While lighting, the flame can indicate the presence of ammonia?

[Mluminos]

I just watched this video on Cigars Daily where he says while lighting your cigar, blow into the cigar until the flame dies down. As long as the flame is still going there is still ammonia being purged.

While I believe there is benefit in purging to my knowledge ammonia is not so combustible as to have that affect on a flame. (Granted my knowledge is very little)

Anyone able to confirm or deny or have a little knowledge on the subject that the flame while purging is an indicator of ammonia?

[Shelby07]

I will use the technique to purge a cigar when it gets bitter, or to relight a cigar when it goes out. But I don’t think it’s ammonia. I believe it purges any tar that has built up in the cigar. Sometimes the flame can get quite long and eventually will settle down to a smaller clearer flame as I continue to blow through it.The technique certainly does “freshen up”the cigar.

Blow gently, just enough to keep the flame going  

 

[earthson]

Where are my chemists at?

In my experience, blowing through a lit flame after the cigar has been going for a while appears to indicate age, but I've always assumed this was due to chemical compounds other than ammonia.  The younger or oilier the cigar, the longer that flame will burn.

[LLC]

I find if I can tell there is ammonia and I blow thru the cigar with a flame in front but not touching the foot of the cigar a blow torch effect comes out of the cigar and that is the ammonia


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[El Presidente]

4 hours ago, LLC said:

I find if I can tell there is ammonia and I blow thru the cigar with a flame in front but not touching the foot of the cigar a blow torch effect comes out of the cigar and that is the ammonia


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Never tried that 

[Rrm7284]

Interesting. Never heard of it, but worth experimenting with. Thanks for sharing!


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[Fuzz]

From memory, ammonia would burn with a yellow flame. So if you are using a soft flame lighter, you may not notice any change in colour or effect.

[LLC]

Interesting. Never heard of it, but worth experimenting with. Thanks for sharing!


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It’s something I saw someone else do and asked about it. Sure enough I found it worked when I had opportunity to try it.


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[DaBoot]

Nice post, will try these out??

[fitzy]

I do it anytime I get an ammonia taste and it’s a yellow flame. 

[bpm32]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

From memory, ammonia would burn with a yellow flame. So if you are using a soft flame lighter, you may not notice any change in colour or effect.

Yep, yellow, although I suspect these are just tars and whatnot from inefficient combustion.

Although I never understood flushing out the cigar into a lighter: if you’ve already expelled the foul cancer-causing, off-flavored combustion products, why then set them on fire again? They have aleady been cast out, as it were. Isn’t that insult to injury?

[slowsmoke]

8 minutes ago, bpm32 said:

Yep, yellow, although I suspect these are just tars and whatnot from inefficient combustion.

Although I never understood flushing out the cigar into a lighter: if you’ve already expelled the foul cancer-causing, off-flavored combustion products, why then set them on fire again? They have aleady been cast out, as it were. Isn’t that insult to injury?

This is what I always wondered too. Does purging into a flame do anything more than purging without a flame?

[Habana Mike]

1 minute ago, slowsmoke said:

This is what I always wondered too. Does purging into a flame do anything more than purging without a flame?

Probably not much more than assisting with the combustion and producing an entertaining light show!

[bpm32]

Of course, much of the bitterness that builds in a cigar is just water—both originally in the cigar and from combustion (that we sucked further up into the head just in the process of smoking). Purging with all that humid air from your lungs is wrongheaded....why add more water? That’s why I recommend purging with massive amounts of helium. Several lungfuls in fact.

[Baccy]

The only time I purge is when it's canoeing or tunneling like a mofo and I can't control it, but I don't wish to hit it with a torch. Normally doing this will relight the wrapper and correct the burn.

[LLC]

This is what I always wondered too. Does purging into a flame do anything more than purging without a flame?

I think it helps expel some of the ammonia taste but more so it confirms I should leave that box alone for a while.


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[PapaDisco]

Hmmm, I'm calling BS on this.  From Wikipedia:

"The combustion of ammonia in air is very difficult in the absence of a catalyst (such as platinum gauze or warm chromium(III) oxide), because the temperature of the flame is usually lower than the ignition temperature of the ammonia–air mixture. The flammable range of ammonia in air is 16–25%."

If there's a high enough concentration of ammonia to burn then you're certainly going to smell it across the room, let alone right in front of your face.  Most of what he's seeing in his flame is just the typical compounds that burn in a cigar I would guess.

But just to be safe, I'm bringing some platinum gauze next time I go the the Club . . .  

