Habana Mike's plugged cigars by Bijan


Bijan

Recommended Posts

9 minutes ago, ChangBang said:

Is the perfecdraw the only method you'll utilize for these cigars?  When you're using the perfecdraw, are you noticing big stems and leaves coming out or is it just that finer dust?

Mainly perfecdraw so far.

This is because Mike had already tried dry boxing many of these for a long time, and a lot are aged 10 years or more (not these two specifically but some of the others have been long discontinued). A lot have loose bands from either being dry boxed or age, so I don't think dry boxing will help too much.

No major stems on the two cigars so far, mainly dust/tobacco. As they were just very heavy and densely packed.

These two were pretty short so the perfecdraw could go pretty much all the way. I'll have to figure something out for the Churchills and DCs as the perfecdraw will only go halfway and I haven't had good luck going in through the foot with the perfecdraw.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Bijan.

Sounds like getting the cigars around the proper weight using the Perfecdraw helps significantly.

I'll be trying that with some of the other plugged cigars I have laying around.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Habana Mike said:

Thanks Bijan.

Sounds like getting the cigars around the proper weight using the Perfecdraw helps significantly.

I'll be trying that with some of the other plugged cigars I have laying around.

Not quite the proper weight! Just one or two percentage points closer. Just about 0.1g for these small cigars. Maybe 0.3-0.4g for a large cigar, so 1/64 of an oz or less.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Smoked the secretos last night after more than 10 days dry boxing at around 60%. Weight didn't change much since last weighing as I think these were stored pretty dry by @Habana Mike already to try and fix the problem.

had to apply some cigar glue at the head and it held.

Despite the pluggedness the perfecdraw from last time did its job and the cigar smoked ok. Flavours weren't great, coffee a bit too bitter and earth for the most part, some sweetness in the final third. 40-45 minutes.

20210823_223838.jpg

20210823_224828_HDR.jpg

20210823_225505_HDR.jpg

20210823_230109.jpg

20210823_230745.jpg

20210823_231636_HDR.jpg

20210823_232809_HDR.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/12/2021 at 11:45 PM, Bijan said:

3 cigars to choose from tonight. Cohiba secretos, RASCC, and Bolivar Coronas Extra.

All are about 40% overweight. Heavier than the other cigars so far. In the past year I don't think I've come across cigars so overweight myself.

I'm going to use the perfecdraw on all 3 and see how it goes.

All 3 had the wrapper split towards the head as a result of the perfecdraw. Something that didn't happen as much on the previous cigars. It was pretty bad on the BCE and that one ended up weighing more after due to all the cigar glue.

In the future I'll wet the wrapper on the ones that are this heavy to perhaps prevent the wrapper damage.

I chose the BCE. Starts out with earth maybe some twang, and later a bit of fruit. Smoke output is poor, probably due to the pluggedness and the wrapper damage. This is the worst cigar as to draw so far.

Smoke output improves in second half and final third. But flavour isn't there.

Cigar is maybe a 2/5 or just under. 50 minutes to just before the band. First plugged cigar that defeated me.

So far weight and pluggedness seem pretty correlated.

20210812_234017.jpg

20210812_234029.jpg

20210812_234037.jpg

20210813_000049.jpg

20210812_235410~2.jpg

20210812_235052.jpg

20210813_002002.jpg

20210813_002710.jpg

20210813_003150.jpg

20210813_004101.jpg

20210813_004544.jpg

20210813_005658.jpg

So we have ascertained some cigars are plugged. Amazed by anyone that never experienced one!

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Habana Mike said:

So we have ascertained some cigars are plugged. Amazed by anyone that never experienced one!

Smoking the Hoyo Churchill right now. It was only 5% overweight but no draw. I reamed it with the perfecdraw as far as it would go in from the head and it seemed to draw ok. But I'm getting little smoke output.

Started out bitter. Might be improving slowly hard to tell at this point.

Seems like this one is plugged due to poor construction/bad bunching and not just due to being overweight.

Edit: flavour improved though smoke output didn't until the end. Cedar and fruit. Last third I pulled out a stem and part of a leaf. Smoke output improves and then mostly fruit flavour. Started to tunnel and had to crush it every now and again. Burned a bit hot but tons of smoke at the end. 75 minutes not quite to a nub.

20210824_232223~2.jpg

20210824_233604_HDR.jpg

20210824_234130_HDR.jpg

20210825_000245.jpg

20210825_002045.jpg

20210825_003552.jpg

20210825_004314.jpg

20210825_004714_HDR.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Habana Mike said:

Wow! So with major surgery and patience some of these actually do smoke.

Send them back! 🤣

What can I say, I have a lot of patience 🙂

My red line is I won't use more than one full lighter worth of fuel on a tent peg 😂

Most have been smokeable so far but the best so far was maybe just under 3/5. And most closer to 2/5.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone else up for a challenge? Plenty more where these came from!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, nKostyan said:

I think everyone would be interested in the experience of recovery without "surgical intervention". Perfect Draw is a good thing, but the experience with "bare hands"will be interesting.

I'll try that on a few. I was going to get more surgical on the Churchill's and DCs though and cut them in half if the perfecdraw didn't work. But I can try doing some cigars with no surgery.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll try that on a few. I was going to get more surgical on the Churchill's and DCs though and cut them in half if the perfecdraw didn't work. But I can try doing some cigars with no surgery.

I think for cutting or disassembling, you should not look for an overfilled cigar, but a cigar with a normal weight, this will be a sign of a local twisted filler or a local plug.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, nKostyan said:


I think for cutting or disassembling, you should not look for an overfilled cigar, but a cigar with a normal weight, this will be a sign of a local twisted filler or a local plug.

I agree with this in terms of the perfecdraw. It works best when the only problem is a local plug at the head. One of the cigars a lgc mdo1 was like this so far. I'll post about it soon.

But actually for cutting in half I was going to do it on a heavy cigar.

The idea with cutting in half is that both half cigars will draw better than a single long cigar. This is due to the resistance in draw being proportional to the length of the cigar.

Rob mentioned he is doing this on some plugged sir winstons and it is working for him.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

LGC mdo1. The first cigar that improved after a mild application of the perfecdraw. Wet the wrapper and only went in twice, one half an inch and second time about an inch. Draw was fine after that.

Started a bit bitter tannic wood. Then after about 3/4 inch fruit flavour. Cream towards the end.

I think from now on I'm going to go in about an inch with the perfecdraw and try other things if that doesn't improve things. I've never had much success hollowing out the cigar with the perfecdraw. The main successes are with plugs at the head.

73 minutes smoke time.

20210826_221119.jpg

20210826_223001_HDR.jpg

20210826_223816.jpg

20210826_224235_HDR.jpg

20210826_225316_HDR.jpg

20210826_230640_HDR.jpg

20210826_232430.jpg

20210826_233742_HDR.jpg

20210826_234120.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Community Software by Invision Power Services, Inc.