Using a match, or better yet, a lighter, light one end of the cigar, blowing on it so that the entire section is incandescent and burns evenly.
This is dried mugwort so it makes smoke.
HOW TO USE:
Carefully bring the glowing tip of the stick, keeping it perpendicular, to the precisely localized point you want to treat, and keep it at a distance of about 5 cm.
You should feel the heat gradually penetrating; it should be a gentle sensation, not a harsh one, which gradually intensifies until it becomes unpleasant. This threshold is usually reached in about 30 seconds, but the time obviously depends on each individual's sensitivity.
Before you even feel pain, you need to move the stick away for a few moments to reduce the intensity of the heat. Then you bring it closer again, still about 5 cm away, for a shorter time, until the unpleasant sensation returns. Another short pause and so on.
The process is repeated several times until the area being applied becomes warm or hot and begins to redden. From that point, the moxa application is effective and the session can end. This effect is generally achieved in about 3 minutes. Obviously, however, everything depends on the length of exposure to the heat and the length of the pause—in short, on the individual's pain threshold and sensitivity.
Finally, after use, simply extinguish the stick under cold water, ensuring it no longer releases smoke and that the ash is cold. This way, however, you can't relight it for at least 48 hours.
It would therefore be better to put it out by smothering the embers, for example by placing it in a glass container with a diameter slightly larger than that of an empty medicine bottle, or in an ashtray filled with sand, or even in one of those metal tubes in which cigars are sold.
