Cigar Doctoring?

IHT said:
I used a small paintbrush to barely apply some certo to the wrapper. i had read that some people use their fingers to smooth it out, and i'll be damned if they weren't right, as it worked terrific. i also found out that if you were gentle enough and the wrapper was able to be gently pushed off the cigar, you could put some certo underneath it and it would hold it on there very well.
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I use my finger to smooth over the wrapper. Works real well, and like IHT said, after a coupla' days you just don't taste the pectin at all.
The key thing is that after appl;ying the pectin, the cigars are a little wet, so you may want to leave them out at toom RH for an hour or two to let the Pectin dry. Seems to work a little better that way.
I have two sticks left from a Partagas Lonsdale Cab. purchased in '98. The tobacconist that shipped it to me reallly didn't take any care with the package at all -- suffered so many splits (which are either caused by rough handling or over humidifying). Anyways, patched many and they all kept well and smoked just fine.
 
This is why even though I like the look of stix in my humi in the nude I keep them in the celo as damage does happen when rotating and inspecting for the Beetle.
 
kenstogie said:
This is why even though I like the look of stix in my humi in the nude I keep them in the celo as damage does happen when rotating and inspecting for the Beetle.
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Yeah, but some sticks don't come in cello...
:D
 
MoTheMan said:
so you may want to leave them out at toom RH for an hour or two
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Huh???
What the heck is toom RH?

or perhaps your just talkin with a mouthful of brownies again Mo?
lol
k
 
drill said:
Huh???
What the heck is toom RH?

or perhaps your just talkin with a mouthful of brownies again Mo?
lol
k
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Aw come on Kerri! Even with a mouthful of Brownies you still know what I'm saying, don't you?! :D
 
bump this, very informitive, but i got a quick question....for anyone really.

i got a lgcr that pretty much looked like it exploded near the foot, looks to be overhumidification. short period where hydrometer went on the fritz and i just kept adding water. (yeah, shoot me :gn ) but i was wondering how the certo would affect the burn/taste. IHT, you just put the stuff on the head, something that wouldn't really burn. where as, if i applied the certo it would the burn would go right through that area of the cigar.

i guess i should just try it anyway, seeing as there's nothing else to do except throw it away. i got nothing to lose. just wondering if anyone has done this before.


thanks.
 
al two said:
just wondering if anyone has done this before. thanks.
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I've used the liquid Certo with good results. Obviously it affects the looks of the cigar, but no biggie. I had a badly damaged box of JL#2's and doctored about 10 of them. Other than some slight burn issues, I couldn't tell the doctored from the non-doctored. I took some pics as well, I'll see if I still have them.
 
al two said:
i got a lgcr that pretty much looked like it exploded near the foot, looks to be overhumidification. short period where hydrometer went on the fritz and i just kept adding water. (yeah, shoot me :gn ) but i was wondering how the certo would affect the burn/taste. IHT, you just put the stuff on the head, something that wouldn't really burn. where as, if i applied the certo it would the burn would go right through that area of the cigar.

i guess i should just try it anyway, seeing as there's nothing else to do except throw it away. i got nothing to lose. just wondering if anyone has done this before.


thanks.
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in one of my last replies, it didn't have an affect on the taste/smoke. and, yes, i even doctored up the feet of these cigars that were damaged, and some were even damaged in the middle of the cigar where it burned through... no problems at all if you let 'em rest a while.

if it is just the foot of the cigar, it's gonna burn pretty soon, so unless it's severe damage, like over an inch, i don't see the benefit.

i would let that cigar rest for a while in a normal RH humi. sometimes the ends swell up so much they can make the cigar plugged.

let us know what you decide and how it turns out.
 
well i was always scared to look at it closely and inspect it. so i'm lookin closely at it now and thinking. ehh could live with it, could try to fix it - my mind's waivering. (see pic 1) but then..........................

yup, you guessed: i BIFFED it totally, as you can see. pretty much fell apart right about the time when i dropped it (see pic 2).


well now i've laid my bed and i will tell you how the first inch of a cigar with wrapper only on one side it smokes. :confused:

thanks anyway guys.
 
Does anyone know what the shelf life of pectin is, after it's opened? I thought this might be something to keep in a small vial to travel with for "first aid" in the event of damage, but I wonder how long it'll last after its been opened and exposed to the air.
 
Hammerhead said:
Does anyone know what the shelf life of pectin is, after it's opened? I thought this might be something to keep in a small vial to travel with for "first aid" in the event of damage, but I wonder how long it'll last after its been opened and exposed to the air.
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I dumped the packet of liquid pectin into a small tupperware container and I keep it in my refrigerator...so far it's lasted for quite a while and still works fine, at least, until someone throws it out without knowing what it is and I have to open another packet of it...and I haven't noticed any alteration of taste in my repaired cigars either...as far as dropping a stick and damaging it as above, you can try and glue it together using the liquid pectin, but in those rare instances I have found that it's easier to just carefully (and I mean very carefully) tear the wrapper off the circumferance of the cigar at that point and light it up...it's not pretty near the foot, but the taste doesn't seem to change and after that first inch or so it's burned down to where the wrapper starts anyways, so it's no great loss and it keeps the cigar from unraveling more...
 
Wow, this post was great!!! I have a couple of cigars that could use a touch up. I will have to give it a try. I remember when they were selling the overpriced vegetable glue in the magazines a few years ago. Sounds like this is a much better way to do it!!!
 
Thanks for the "Doctoring" lesson. I have a few I need to do that to, so I will be going to the store and pick up some Certo.
 
Great info and thanks for sharing, IHT! I had a few sticks which I've been wanting to repair for some time but never got around to doing it. However, last week after receiving a couple of Mag 46's which were unravelling, I decided to play doctor. I had heard about using pectin some time ago so I gave it a try.

It seemed to work very well. However, I haven't smoked any of my repaired smokes yet so the verdict is still out on how I did. At any rate, I'm just glad to hear that the pectin doesn't have any taste because that was my concern.
 
Great thread . Very helpful for future reference . I think I'll have to look for some certo at the market today while I'm there . Just in case . :u
 
Great info, thanks. Just found 5 or so cigars that are in need of doctoring. Tried a search on cracking with no results so I am glad this got bumped and I found it.
 
Great post IHT, I will be saving this to a file so when I have this problem I don't have to curse, build a pyre in the front lawn and burn them up in a fit of rage :mad:
 
IHT said:
last photo, closer up. the one that looks wet on the left was the last one i did. this took me less than 15 minutes to do roughly 11 or 12 cigars.

you can then put what you didn't use in your small sealable container back in the fridge for safe keeping. i barely used any during this entire operation.

i know that this method would work wonders on a loose wrapper, or slight tears in the middle or foot of the cigar. these torpedo heads are probably the worst spot to have to repair.

again, i'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night when i smoke one of the more badly damaged cigars that have been doctored up.
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Thanks for this. I am in need of some repair. I went to the store today and got some Knox gelatin instead of the certo stuff; will that work instead of the Certo? I appreciate the info.
 
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