An Honest Pairing Guide: Bourbon and Leaf

Most cigar-and-bourbon pairing advice is written by people who want to sell you both. Here is what I have learned drinking and smoking with people who do not care what I buy.

A medium-bodied cigar with a creamy wrapper — a Connecticut-shade Macanudo, a milder Davidoff — wants a wheated bourbon. Weller 12, Maker's Mark Cask Strength, anything Pappy if you have it. The wheat softens the spice and lets the cigar speak.

A full-bodied Nicaraguan — anything Padron, Liga Privada, Oliva V Melanio — wants rye in its bourbon. Four Roses Single Barrel, Booker's, Stagg Jr. The pepper in the rye meets the pepper in the leaf and they make a third thing together that is better than either alone.

Avoid anything peated. Islay scotch and a great cigar will both lose. They are competing for the same room in your mouth.

— Eric Schleien