The draw thread

[El Presidente]

Let us know of your experience 

Let's see how your experience compares to others  

[Monterey]

  In dedication to Mike Lindsey, choice #3 should include "Send them to @Bijan"  How many plugged cigars did he send him?

Damn plugs.  I go thru like 15 boxes of a cubans a year, and in all that time I ONCE had a cuban with a loose draw.  In 20+ years.  And it was a KSA cigar!  So I don't get the issue with loose draws.  Cubans are the kings of plugs.   But I seem to get more plugs than others.  It's not my humidity settings or other issue, it is just my bad luck.

 

[El Presidente]

14 minutes ago, Monterey said:

  In dedication to Mike Lindsey, choice #3 should include "Send them to @Bijan"  How many plugged cigars did he send him?

Damn plugs.  I go thru like 15 boxes of a cubans a year, and in all that time I ONCE had a cuban with a loose draw.  In 20+ years.  And it was a KSA cigar!  So I don't get the issue with loose draws.  Cubans are the kings of plugs.   But I seem to get more plugs than others.  It's not my humidity settings or other issue, it is just my bad luck.

 

I think a lot of it is personal tolerance. It is the only way to explain polling variability no matter how many times it is done. 

Pre lighting cigars on  the deck I will have a guy say the draw is tight.  I take the cigar off him and draw through the foot. it is fine. 

Ken is notorious. He has lungs like a 95 year old woman with a lifetime habit of 50 fags a day.  If he says a cigar is "tight" it is absolutely perfect. 

I don't like tight cigars. I have no issue  cutting away the offending section (90% of them are at the foot or band/below) as i would rather have a 50 minute enjoyable experience than a 70 minute struggle. 

Having said that. Out of every 10 cigars.......at most two are "uncomfortably" tight requiring attention. Cigar surgery fixed them.  I can't recall the last true plug. 

Cut early....cut hard 

[HDGSN]

Other than a box of JLS1s that were super tight, underfilling is a chronic problem. Probably half my cigars have to get pinched down in the 2nd half.

[TBird55]

Guess I  am lucky. Rarely have a plugged cigar. Smoke 3 - 5 a day.

[Monterey]

47 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

I think a lot of it is personal tolerance. It is the only way to explain polling variability no matter how many times it is done. 

Pre lighting cigars on  the deck I will have a guy say the draw is tight.  I take the cigar off him and draw through the foot. it is fine. 

Ken is notorious. He has lungs like a 95 year old woman with a lifetime habit of 50 fags a day.  If he says a cigar is "tight" it is absolutely perfect. 

I don't like tight cigars. I have no issue  cutting away the offending section (90% of them are at the foot or band/below) as i would rather have a 50 minute enjoyable experience than a 70 minute struggle. 

Having said that. Out of every 10 cigars.......at most two are "uncomfortably" tight requiring attention. Cigar surgery fixed them.  I can't recall the last true plug. 

Cut early....cut hard 

I get like 2-3 a box that need the perfectdraw.  I made it sound worse than it really is.  My mindset recurrently has shifted to "If Cuba is going to charge me now 500 a box for Monty 2, I expect zero plugs!"  Foolish thinking on my part.

And of the ones I have to use the perfectdraw, 90%+ are wonderful after the surgery.

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, Monterey said:

  In dedication to Mike Lindsey, choice #3 should include "Send them to @Bijan"  How many plugged cigars did he send him?

I think about 35-40, I have 22 left, and I think I've smoked about 15 (most with reviews). I'm definitely due to revisit them now.

 

[TheDonTX]

58 minutes ago, Bijan said:

I think about 35-40, I have 22 left, and I think I've smoked about 15 (most with reviews). I'm definitely due to revisit them now.

 

Wow I remember that draw thread. Amazing stuff! I always wanted to ask but forgot: where do you find the official weight?

[oneizzzz]

2 hours ago, HDGSN said:

Other than a box of JLS1s that were super tight, underfilling is a chronic problem. Probably half my cigars have to get pinched down in the 2nd half.

My doghouse box is Juan Lopez too.  A cab of JL2 from MTS SEP 20.  Super tight.  What's your box code?

[Frinkiac7]

I have had some tight but smokeable Monte 2s from the early 2010s. Other than that, the one culprit that never fails me is the RG Panetelas Extra. Tastes amazing for a c&c when on, but about half the box makes you feel like you are going to suck your front teeth out. 

[Bijan]

2 hours ago, TheDonTX said:

Wow I remember that draw thread. Amazing stuff! I always wanted to ask but forgot: where do you find the official weight?

