Tunneling, please please help!

[James811]

Hi guys, hope you are all ok. I am hoping you can help me with your combined and infinite knowledge. I have only been smoking cigars for a couple of months and have only had about 10 full size premium hand made cigars. I have had problems almost every time with tunneling and therefore burn. I light them 'properly' i.e toast the outer ring of the cigar and dont just blast the face with the flame. I therefore cant see why I continually have problems with tunneling and it drives me crazy as you can taste it going out, I just came in from a Jose L Piedra which has prompted me to write this, I literally had to relight about 5 times!

Any ideas what may be going on??

Thank you, James

[bigbarneyhotdog]

Hi James. How are you storing them and at what humidity? Are you smoking them too quickly? Your looking to taste once a minute approx. Are you lighting the centre at all? I gently blast the face of mine to ensure even lighting then leave for a minute to cool down before sipping.

[James811]

They are in my humidor at spot on 70% but im currently trying to get this down to 65 (which im hoping will happen when I get my delivery soon as there are only about 8 sticks in there). I do give the face one light as i take the first draw just to get it burning then as you said I also leave it to stand for a minute or 2.

Can you spot anything wrong there? Thanks for taking the time to read and respond, its much appreciated

[El Catador]

I just came in from a Jose L Piedra which has prompted me to write this

Am I right in thinking your mostly smoking outdoors?
If so, you may find the (bloody) wind might be partly responsible for your tunneling issues.

Also, if you're storing them at a slighty higher than average humidity, then this too may account for the need for so many re-lights.
(Not helped either by the higher ambient humidity you tend to find outdoors at this time of year).

My two cents... go with a lower humidity, and (if possible) try one (or two) indoors.
If anyone objects... tell them it's for scientific research.

Cheers
El Cat

[James811]

I did smoke the last 10 minutes or so in m garage where there is no wind to see what happened and it was fine so maybe this is the issue after all??

[Smallclub]

When the cigar is not in your mouth, hold it upright, not horizontal, and certainly not inclined downwards. It helps a lot to avoid erratic combustion.

Also, when a side of the cigar burns faster, you should make corrections with a drop of water, or your saliva, to slow down the combustion locally…

[Styler]

Also, when a side of the cigar burns faster, you should make corrections with a drop of water, or your saliva, to slow down the combustion locally…

That's a great tip, I'll have to try that out next time I have an uneven burn.

[Smallclub]

That's a great tip, I'll have to try that out next time I have an uneven burn.

Actually you have to figure if one side is burning too fast, or the opposite side is burning too slowly - in this case the torch lighter is very useful…

[James811]

Another equally good tip!! Thanks for all the discussion guys