Determining how the cigar will smoke by weighing it?

[nikesupremedunk]

I just received a fiver of Edmundo Dante 54's and they look fabulous. Upon closer inspection of each cigar, I noticed one was very dense and heavy, while another felt like a feather. I measured them both, the heavy cigar weighed in at 23.7g while the light cigar was only 15.6g. The other 3 sticks were 17.4, 19.0, and 20.8g. I weighed another sublime that I had and it was 19g, so it seems that somewhere around 18-19g is "normal" for this vitola.

Clearly, the one that's 15.6g is underfilled, so would it smoke harsh and too fast? (And possibility of a wind tunnel) On the contrary, would the 23.7g stick have issues from being overfilled? I remember this specific Upmann PC that felt very dense and heavy. It took me over an hour and half to smoke it and had a bit of a tight draw. I've also had some RyJ Short Churchills that were light, wind tunnels, smoked in 50 minutes, and tasted like ash.

So can we determine how a cigar will smoke by simply just weighing it to see if it's over or under filled?

[Rye]

I've heard of this while smoking with friends. Some truly believe that is a good way to judge, and I can't find a flaw in the theory.

[Jeremy Festa]

I think so, to a certain degree. I would also say the moisture content plays a large part also. For example, if 1mL of water weighs 1g the 23.7g Dante may just be a little more moist.

[BradNC]

Just got a box of super ramons and they are all super light weight. The feet look good and the construction feels good but they don't weigh how they look. I tried one and it didn't smoke abnormally and was good.

[Oscar300]

Its a strage feeling picking up a light cigar when your expecting a lead weight, smoke um all and let us know

[garbandz]

You have overlooked a critical possibility here.If you have two cigars from the same source and there is approximately 8 gm difference between a cigar that weighs 15.6 [half] and 23.7 gm [1/3],you could have fakes.

The chance that one of them is over moist is minimal,if they came from the same source.

I would expect the packers would notice extremes of weight and reject the sticks,and since you have these in the same group,perhaps they were re-packed together after examination.

Smoke them,and let us know..........

[Ginseng]

You have overlooked a critical possibility here.If you have two cigars from the same source and there is approximately 8 gm difference between a cigar that weighs 15.6 [half] and 23.7 gm [1/3],you could have fakes.

Not so sure about the fakes angle, but that degree of variation is incredible. I've never experienced such a span of density. Granted, the Dantes is a large cigar and proportional variation will be larger than what you might see in a petite coronas, but that's still pretty extreme. Impossible? Clearly not. Extremely uncommon and very, very improbable coming from a single box.

Wilkey

[Smallclub]

Not so sure about the fakes angle, but that degree of variation is incredible.

Yes. Height grams is the weight of a mareva/petit corona or a long panatela. There are several possible explanations but I'm afraid none of them is reassuring… (I hate underfilled cigars)

[ramon_cojones]

I'm always sensitive to individual cigar weights when I pick them out of a box and heavy or light sticks always worry me. You can pretty much always tell how a cigar will smoke just by feeling the weight and it's not the moistness but the quantity of tobacco varying in them. I had a box of d4s that varied wildly. Light or heavy sticks and very light wrappers make me disappoint.

[Smallclub]

I can deal with heavy sticks. There is nothing to do with sticks that are too light: they will burn too fast, hot, tasteless…

[nikesupremedunk]

They are definitely not fakes, I know that for sure. They are all the same RG and length so weight could've been easily overlooked. Previously, I've had a BHK 54 that was at least a 56 RG and heavier than others. It didn't smoke too well. I'm going to smoke the underfilled one in a few days and see how it smokes. I believe this scenario goes to further demonstrate that this is Cuba being Cuba.

Also, I happened to weigh 6 of the lusi's I had left in a box just for kicks, and found 4 of them to be exactly 17.8g and the other two only a half gram off. I guess the roller was actually awake when rolling these.

[PigFish]

Welcome to Tabacuba's world of quality! The smoker comes first of course, this is until you realize that the best cigars have been culled from the catalogue because they don't look big enough to demand $15 a stick!

Back to the subject at hand, I have weighed 100's if not 1000's of cigars. The comments of water are very targeted and significant. However I have weighed the same boxes of cigars over time and you will still find that cigars can easily vary 30% or more in weight.

Your cigars after all, have been sorted by color, not care, nor quality! The visual aspect of the quality of a cigar is subjective, but it is in fact apparently the only thing that Tabacuba seems to care about. If the ocular nature of the size of the cigar were not the utmost in importance, then we would have better, smaller cigars, with less bands and plainer boxes... the ones that just tasted better, demanding the highest price.