From CCW:

https://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/cigar/factorynames

(they have a lot of general information, which you can find from their home page)

But as I always say, the official weights are generally for tax purposes so they are always on the lighter end of the spectrum. Cigars tend to vary from 10-15% below official weight up to 30-40% above it.

[Edicion]

3. In your opinion, the best remedy for a tight/plugged cigar is?

Massaging was not an option but I find it works well if there's some obstruction, sometimes you can even hear a crack and the draw is magically better.

[El Presidente]

4 minutes ago, Edicion said:

3. In your opinion, the best remedy for a tight/plugged cigar is?

Massaging was not an option but I find it works well if there's some obstruction, sometimes you can even hear a crack and the draw is magically better.

Good point 

[Ford2112]

The perfecdraw is an absolute life saver.

[Tdm_86]

In general, I don’t come across something that I would deem unsmokable very often. I voted 2 per 25 that I find to draw poorly, which means I have to mess with it. I think a combination of high tolerance and keeping at a good humidity for my conditions helps a lot. A loose draw is fine, I can pace myself. When they get plugged is when I bust out the Perfecdraw, this is not often. So almost never ‘problematic’ to the point a cigar is unsmokable. 

[joeypots]

A lot of draw issues are alleviated by correct RH and time. I haven’t had too many in the last 10-15 years. If a cigar is truly plugged it’ll never draw well. A draw tool will help in a pinch but I’ve found the tool creates a wind tunnel and the cigar will smoke hot. I have terrible luck with PCs. MC#4s to be precise. Beautiful little cigars that are hard as a rock. BPCs have better construction and PLPCs are rarely plugged. Large cigars, like DCs and Churchills almost always draw poorly because they are young and too moist. It can take a big cigar a good while to fully acclimate to a good RH, I prefer about 62%.

[Enduin]

My experience is that the Perfect Draw helps a lot and has saved a lot of cigars from being pitched, especially if the problem is a classic knot around the band area, stem, etc. If the cigar is overstuffed I've had a 50/50 rate of success fixing it, and if it's really overstuffed there is no hope even with major Perfect draw surgery... My worst has been a 1/4 box of RyJ Exibicion No4 that were more than 50% over official weight. Not kidding. Official weight is 10.86g and they were all over 15g. They were so stuffed that just inserting the Perfect draw made the wrapper crack from the pressure. I have to believe that there was a "hold my cerveza" moment at the factory with someone saying "No one can put this much tobacco in a Hermoso No4".

[BrightonCorgi]

I've used the poker with mixed success.  I can for sure see the benefit of giving it a go if the next step is tossing it in the waste basket.  I usually just toss the cigar unless it's "super special".  I don't want the time I smoke cigars to be a chore. 

[Aristwittle]

I’ve found that lowering the humidity levels 62% or under works well for me.  Since I made the change I rarely if ever have a tight drawing stick.

[Ford2112]

I lit up a Boli PC that was tight. Had a plug near the band. And seemed to have burn and construction issues galore. We have high humidity here where I live right now and this cigar didn't fare well. I pitched it at the halfway point. 1st bad one out of this box and I've smoked over 10 already.

[BoliDan]

It's hard to say because it usually depends on the box. I've had boxes where most were plugged and boxes where none of a couple have a tough draw. I'd say the latter is more common

[Islandboy]

16 hours ago, Edicion said:

3. In your opinion, the best remedy for a tight/plugged cigar is?

Massaging was not an option but I find it works well if there's some obstruction, sometimes you can even hear a crack and the draw is magically better.

Agreed...can be pretty effective once the cigar has warmed up.

[PrairieSmoke]

I can tolerate a pretty wide variance in resistance. Where it becomes problematic is when I can’t get the smoke production I’m looking for.
 

I had a RyJ churchill from 19 that fit in this category. The remedy ended up being some massage around the band area after the cigar warmed up a bit. 

[Boxer31]

Definitely less than 10% (I would add just terrible tasters in that category as well). Try to cut off the bad part but if that doesn’t work just pitch. Worst offenders box of Monte 1 (put in back of humidor) and will pull out in a few more. Aged Fonseca seems to be in this as well.  Couple of NC’s in past 6 months which haven’t had issue with NCs in past few yrs. 

[Aristwittle]

I’m smoking, at least trying to smoke a RASS from a LTO Oct 21 box and I have smoked probably 5 thus far and they have all been bitter charred and plugged.  RASS are one of my favorite vitolas, so this box has really been very disappointing thus far.  Frankly unsmokeable. Sigh