Your Plug Rate per box of 25 2010 + Stock?

[nikesupremedunk]

Those of you that are having a lot of plugged issues, maybe it's time to lower the RH or recalibrate the hygro. When starting out I had many plugged and very tight drawing cigars. (Or so I thought) After keeping them in low 60's (~63%) I rarely have any problems now. Once in a while I get one that's very tight drawing, but rarely had any that are completely plugged.

[UpInSmoak]

My biggest complaint construction wise as of late - too loose.

[finecigar]

Those of you that are having a lot of plugged issues, maybe it's time to lower the RH or recalibrate the hygro. When starting out I had many plugged and very tight drawing cigars. (Or so I thought) After keeping them in low 60's (~63%) I rarely have any problems now. Once in a while I get one that's very tight drawing, but rarely had any that are completely plugged.

Ya I actually just ordered a few new hygros just to be certain, but the majority of my cigars sit at 64-67%, and NCs at 70 in separate humidor. But I think a few boxes I have had that have had severe draw issues were just duds in the bunch, that's what i get for buying blind, I find that quality and appearance have a lot to do with the draw- at least from what I've experienced. Never ever have had a draw issue from a box purchased here at FOH.

[backslide]

I haven't had a plugged cigar in ages, maybe 4+ years. The last one I remember was a Diplo #2 from 2004

[Hohenthal]

From '10 on, no plugged cigar yet,

the one I threw out was underfilled with a hopeless burn and tasted like...

I'd rather not say.

[TheBaron]

Plugless thus far. Touch wood.

[westg]

Lucky I guess draw and burn have been good on cubans

[Blakes]

I had a couple of box's of either 2010 or 2011 Luci's... can't quite recall but i do remeber they had the same codes. I got 3 or 4 excellent cigars out of each box.. construction, looks, flavour etc.. some of the best.

BUT the rest of the each box had issues.. some seemed to be very tight around the band area.. almost to the point of been plugged but not quite, others seemed to be great but suffered the same issues as the tight ones when smoked.. maybe with these some of the filler had got twisted during the rolling process and cut off the cigar internally, sort of "strangulating" the cigar slightly.. whoknows.

Smoking these cigars was abit of a chore, struggling to get a decent mouthfull of smoke, the flavour became "strained" wrappers bust open on the tight ones etc.. you get the picture.

The strange thing was though.. i was still left thinking IF the construction was like the good ones in the box they all would have just been as good....

[winelover]

Actually doing a experiment with some brothers and keeping track of every cigar smoked since 1/1/13. Some guys just smoke cc some both and some just other than cc. This doesn't represent 2010 production forward but give a good idea of what's going on. Me personally I have had 2 tight cigars that were still smokable all year out of about 90 cigars smoked. Have also had several under filled post 2010 production

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I like it too but no column for wind tunnel?

[Munts]

ARGH!! Boli PCs have been my nemesis this year! Several boxes, several problems....

Interesting... as the plugged ones that i can recall.... have been BPC's as well.

[anacostiakat]

Don't keep any kind of track of this sort of thing. However, I would have to say that there have been few outright plugged cigars in memory for those years.

Now, the occurance of tight cigars is a little higher. Not many but enough to make an impression. I will try Rob's advice on sticking them in the fridge for an hour or two prior to smoking.

[bolivr]

Low occurrence for me, 1 or 2%

[bassman]

I'll get a rare tight draw, but the last plugging problem I've had was a box of 07 Partagas 898s. Over half were unsmokable.

[Hemsworth]

It's interesting that I am reading about tight/ plugged BPC's. The three or four that I have smoked from a recent box have all been wind tunnels.

[Lotusguy]

1% or so for plugged but significantly more (maybe 3% or so) underfilled. I voted for much the same.

[Loonytoony]

I think we need to say thx to rob.

Before i bought cigars from rob i got quite a few more wind tunnels and pluged ones.

It seems robs selection process makes it an epic win for us.

Thx rob keep up the good work.

[EuroTrash]

I've had some terrible luck lately. In the past month I've had a Siglo I that was cement, a plugged Party Short, Hoyo Plamas, Monte Especial 1, Half Corona...I'm sure there are a few more I'm forgetting. These are not just snug, but complete trash. I think it may be partially my fault for not resting them enough after shipping.

