In this paper, we construct asymptotic N-wave solutions for the nonplanar Burgers equation as t → ∞ via a balancing argument. These constructed asymptotics are compared with the approximate solutions of the nonplanar Burgers equation obtained by an approach due to Parker (Acoust. Lett. 4 (1981)). We also present a computationally convenient form for the N-wave solution of the nonplanar Burgers equation modifying Sachdev et al.'s (Stud. Appl. Math. 103 (1999)) approach. The asymptotic N-wave solutions obtained by balancing argument and modification to Sachdev et al.'s approach are validated by a careful numerical study. © 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.