[smokum]

I consulted my son, who I am paying an ungodly amount of money for his chemical engineering degree. He gave me the look. Then he asked me if I was an idiot. I beat him up and lit up a Partagas Corona.

[PapaDisco]

52 minutes ago, smokum said:

I consulted my son, who I am paying an ungodly amount of money for his chemical engineering degree. He gave me the look. Then he asked me if I was an idiot. I beat him up and lit up a Partagas Corona.

I love it when the kiddos get truly smart about stuff!  Makes me feel good about the next generation. 

[nKostyan]

I never make puffs by lighting a cigar, so my cigars never burn with flame. Of aficionados recommend burning cigar without puffs, is easy to blow on the foot until the entire cut will not be evenly lit. About the burning of the ammonia - it negligible amount in cigars and unlikely to affect the combustion. Do not forget that the cigar should burn slowly and at low temperatures. But certainly you're going to ruin the taste of cigar tobacco is overheating Hellfire turbo lighter, while making intense puffs.

It is ideal to ignite a cigar by special cigar matches - the wood burning temperature is optimal for tobacco ignition and even making puffs from a match you will not overheat the tobacco.

[Shelby07]

7 hours ago, smokum said:

I consulted my son, who I am paying an ungodly amount of money for his chemical engineering degree. He gave me the look. Then he asked me if I was an idiot. I beat him up and lit up a Partagas Corona.

 

7 hours ago, PapaDisco said:

I love it when the kiddos get truly smart about stuff!  Makes me feel good about the next generation. 

Remind them that you had to teach them how to use a spoon. 

[Mluminos]

On 3/10/2019 at 8:50 PM, bpm32 said:

Of course, much of the bitterness that builds in a cigar is just water—both originally in the cigar and from combustion (that we sucked further up into the head just in the process of smoking). Purging with all that humid air from your lungs is wrongheaded....why add more water? That’s why I recommend purging with massive amounts of helium. Several lungfuls in fact.

Lets say I'm not a clown, whats an easy source of helium?

On 3/10/2019 at 9:40 PM, PapaDisco said:

Hmmm, I'm calling BS on this.  From Wikipedia:

"The combustion of ammonia in air is very difficult in the absence of a catalyst (such as platinum gauze or warm chromium(III) oxide), because the temperature of the flame is usually lower than the ignition temperature of the ammonia–air mixture. The flammable range of ammonia in air is 16–25%."

If there's a high enough concentration of ammonia to burn then you're certainly going to smell it across the room, let alone right in front of your face.  Most of what he's seeing in his flame is just the typical compounds that burn in a cigar I would guess.

But just to be safe, I'm bringing some platinum gauze next time I go the the Club . . .  

I asked in a chemestry subreddit and was given some information.

Auto-ignition temp for ammonia is 1,204 °F a bic soft flame lighter burns at over twice that temperature according to multiple google sources of "temp of a bic lighter"

So it seems entirely possible

23 hours ago, smokum said:

I consulted my son, who I am paying an ungodly amount of money for his chemical engineering degree. He gave me the look. Then he asked me if I was an idiot. I beat him up and lit up a Partagas Corona.

One of these days he's gonna take you on and you wont know what hit ya. But look at the response above and see if it makes sense.

[smokum]

Honestly my son didnt say either way. Its just that look that kids give you when they know more than anyone else. I won’t bother to ask him for a scientific opinion. Hell just seeing him is like having an audience with the Pope. Unless he is hungry. And I have no idea what a subreddit is either !!! My only science is lighting them, smoking them and either I like it or I dont. If I dont like it by 2nd 3rd I toss it and light another. 

[bpm32]

10 minutes ago, smokum said:

Honestly my son didnt say either way. Its just that look that kids give you when they know more than anyone else. I won’t bother to ask him for a scientific opinion. Hell just seeing him is like having an audience with the Pope. Unless he is hungry. And I have no idea what a subreddit is either !!! My only science is lighting them, smoking them and either I like it or I dont. If I dont like it by 2nd 3rd I toss it and light another. 

That young man is an engineer: there is no greater respect you can pay him than to throw down the gauntlet. Tell him you don’t think he knows the answer, and remind him that the ammonia isn’t anhydrous, and that it is in fact commingled with hundreds of organic compounds that can react with it (if it’s even there at all and isn’t some other ammoniacal-tasting amine) so Wikipedia won’t help him. 

Hell, he’ll probably be so irritated he’ll build you a bespoke cigar purger that we’ll all offer to buy.....

 

[hoyopr]

As a young kid we used to purge methane gas, it lit well with a bic.