What's your plugged cigar rate?

[fitzy]

I'm curious as to the conditions people keep their cigars at when they have so many plugged cigars. I had that problem a lot until I started dry boxing. I've had to use my perfectdraw now maybe once in the past 4 months.

[prodigy]

I'm curious as to the conditions people keep their cigars at when they have so many plugged cigars. I had that problem a lot until I started dry boxing. I've had to use my perfectdraw now maybe once in the past 4 months.

60% humidity 70°F in a cabinet humidor with a staebell humidifier system. The ones that are plugged go into a desktop humidor with no humidification until they have draw or I give up.

 

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[El Presidente]

15 hours ago, crking3 said:

So what’s the consensus?


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I would fathom a guess it is a mix of all. 

In no way am I or anyone else trying to diminish your or others experience. It is a real concern, however it is not consistent across the board and it can only come down to one or more of those three points. 

if it is bad luck, it will sort itself out by law of averages. 

if it is the perception of a plug then there isn't too much that can be done. 

if it is storage conditions then some tinkering is called for. 

[IanMcLean68]

I also voted 5% but the plugged rate for me is much much lower. I used to get plugs more often from poor storage conditions from a local B&M, but since joining FOH about 5 years ago, I have purchased 99% of my stock from Rob, and I have had exactly one plugged cigar in 5 years - a Partagas Short of all things. I doubt that average will be any worse in the 26 or so boxes I currently have.

In my honest opinion it comes down to two things. 1. Good stock, carefully selected and stored properly by Rob. 2. Being patient, and resting cigars in proper conditions for at least 90 days. I don't touch boxes now until they are at least 3 years old. I know that this flies in the face of what many consider the "try regularly until they hit the sweet spot" mentality, but I know my preferences, and this approach seems to entirely eliminate these problems.

[prodigy]

I also voted 5% but the plugged rate for me is much much lower. I used to get plugs more often from poor storage conditions from a local B&M, but since joining FOH about 5 years ago, I have purchased 99% of my stock from Rob, and I have had exactly one plugged cigar in 5 years - a Partagas Short of all things. I doubt that average will be any worse in the 26 or so boxes I currently have.
In my honest opinion it comes down to two things. 1. Good stock, carefully selected and stored properly by Rob. 2. Being patient, and resting cigars in proper conditions for at least 90 days. I don't touch boxes now until they are at least 3 years old. I know that this flies in the face of what many consider the "try regularly until they hit the sweet spot" mentality, but I know my preferences, and this approach seems to entirely eliminate these problems.

If I could wait 3 years to try a stick, I would. But that would mean spending thousands of dollars before ever trying a stick, or spending 10s of thousands on aged cigars to catch up to that point without aging them myself, or buying extras to smoke now and age at the same time...

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[IanMcLean68]

2 minutes ago, prodigy said:

If I could wait 3 years to try a stick, I would. But that would mean spending thousands of dollars before ever trying a stick, or spending 10s of thousands on aged cigars to catch up to that point without aging them myself, or buying extras to smoke now and age at the same time...

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I totally get your point, and I am also aware that my brand of patience and abstinence is not for everyone. Lucky for me, I much prefer CC's with minimum 3 years on them, across the board.  However, I also see this as something that should diminish over time, as long as you buy more cigars than you smoke in the short term. I smoked very little for the first few years I joined, but now five years on, I have a range of boxes with at least 3 years on them, which I am smoking through, whilst I wait for my newer boxes to age. I keep my smoking/ageing ratio at about 1:2.

[feral]

This

Very rare for me. Maybe has happened a time or two at most.

[MD Puffer]