Light cigars rarely smoke well, MHO! The variance in weight, even from water alone, is in my opinion the single biggest reason for cigar inconsistency. With all my interest in cigar storage, there is no means by which the owner can affect the performance of the poorly constructed cigar.

Sorry mate, it looks like you got a crappy box of cigars and had a bad run at the tables.

On a more upbeat bias, no one can judge the individual content of the cigar's heart before tasting it. Cigars, like people should not be judged by the ocular, nor the scale. Each as an individual will bring its merits and shortcomings to the smoking table!!! You won't know their internal qualities until you get to know them personally, and go smoking with one!

Cheers. -Piggy

[Habana Mike]

As always, Senor CerdoPescado's articulate response nets out the topic, distills the essence, and gets right to the heart of the matter.

Smoke the outliers, one of the median and report back!

[nikesupremedunk]

A little update on this matter...

I weighed some of my LGC Immensos for comparison and most of them weighed in at 17.5 grams. I had one that weighed 13.0g so I decided to burn that one tonight.

Punched the cap and immediately I found that it was the biggest wind tunnel I've ever seen. It was no better after lighting it, there was absolutely no resistance and I ended up pitching it an inch in.

I couldn't end the night with a terrible cigar, so I fired up a JL #2 that felt very over filled weighing in around 12.3g. The first third or so was a bit challenging on the draw, but it opened up after and was a delight to smoke. Goes to show that an overfilled cigar is better than an underfilled one, but also shows that weighing the cigar can give you an idea of how it will smoke.

[Rye]

This is interesting me very much, but I haven't owned a little scale since my teenage years...

I might feel guilty by proxy buying one now

[Smallclub]

This is interesting me very much, but I haven't owned a little scale since my teenage years...

You don't need a scale. With experience you will know immediately when a cigar is too light or too heavy – assuming you're familiar with the size. When I pull out a robusto from its cab/box, I can immediately tell if it's a wind tunnel just by weighting it in my hand.

[Rye]

You don't need a scale. With experience you will know immediately when a cigar is too light or too heavy – assuming you're familiar with the size. When I pull out a robusto from its cab/box, I can immediately tell if it's a wind tunnel just by weighting it in my hand.

There is that, for sure. That is the method I've been using to avoid the weird looks when walking into the local head shop in town and asking to buy a scale! ;-)

[nikesupremedunk]

Lol you can just order a scale from amazon or ebay!

Another update on this...so I smoked the ED 54 that weighed 15.6g today. It was definitely very loose drawing as expected, but the flavors I was getting out of it was astonishing. Dried fruits, apricots, and raisins, it was sort of like smoking a fruit cake. It lost the flavors towards the last third and the loose draw made things harsh, but I immensely enjoyed the cigar. The others I'm sure will smoke beautifully, except for the one that's jam packed, it'll be a gamble.

[Ginseng]

Interesting thread. This motivated me to crunch some numbers. I pulled some cigar weight data from Trevor's website and plotted it out. For your perusal. For both quick workups, a simplifying assumption was that the cigars were cylindrical from end to end. Clearly this is an approximation and a particularly bad one for figurados but I wanted to get a rough look out quickly.

The first chart shows relative density in g/cc plotted against ring gauge and length.

The second chart shows a histogram of the same information. Density is strongly skewed toward the low end with an average and median of around 0.29 g/cc. 0.30-0.31 seems to be the target density of Habanos.

Wilkey

[Optic101]

On a more upbeat bias, no one can judge the individual content of the cigar's heart before tasting it. Cigars, like people should not be judged by the ocular, nor the scale. Each as an individual will bring its merits and shortcomings to the smoking table!!! You won't know their internal qualities until you get to know them personally, and go smoking with one!

Cheers. -Piggy

Well said.

[PigFish]

So Wilkey (note to self from another thread) about the chart here. Like, your analysis, it is right on. I like it. There, their, they're is a lot to say about it. Good work my friend.

What really strikes me however, is the uncanny resemblance to Jesus!!! -LOL

[finecigar]

Really interesting topic here guys, a pleasure to read others thoughts on this. I used to weigh individuals from same boxes with varying degrees. I believe that weight is a relevant factor into how it will smoke, definitely. But not the only factor. There is a lot more that goes into if it's good or bad smoke.. It's a jumble really that seemed to leave me confused so I stopped weighing... some wonderful sticks that were extremely light weight while some other equally as memorable ones that tipped the scale ahead of all the others in a given box. I do though tend to stay cautious of those overly light sticks as they aren't as fixable as heavy ones.