The smoking room is located in a small two-storey building adjacent to the Flower Hall, which is also connected by a corridor in the middle. On the ground floor of the small building is a family library, and John Ridda leads everyone up to the second floor.

The four walls of the interior are hung with red curtains, and a lone window on the south wall opens to the garden, and only a large bright green shadow can be seen outside the window. It was the canopy of a large tree, and the dense foliage hung there like a green carpet in the brilliant light of the flower hall.

Gao Yi chose a low chaise longue and sat down, the chair surface was also bright red, the same color as the curtain on the wall, the soft spring sank under him, but it just supported his body, which gave him a feeling as if he was sitting in the arms of an obese woman.

Beside him was a low table, with six candles stuck in a large silver candlestick, and under the shadow of the candles were antler cigar cutters of different sizes and shapes. Some are made from whole antlers, while others are just inlaid with antler patches; Some were large and looked like a scimitar unsheathed; Some are only half the size of a palm and can easily fit in your pocket.

But no matter how the shape changes, the heads of these cigar cutters are the same three-hole knife style that was popular in this era. In other words, a cigar cutter can actually make three types of incisions, one is a V-shaped incision at the top of the head, and the other two are round incisions of different sizes on both sides of the head.

Two servants, each holding a humidor, invited the guests to choose a cigar. When it was Gao Yi's turn, he chose an "excellent snow" shape, not because he preferred this style with both ends closed, but because this cigar was the shortest.

In fact, the length of the cigar you choose will give you an idea of how long the party will last. Both the host, John Ridda, and the guest of honor, Keswick, chose cigars that could only be smoked for one hour, which meant that the cigars would last for an hour and a quarter of an hour at most.

It would be embarrassing for him, the guest at the end, to choose a cigar that was thick and long enough to smoke for a night. When the time comes, everyone is out of smoking, only he is left, extinguish it, it seems that someone is driving him away, continue to smoke, it is not necessary for the whole room to watch him swallow the clouds.

Those who choose the cigars are all starting to cut their cigars, most of them using the cigar cutters on the table, and some of them use their own ones. After cutting off the cap, everyone put the cigar in their mouths, inhaled in small sips and turned the cigar to start the fire. In this era, there were no sulphur-free matches specifically produced for cigars, and some people put cedar strips on candles and lit them, while others craned their necks and put their cigarettes directly on the candlesticks and lit them.

Of course, there are people who follow the right approach. Although Keswick also held the cigar in his mouth, he did not inhale, but only used his mouth as a fulcrum, moving the lit cedar wood closer to the end of the cigar, holding a distance of one-third of an inch, and slowly turning the cigar in his mouth, so that the end of the cigar was evenly lit from the edge to the center.

Gao Yi unhurriedly took out three cedar sticks from the tool box on the table, and placed them on the table one by one. Then he did not use a cigar cutter to cut the cap, but took a cedar wood, lit it on the candle, waited for a while, until the flame stabilized, then held the cigar obliquely with the four fingers of his other hand, aimed the end of the cigar at the outer flame of the firewood, and then slowly turned it with his thumb to heat it evenly on the flame.

He didn't cut off one end of the cap of the cigar, he didn't cut the other end either—the "Excellent Snow", a cigar with closed ends, which could be cut or not. But most people will cut it off because by doing so, it will burn to the tobacco part as soon as possible. However, Gao Yi's approach is different.

When the firewood was about to burn to the end and was about to burn his fingers, Gao Yi shook his wrist and extinguished the fire, throwing the remnants into the ashtray on the side.

By this time everyone else had already lit their cigars, some of them had even taken several puffs, and when they saw him as if he didn't know how to light a cigar at all, everyone looked at each other strangely, some put on strange faces, and some were ready to give a reminder - such as Bane and Rida. However, Gao Yi's last trick to extinguish the fire made everyone confused again, because such a sophisticated action really didn't look like a chick could do it.

Gao Yi lit the second cedar tree, and continued the unfinished work before, concentrating on it, and never lifting his head.

"Why don't you cut off the eggplant cap? Are you sure this will ignite it? It was Keswick who spoke, and he frowned, sitting on a brown-and-yellow single cowhide couch.