I'm of the opinion a cigar shouldn't smoke like drawing air through a straw- or anything remotely resembling the draw of a cigarette (of which I've only had one in the past 14 years!).  There should be some mild resistance but nothing that strains the buccal muscles.  Most CCs I've had have been spot on- not too underfilled and not too plugged or too tight of a draw.  Of those that have been problematic, I can usually chalk it up to my impatience and not allowing them to rest and acclimate properly.  I think I have a wide range for what I consider reasonable resistance.  Non-Cubans are very consistent, but also tend to be underfilled wind tunnels (to my liking- you mileage may vary).  I find it difficult to accept that anyone having problematic draws or plugs anywhere close to 50% (i.e. anyone saying "most" of their CCs are unsmokeable) is being literal.  If so, then my guess would be an excessively high RH or perhaps they've grown accustomed to the free-flowing draws of non-Cubans.  I'm not sure how effective dry boxing is over a time period as short as a day or three.  I've abided by the 1% per week rule of thumb (eg. if you have a cigar that's 65%, it'll take three weeks for it to acclimate to a 62% environment- assuming you're using Boveda packs of the respective RH's).  In Alabama, the sun and heat are brutal and with the A/C cranked around the clock the RH in the house averages 55% so I've never dry-boxed in a unregulated humidor or empty cigar box.  Everyone's tastes differ, but 50% sure sounds like hyperbole to me.  Another consideration is the cut.  All of my friends that smoke cigars use guillotine cutters which is the predominant cutter in my parts.  I use a V-cutter on my Cubans which opens a lot of surface area from which to draw smoke but also concentrates it over the palate.  Between the two, all other things being the same, I get less resistant draws from a V-cutter (the smallest RG I smoke is a 40 and I use a guillotine on those, everything larger gets a V-cut.  I used punch cutters a long time ago but was never a fan and cannot recall the comparative flow properties with that style of cutter.  In short, try a V-cutter!

[golf4less]

9 hours ago, crking3 said:

This is the kind of comment that has me scratching my head


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Maybe I’m lucky, blessed whatever it may be, but I’ve had very few problems with plugged cigars and I tend to like mine with an easy draw. Possibly my preferred ring gage, 48-56, who knows. I keep my humidor at 60-62 rh and 67-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Recently started getting into PC’s, maybe my luck will change  

 

[ponfed]

I smoked, and consequently bought, very little for a period between about 2006 and 2015. 

What I noticed, without a doubt, is that plugged cigars used to be much more of a problem before 2006 than after 2015. 

I don't know for sure that construction before and after that period, really improved that much, considering that I drastically reduced the rh of my humidor and aggressively dry boxed ( mostly by forgetting that the cigar was in the box) at the same time

But it amazes me that people still keep their rh above 62. Of course, I used to do that too, so I get it.

[Derboesekoenig]

11 hours ago, MD Puffer said:

I'm of the opinion a cigar shouldn't smoke like drawing air through a straw- or anything remotely resembling the draw of a cigarette (of which I've only had one in the past 14 years!).  There should be some mild resistance but nothing that strains the buccal muscles.  Most CCs I've had have been spot on- not too underfilled and not too plugged or too tight of a draw.  Of those that have been problematic, I can usually chalk it up to my impatience and not allowing them to rest and acclimate properly.  I think I have a wide range for what I consider reasonable resistance.  Non-Cubans are very consistent, but also tend to be underfilled wind tunnels (to my liking- you mileage may vary).  I find it difficult to accept that anyone having problematic draws or plugs anywhere close to 50% (i.e. anyone saying "most" of their CCs are unsmokeable) is being literal.  If so, then my guess would be an excessively high RH or perhaps they've grown accustomed to the free-flowing draws of non-Cubans.  I'm not sure how effective dry boxing is over a time period as short as a day or three.  I've abided by the 1% per week rule of thumb (eg. if you have a cigar that's 65%, it'll take three weeks for it to acclimate to a 62% environment- assuming you're using Boveda packs of the respective RH's).  In Alabama, the sun and heat are brutal and with the A/C cranked around the clock the RH in the house averages 55% so I've never dry-boxed in a unregulated humidor or empty cigar box.  Everyone's tastes differ, but 50% sure sounds like hyperbole to me.  Another consideration is the cut.  All of my friends that smoke cigars use guillotine cutters which is the predominant cutter in my parts.  I use a V-cutter on my Cubans which opens a lot of surface area from which to draw smoke but also concentrates it over the palate.  Between the two, all other things being the same, I get less resistant draws from a V-cutter (the smallest RG I smoke is a 40 and I use a guillotine on those, everything larger gets a V-cut.  I used punch cutters a long time ago but was never a fan and cannot recall the comparative flow properties with that style of cutter.  In short, try a V-cutter!

Less resistant from a v cutter? It should be less resistant with a straight cut. I don't understand that one. 

I'm still new at this hobby, but have smoked enough where I feel I have experienced nearly everything in between the spectrum of completely plugged, to being an open wind tunnel. Some of the QD 50s I had were wind tunnels, but if I changed the way I drew air and smoked slower, they were still very enjoyable. The rock solid ones I've had I couldn't even get any smoke to be produced. Hurt my mouth attempting to smoke them. I'll be patient and change one variable at a time though and see what results.

[MD Puffer]

More surface area with a V-cut. How much of the head do you lop off with the guillotine?

