Just Let it Die

Cigars vary in their ability to be smoked down to a nub.  Some cigars remain amazing consistent, with great flavor right past the band, until you are burning your finger tips.  Other blends are less accommodating and may even begin to lose their optimal flavor around the halfway mark.  When you finally call it quits, do everyone a favor, and let the cigar die with dignity. 

All you need to do is leave it sitting on the edge of the ashtray or tip it in and leave it be.  This is the correct way to extinguish a cigar.  When you leave it for dead, it may continue to smolder for some time, but it will be a very modest amount of smoke, until it subsides completely.  The single greatest mistake, and a considerably inelegant way to put your stogie out, is to grind it out as though it were a lowly cigarette.  Cigars are refined, and dignified, deserving an elegant and regal farewell.  Leave it in silence and it will slowly fade into a fond memory of a great blend.  Try to snuff it out, Marlboro man style, and you are asking for a smoky disaster, more like a brush fire rather than the last breaths of a premium stick.