Consistency by vitola?

[Benson]

Hey all, FOH’s 49 NRW weekend had me smoking a MC Petit Edmundo and a Trinidad Vigia, and both happened to be underfilled, squishy and wide open draw.

I’ve had plugged cigars in all sizes, but i was surprised to have two back to back underfilled sticks. It got me to thinking ( as probably any newbie chasing consistency out of Cuba) Is there a size of cigar you find to be more consistent, regardless of who makes it? Maybe petit coronas just work better than these hand cannons?

Just looking for any observations/opinions. Cheers and to your good health.

[Bijan]

Depends what type of draw you like. I find petit coronas and under more often draw tight than loose. And Robustos and up more often draw loose than tight. But so much varies box to box that that's just a very general observation.

[LordAnubis]

I look at it in terms of percentages... when you're rolling a Petite corona, its hard to tear off half a leaf of the three leaves you use to roll the cigar... but when you're rolling a jaw breaker, its easy jsut to leave out one of the 8 leaves you put in to roll the cigar... rollers gotta do their bit for cost savings right  

[KavalanWhisky]

2 hours ago, Benson said:

Hey all, FOH’s 49 NRW weekend had me smoking a MC Petit Edmundo and a Trinidad Vigia, and both happened to be underfilled, squishy and wide open draw.

I’ve had plugged cigars in all sizes, but i was surprised to have two back to back underfilled sticks. It got me to thinking ( as probably any newbie chasing consistency out of Cuba) Is there a size of cigar you find to be more consistent, regardless of who makes it? Maybe petit coronas just work better than these hand cannons?

Just looking for any observations/opinions. Cheers and to your good health.

Funny you mention the Vigia, I've had numerous boxes but literally my first box I bought of them had the most underfilled cigars I was almost able to close my fingers together, terrible smoke and canoed like crazy.  I almost questioned if they were fakes but did get them from a reputable source so just chalked it up to cuba. I almost didn't smoke another until I was given one by a friend and then saw what they were all about and so I got back on buying more but I'm always wary of Vigia's.

 

[kawaii]

I find the wider ones tend to loosen up as it goes. Wide Churchills, Vigias both had this issue.  Meanwhile, my PLPCs and other smaller gauge ones run towards the "tighter" end.  My most consistent vitola is probably robusto but I primarily rely on my RASS/D4 as the basis for my experience there.

[El Presidente]

Robusto has been the most draw consistent for me. 

it is probably the easiest to roll as well. 

[NSXCIGAR]

I can't think of the last Marevas I had with a tight draw. I do get a much larger percentage of Minutos with tight draws however.

I would agree with Rob, Robustos are pretty problem-free as are Hermosos No. 4. I don't smoke a lot of Robustos but I've blown through about 6 boxes of La Fuerza (50 RG) this year and I've had a tight draw on 1 cigar I believe. So well under a 1% failure rate. And construction and burn have been terrific. Same with Connie 1 and Famosos. I would say about a 1% failure rate on those as well. 

Consistency is important to me. I've been smoking CCs long enough to know when you get an above average cigar that has a 1% failure rate, go deep. I would say 75% of what I smoked this year is La Fuerza, Connie 1 and Famosos. 

[mprach024]

Agree on robustos but have also had great fortune with Corona Gordas performing well the last year plus.  
 

Would love to see @Elpresidente and Ken give that size a shot at the video reviews, so many good cigars to choose from.  JL1, HDM E1, PP, Sig IV, Mag46

[RDB]

I reckon DCs are about the most consistent. They are all pretty prestigious, and the ring gauge is not too small (for plugs) or wide (for wind tunnels).

Skinnies are surely the worst offenders. Even the top marcas are often tight rolls.

[KCCubano]

I would rather have a tighter draw than a loose one. The former can be fixed most times unless totally plugged. Dryboxing, Perfecdraw and maybe some fridge time will do the trick for me. Have recent PLPC and some minutes that I fix this way. Rarely have had plugged Robustos. The latest shorter fatties I have in humi have had loose draw issues. I start out with X cut with exacto knife on these. Hoyo PR, MMC and RJPR etc. 

[Toast & Taste]

I agree that robustos are the most consistent and trouble free vitola.

 

Big Al 

[La_Tigre]

10 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Robusto has been the most draw consistent for me. 

it is probably the easiest to roll as well. 

I’ve often wondered about this question with so many RG/length options. One would expect that certain RG/length would naturally be more draw friendly/easy to roll based on the average thickness of tobacco leaf. Sadly for us, Robusto is one of our least favorite vitolas. 

[SmokyFontaine]

I too have a box of Vigia's that I assume to be unbelievably underfilled. I don't intentionally purchase cigars of that ring gauge, but I suspect we may have sourced ours the same way. Having said that, the first half of the three cigars I've smoked have been phenomenal, then I have to pinch it a bit to tighten the draw which starts to heat it up more than I want, but the flavor has been incredible!