[Orion21]

I've had some tight draws (exclusively on 46rg and smaller), nothing new has been plugged. HOWEVER . . . .

I have seen it mentioned a few times in this thread that rate of under filled cigars has gone WAY up. The most disappointing have been the BHK's, just pure Padron wind tunnel goodness. But the majority of the new production has been good. I can't really complain.

[Onsto]

Generally good luck with regards plugging, a few issues with PCs since 2010 (mostly BPC, but its a regular smoke in my rotation so there's a volume bias). I find cutting them and returning them to the humidor for a couple of weeks usually does the trick, but will try the refrigerator next time I find one.

There is definitely selection bias here though - I avoid buying Cuban skinnies (anything below 42rg) because the known incidence of construction issues guides my decision making.

I've also started to stay away from recent production robustos because the underfilling here is through the roof (maybe 10%+ in my recent experience) and I just hate a hot burning wind-tunnel of a cigar. Based on this I would say that the construction maybe hasn't improved that much, it's just that the tendency is to under rather than over-fill these days because it creates less complaints.

[ramon_cojones]

I am the plugged cigar king. To me a very tight draw belongs in the same camp as a plugged one and I'm not talking about rafael gonzales firm draws which I like. My rh in the aristocrat is in the very low 60s which is the only way I will smoke my cigars and still I have had a rather high incidence of plugged sticks from 2010 on.

Here is my list:

-lusis in 10 cts, I will absolutely never buy any lusis again I'm thrown out the majority from each box, diff codes, both from 2010...I have never had any issues with any other dcs or churchills but lusis will always remain my nemesis, fortunately I don't care for the flavor profile so no loss there

-upmann 2s, i've never had more bizarre burn/draw issues than from 2010 2s, some will have a firm draw but hardly any smoke volume no matter how hard i huff and puff, after ten minutes of this i will toss it...so far about half of the box has been this way, also had 3 plugs in this box that went straight into the fire pit

-2010-2012 d4s, as much as I love this cigar and keep buying them my string of bad luck continues...a couple of plugs, a bunch of firm draws, inconsistent flavors from cigar to cigar with some of them being great and others being meh within the same box, same bizarre burn issue as the hu2s which I suspect is twisted tobacco with no linear air channels

-2010 jl2, a few from my box had very firm draws that impeded my enjoyment dramatically so I thought it would be worth an honorable mention

I rarely get wind tunnels but when I did it was always with bbfs I split with a buddy of mine. Those are irritating as well but a much better situation than a plug. No issues with my favorite marca RA, I think I had a couple of firm rass that opened up. Oh I did have a VR maestro that I love which I got a sampler from Rob that I had to toss two of the three so that was no fun LOL!! So it appears that I've had the most trouble with 2010s with the exception of d4s, so things are definitely on the uptick for me. No issues with my other upmanns, cohibas or partagas really or thin gauge cigars which I am not scared of haha.

edit- maestros were 07 or 08 my apologies

[Hugomarink]

I seem to have worse luck than most in this area, perhaps because I find a "very tight" cigar that is a chore to smoke no different than a plugged cigar. If it's too tight I will usually chuck it unless I can get it to loosen up. In my experience, robustos generally perform the best with corona gordas and pyramids/torpedoes also being generally reliable. I've had terrible luck with long and skinnies, churchills, and double coronas so I don't even bother anymore. They almost always seem plugged or tight to me. Petit coronas are hit or miss. Sometimes you get a box that's great and another time you get a box that's mostly tight/plugged.

I definitely look forward to trying Rob's refrigerator trick. After almost 20 years of cigar smoking I've never heard of doing that before, but I will give it a go next time I have some tight or plugged cigars on my hands.

[RonHuber]

I've had really good luck with robustos but PCs are another story. Recent Bolivar PCs have been particularly troublesome. I had one box that I'd guess 5 of the sticks had really tight draws. I'm looking forward to trying the fridge trick to see if I can save them.

[beamer]

Interesting re: the BPC.

I find that and the BRC to be two of the most consistent cigars in my humidor.

[canadianbeaver]

Lots of good and bad, yet I am still the only 1 vote at the bottom?

[str8dog]

For those with plugged cigars.

I implore you that if the draw is too tight for your liking, put them in a fridge for an hour or two. Works miracles

Rob, do you put them in a ziplock, or just set them au naturel on the rack to dry a bit as well as cool down?