Cigars Pitting

S

SlimDiesel

Evolving Lead Gorilla
Veterans of the cigar world, HELP! I am relatively quite new to smoking cigars and would like some help with one issue that pisses me off. At times after I ash once or twice (about 1-2 inches) my cigar will start pitting and the wrapper doesn't seem to stay lit. If anybody can throw some info my way I would greatly appreciate it.
 
If cigar doesnt stay lit it may be over Humidified. Is your humi above 70% ?

Maybe you are taking to long in between puffs or not getting a full draw when you puff and cigar is going out.
 
SlimDiesel said:
Veterans of the cigar world, HELP! I am relatively quite new to smoking cigars and would like some help with one issue that pisses me off. At times after I ash once or twice (about 1-2 inches) my cigar will start pitting and the wrapper doesn't seem to stay lit. If anybody can throw some info my way I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Could you explain what you mean by pitting? Are you running across voids (empty areas) in the filler? This is very annoying but it isn't anything you are doing; blame it on the roller and if the brand does it consistantly find a new cigar.

This is oversimplified, but if your cigar is Coneing, IE if a bunch of filler is left beind the wrapper and the light end of the cigar has sort of a < shape, you may be smoking it too quickly. If the filler is burning ahead of the wrapper, this is known as tunneling and you could be smoking too slowly - shape will be sort of > on the burning end. A bad roll and/or humidification issues can also lead to Coneing and Tunneling as well.

give us a bit more info and we'll offer up advice

-Matt-
 
If you are referring to what looks like holes down the length of the cigar when you look at the ember head on after you ash, what you are seeing is where the stems were in the filler. The stem will burn slightly faster than the actual leaf which can cause what you are referring to.
 
SlimD

Sounds like a tunneling problem. Your cigars may be too wet, causing the wrapper not to stay lit.

Make sure your hygrometers are calibrated correctly.

What RH are you stroring your cigars?
Did you buy them from a local shop or from an internet site?
How long have they been in your humi?

You may want to ash every 1/2 to 3/4 inches or so and purge when you do ash, this helps the burn correct itself and may stop the tunneling before it becomes a problem. You can purge with or without a lighter.

I assume you are lighting the cigar correctly b/c you say the wrapper burns right from the start and then goes out....incorrect lighting can lead to burn problems also...maybe, maybe not in your case.

Hope this helps.

This does happen to me also, I just touch-up and purge every so often no big deal unless it happens to EVERY cigar.
 
Txmatt hit it on the head, tunneling was the term I was thinking of. It seems if I take more puffs it just adds fuel to the fire. My problem might be with not letting them sit in my humi to relax.

Sorry about the poor description. I buy all my cigars at local shops and it's mainly the ones I don't let sit in the humi at least a couple days and smoke right away that do it. My humidor is chillin at 70-75 degrees at 70-72% right now. Most of the time though if the humidity isn't at 75% my cigars seem a little dry. Of course I'm in Arizona where the humidity is 5-10% all the time.

Thanks for the pointers guys, hopefully one of your suggestions work. You guys ROCK!
 
Sounds like your cigar's wrapper is wet if smoking harder only compounds the tunneling problem. Asbestos wrapper syndrome; were you smoking an EL? :D
Mayorga is a cigar I really like the taste of but it typically has poor wrapper burn. Some cigars are worth dealing with this but if most of your cigars are doing it I think we can blame the storage environment I would say get the RH down to below 70 and let the cigars sit for a few weeks. You might just need to occasionally touch up the wrapper a bit while you smoke until they dry out a bit. You could also try a dry box, there was a thread about them last week.
 
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