched wrappers, not better lighting. The Rockwell quad torch rated Wouldn't Buy at $23.50.
Cigar stands and nubbers. The edge of an ashtray is a cigar stand. A toothpick is a nubber.
A dedicated ashtray, mostly. A deep, heavy ashtray with a wide rest is genuinely nicer outdoors... and any thrift-store version does the same job as the $80 branded one.
Wooden humidors as a first storage buy. Seasoning, seal risk, real money. The tub does the job better for a tenth the price.

What actually gets carried

Pared down to what leaves the house, the carry is three things: a cutter, a lighter, and a draw tool. The draw tool is the one that surprises people... it earns its place faster than most of the earned-later list, because a plugged cigar is the field problem nothing else solves. The PerfecDraw rated Buy Again on this site for exactly that reason. Glue rides along as insurance and usually never leaves the bag... the PerfecRepair glue, also Buy Again, is ten dollars and one bottle lasts years. Round it out with a freshly filled lighter (a second one along if the first is only half full) and a sealed container for the sticks, whether that's a two-way pack in a zip-top bag or a small tub. Nothing else on the wall makes the bag.

Keep reading

From the humidor When I travel I always have a cutter, a lighter, and a draw tool. The lighter is freshly filled before I go... if one's borderline I just drain it and put fresh butane in, since a can of butane lasts forever, or I throw a second lighter in the bag and make sure one of them is full. I bring glue just in case, but I rarely need it. I'm on a trip right now and didn't even bother packing it. The draw tool is the opposite: it has saved me way more times than it ever cost me to buy, so that one always comes. And whatever you carry it in, you need some kind of storage... a Boveda bag, a freezer ziploc, a little Tupperware Brilliance box, or a bigger foam-sealed tupperdor if you want to bring more. That's the whole kit for me.