When cigars crack...

[Simon G]

Hi all,

I had the pleasure in firing up yesterday, a BHK.
The draw had a bit of resistance, but nothing too troublesome.
However, the wrapper decided to crack, and from there on the experience went down hill....



My knowledge on cigars is limited.
Can anyone share:

i) What causes a cigar wrapper to crack?

ii) When you pick a cigar from a box of 10, or 25 etc to smoke, do you pick up any stick, or do you look for certain characteristics?

Thank you people.
Simon

[tippexx]

Hi all,

I had the pleasure in firing up yesterday, a BHK.
The draw had a bit of resistance, but nothing too troublesome.
However, the wrapper decided to crack, and from there on the experience went down hill....



My knowledge on cigars is limited.
Can anyone share:

i) What causes a cigar wrapper to crack?

ii) When you pick a cigar from a box of 10, or 25 etc to smoke, do you pick up any stick, or do you look for certain characteristics?

Thank you people.
Simon

Simon, Occasionally a cigar will 'crack' in the box. I generally try to repair these, but a crack as opposed to an unravel is usually a waste of time and torcedor glue. I tend to smoke these up as quickly (and as privately) as possible and to expect an unsightly outcome.

When a perfectly good looking cigar cracks during smoking it's usually down to several things. a) The wrapper was too tight in the first place. b) The cigar was over-humidified. c) high atmospheric humidity.

Looking at your picture, the binder appears to be intact which suggests a) to be the culprit. In which case I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible, even for industry professionals to predict a crack occurring. Shame it was a Behike 52, I've only smoked one, and that was on a damp New Years day ... and guess what?

[Simon G]

Thanks for the feedback.
It was a bit disheartening for it to crack.
It then didn't burn that evenly and seemed to block slightly.
The draw got more resistant until I left it to rest.

Fingers crossed the others are ok. Really surprised for this to happen, but hey ho.

When selecting a cigar from a box - does everyone inspect a few cigars and pick out the best?
Are there any deciding factors that make you select a cigar prior to sparking up?
Maybe it might help me to be a little wiser with my selections in the future.
Some faults are unavoidable - but good to spot tell tale signs of a cigar that needs more time etc in the humi

[Sligub]

Agree with Arf, but would sugest trying to dry box before smoking which would also help with the tight draw.

[monkey66]

I cannot ever remember it happening to me. I have always thought it was caused by a big swing in humidity from storage to smoking environment.

Is your humidor hydrometer calibrated (search for 'salt test' if you don't know what I am talking about. Smoking straight off the bo

for me I like at lease 2-4 weeks in a desktop before smoking anything. It may well be nonsense but I always think cigars smoke better with ideally 3-6 months in the desktop.

[Simon G]

Thanks guys.

I use a digital Caliber III hygrometer.

The box was bought maybe 3 weeks or more ago.
Maybe they needed more time in the humi?
Is that what you mean monkey66?

Thanks,
Simon

[daniel2001]

Happened to me once with a Monte A, although with a much less spectacular crack.

I always liken cigars to drinking wine in this respect. I opened a bottle of Nebbiolo on Friday which I paid a fair whack for and it was corked (and I can never smell a corked wine, have to taste it). Doesn't matter how much care goes into it, sometimes it just doesn't work out. Thankfully, like a good cigar shop my local wine shop takes very good care of it's customers, if not quite so good care of their livers!

[cj121]

When a member commented on something similar, I posted

"You'd imagine over humidification ay? May be that it was a little juicy before you had it? Also, it might be worth taking stock of how often, and hard, your drawing whilst smoking. It can sometimes have a similar effect. However, I'm no expert and someone may have an alternative view. Some folk think a cigar can be too dry and split, but I reckon in your case it's moisture build up from a combo of the above: filler/binder then wrapper expands to its limit...pop!"

Noting the draw was tight, perhaps you unconsciously drew (if that's the right word) on it too hard/fast?

Just a thought to add to other's contributions

[Simon G]

Nice point cj,

The draw had resistance, and I did draw a little harder than normal.
Maybe it was a contributing factor... fingers crossed the rest are ok.

Many thanks all.
Simon

[TJCoro]

Good points all. I wonder? Do they apply to burritos?😳



Ray Jay

[Simon G]

...rather the burrito than a quality smoke TJ!!!!

[cigarmo]

I used to have cracking problems with brick house mighty mighty sticks, the wrappers would always crack, i talked with the man at the cigar shop he informed me that because of the large RG they needed to be rested in a humi for longer so the centre of the stick was at the same moisture level as the wrapper. If the centre is too moist the cigar expands when smoked and the wrapper cracks.

Now I rest them for a minimum of 8 weeks or dry box for a few days and no more cracked wrappers.

Happy

[smokin_e2011]

Happened to me yesterday, but it was my own fault as i dropped the cigar before smoking, however it still smoked fine and was excellent too, which was lucky, also the burn self corrected just after the split...

WP_20130818_011.jpgWP_20130818_012.jpg

[RickMG]

Definately not enough humidity.

Good points all. I wonder? Do they apply to burritos?



Ray Jay

[smokin_e2011]

Good points all. I wonder? Do they apply to burritos?



Ray Jay

This thread does not apply to terrible cooks....