Gao Yi did not answer immediately, but slowly turned the cigar in his hand a few more times.

"Think about it, when you light cedar wood, the cedar wood smells like it, and whether it's fragrant or not, it's wood, not tobacco. If you cut off the cap, the whole cigar will be like a chimney, and the flavors will go straight into the cigar with the smoke, contaminating the tobacco leaves and causing the flavor of the cigar itself......"

As he spoke, Gao Yi's eyes never left the bottom of the cigar, he kept the cedar wood burning steadily, and kept slowly turning the cigar on the outer flame to ensure that the tail was evenly heated.

"Believe me, this is the advice of a chemist, never cut off the cap before lighting the cigar, as this will speed up the burning, but it is more likely to allow impurities to enter the cigar." After a slight pause, he continued.

It's not that Gao Yi is ashamed to call himself a chemist, after all, this is an era when even elementary school students like Edison can become inventors and scientists, so everyone doesn't feel anything wrong because of his youth.

Soon the second cedar wood was also burned out. After Gao Yi extinguished the flame with the same fancy technique, he lit the third firewood. This time he waited until the flame had stabilized, and then he raised his head for the first time, but he said to the Indian servant who was serving next to him, "Please help me put out the candle." ”

Since there was no one sitting on the sofa next to him, this low table was exclusive to him, and he didn't need to discuss it with anyone, just give it a direct order.

As the servant approached, Gao Yi once again bowed his head and continued his work, but this time with a slight difference, he pulled the ashtray closer to the front and placed it directly below the flames. And the way he holds the cigar is also different from before, no longer lying on the four fingers, but only using the index finger and middle finger as support, when the thumb rotates the cigar, the ring finger flicks the cigar from time to time to flick off the ash generated at the bottom, ensuring that the flame burns directly on the cigar.

The movements are not complicated, but they are very coordinated. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that if it weren't for a lot of practice, it would be impossible to lift as lightly as he is now.

Gao Yi's expression looked more focused, as if a jeweler was completing the final process of a peerless treasure.

It wasn't until the firewood was about to burn out again that he waved his right hand holding the cigar, and an elegant arc of smoke appeared in the air.

Next, Gao Yi unhurriedly let the firewood fall freely into the ashtray, and then picked up a smallest-sized cigar cutter from the table and pointed it at the neat and tidy part of the eggplant cap.

After the eggplant cap fell off, Gao Yi did not directly put the cigar into his mouth, but carefully observed and stroked the broken wound, seemingly disdainful of showing how sophisticated he was, so he was able to accurately cut off the eggplant cap with one knife. Instead, be cautious like a novice, and cut a little less the first time to leave room for correction.

Then Gao Yi cut it with a cigar cutter again, this time he flicked it elegantly with his ring finger, flicked off the debris on the incision, and then put the cigar in his mouth and took a long breath.

His smoking posture was also very different, as he inhaled, the cigar slid into his mouth, and then he pulled it out with his hand, as if he were pulling a cork cork. When the cigar left his lips, a puff of smoke was ripped out of the cigar as if it were substance, and after pulling a straight trajectory in the air, it seemed to hit an invisible wall, and suddenly it was scattered, and then rolled back, and suddenly shrouded Gao Yi's upper body in smoke. At this time, he just exhaled it all in one breath, inhaling the smoke rolled back, and his face was indifferent.

If there was anyone who didn't think of Gao Yi's actions before, then with his cigarette spitting out, everything disappeared. Everyone felt that what they were seeing was the most classic and elegant way to smoke a cigar.

But is it worth the time spent lighting a cigar? Almost everyone has such a question in their hearts.

"There's no better way to light a fine hand-rolled cigar than to sit around with friends and plenty of time to sit around with a glass of single malt Scotch or Konyak brandy in front of you after a tiring day."

As if hearing their hearts, Gao Yi explained slowly.

That's right, what is a cigar? It is a luxury that takes one to two hours, or even an afternoon, to slowly experience and enjoy, and words like "time" and "worthwhile" are meaningless to it.