[awkwardPause]

This is the kind of comment that has me scratching my head   Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 As much as you may not believe it, that has also been my experience. I’ve only had one aged box of ten I received from a well known LCDH that had mostly plugs (D4’s). Nothing could change those, even the best storage conditions. I’d even say firm draws (think medium thick milkshake through straw) are less than 5% for me. Maybe luck...probably luck. Just the facts though. I get most of my stock from here. I’m sampling from 60-80 boxes at this point from various marcas/vintages so not a super small sample size. Similar to many others, storage is 62%/65F in weather tight aluminum cases stored in my basement that maintains pretty similar temps year round here in Seattle.

 

Hope you have better luck in the future. I’m sure it’s frustrating as hell. Don’t get me wrong.

 

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[Derboesekoenig]

1 hour ago, MD Puffer said:

More surface area with a V-cut. How much of the head do you lop off with the guillotine?

Maybe it's a mental thing for me. For the most part, I don't cut much off. Right at the first layer of cap usually does it.

[Ritch]

I have had a few hard draws, normally sorted with a perfec draw. I have had one Monte media that just wouldn't draw no matter what. So I ripped it open and found a big chuck of solid stem the was the issue. 

 

Very few are plugged in my eyes. Some are a harder draw than others but I normally find those sort themselves out near the end of the first third and they are always the most tastiest cigars.

[earthson]

I like a snug draw as found in most Havanas and few Dominicans.  Averaging across all HSA boxes, I can't claim worse than 1 or maybe 2 in a box.  Some have several, some have none.  Oh, sure, a few might be rolled just perfect, but most are good to tolerable.

[TBird55]

On 10/18/2018 at 9:55 PM, prodigy said:

60% humidity 70°F in a cabinet humidor with a staebell humidifier system. The ones that are plugged go into a desktop humidor with no humidification until they have draw or I give up.

 

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I hate that you are having these issues. Have you checked the calibration on your hygrometer to make sure its correct? Just a thought that may help.

[prodigy]

I hate that you are having these issues. Have you checked the calibration on your hygrometer to make sure its correct? Just a thought that may help.

Its calibrated. I keep a scientific one and several xikars, plus the staebell humidifier itself. All are within a %. I chalk up as one of el prez big 3, bad luck.

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[Philc2001]

In newer boxes, past 5 years, I've had fewer plugged cigars than in years past, but I still find a fair number (10%-15%) that are either too tight or underfilled. A tight or underfilled cigar is smokeable, but not ideal. Inconsistent roll is something you just get used to with Cubans, they just don't care enough to make a consistent, quality, roll. The QC has never been and never will be on par with other top cigar producing companies around the world. In years past I smoked many boxes of NC, and I never once ran into a plugged or even poorly rolled cigar from Dominican, Honduras, Nicaragua, US, Ecuador, Mexico. I don't know anyone who has ever had a poorly rolled or plugged cigar from Fuente, Oliva, Padron, Ashton, etc. 

But that intoxicating Cuban twang just doesn't come from anywhere else! You just have to take the good with the bad.

[prodigy]

I've had this ugly duckling lusi sitting for several months in a dry box. Rock solid, at first it had zero draw. After waiting almost 90 days in a dry box, low humidity environment, its drawing.

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[Matthew]

I have way too many boxes from '99-'01 were rolled like tent pegs as well as many lonsdales from '98.  Probably 50/50 from those years.  After that, it's just an occasional problematic release (got 4-5 boxes of the '06 PL Lonsdale ER release that are unsmokable).  I don't think I've run across any 40+ rg cigars since '06 that were really tight. 

[Derboesekoenig]

21 minutes ago, Matthew said:

got 4-5 boxes of the '06 PL Lonsdale ER release that are unsmokable

Wow that is incredibly depressing

[prodigy]

The draw opened up once the plug expanded

 

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Curiosity got the better of me, so I unraveled to see if there was any evidence of the plug. The area near the cap was solid as a rock, so I expected to find a large stem or something. Turns out there was an extra bundle of scrap pieces. If that had not been packed in there, I'm almost certain this would have been a perfect cigar...

[Wilzc]

Since they say wrapper tobacco is like 90.23% of the flavors in a cigar.

I’m just gonna go ahead and remove all the plug causing fillers to achieve 100% Pinar Del Rio shiny wrapper flavours!!!!







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[NSXCIGAR]

Haven't had a box of premium CCs ($100+) with more than 5 sticks with what I'd consider tight draws. Last time I encountered one so tight it was unsmokeable was some RASCC from late 13. Had a few BCJ from around that time that were also very tight. 

Since the Perfecdraw I've really stopped paying attention.