Plugged up cigar construction or storage issue?

[Fuzz]

I have rarely ever had a plugged cigar that was due to being over-humidified. Nearly all the plugged cigars I've had were due to the roller putting a tree trunk amongst the bunch. Some of the stems I've pulled out have been shocking to say the least.

[Li Bai]

27 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Some of the stems I've pulled out have been shocking to say the least.

Same here 😅

45 minutes ago, Uwiik said:

How is it possible to grab hold of that tiny stems with a roll that tight? Care to share? If you pull enough tiny stems then draw should ease up? This is interesting, like many here I find that PD has a low success rate and my friend vouch by his finger pulling method. My friend made it sounds so easy. 

Sometimes you just can't grab a hold of it so there's nothing to do. I often try tweezers to pull it out a bit and then proceed to take it all out slowly with my fingernails. Sometimes one stem is all it takes to ruin the draw.

[Yigal]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:35 PM, Uwiik said:

How is it possible to grab hold of that tiny stems with a roll that tight? Care to share? If you pull enough tiny stems then draw should ease up? This is interesting, like many here I find that PD has a low success rate and my friend vouch by his finger pulling method. My friend made it sounds so easy. 

In that case, perhaps tweezer's might be something to consider.

[Nevrknow]

No tweezers. I use a pair of hemostats. I have the locking kind but grind one of the locking tabs off. Skinny enough to get in with breaking anything ( done slowly ) and enough gripping force to pull out stems. Just did this last night with a Lusi. Opened her up and it was an awesome smoke. 👍

[BlueRidgeFly]

The PerfecDraw has saved quite a few of my plugged CCs. Doesn’t always work though. Had a plugged RGPE today and it helped, but not a lot.

I find that being conservative, i.e. start shallow and increase as needed, is a good approach. Also, sometimes it helps to go in a little diagonally rather than straight into the center. Of course, not knowing what’s going on in the innards means it can be a crapshoot.

The suggestion by @NSXCIGAR to withdraw it slowly seems like a good tip. I’m going to try that next time. This is getting borderline X-rated…

[NSXCIGAR]

42 minutes ago, BlueRidgeFly said:

I find that being conservative, i.e. start shallow and increase as needed, is a good approach. Also, sometimes it helps to go in a little diagonally rather than straight into the center. Of course, not knowing what’s going on in the innards means it can be a crapshoot.

The suggestion by @NSXCIGAR to withdraw it slowly seems like a good tip.

I think the idea behind shallow insertion is the same as removing the PD slowly. The shallower and slower you go the more leaf you can pull out. If you go too deep what you're pulling out will get held up on leaf closer to the head. The PD is all about actually removing the leaf, not moving it around or shredding it. 

[PigFish]

My cigars know better than to be plugged. I teach them about low humidity early in life!

[Uwiik]

On 4/17/2024 at 9:24 AM, Nevrknow said:

No tweezers. I use a pair of hemostats. I have the locking kind but grind one of the locking tabs off. Skinny enough to get in with breaking anything ( done slowly ) and enough gripping force to pull out stems. Just did this last night with a Lusi. Opened her up and it was an awesome smoke. 👍

Not that I have anything plugged right now but I played around this weekend trying to pull something, for the life of me I couldn't pull anything with a tweezer or my big fat nubby fingers. Hemostat is an awesome trick!! Seems like an excellent tool for the purpose... will give it a try. Thanks!!

On 4/17/2024 at 2:31 PM, PigFish said:

My cigars know better than to be plugged. I teach them about low humidity early in life!

Your technique was a huge success for me at 62% 19.5C, no more relights and no more swearing. Just smoked a RASS, 1hr 50 min with zero relights, works on both rock hard and plump sticks...thanks!! But right now I want to play around with higher humidity on my younger stocks to see where I might land and anticipating the problem early on. 

[canadianbeaver]

Out of seven coolidors, cigars are plugged by lottery. Humidity seems ok and dryboxed ones for a few days out at pool are happy too.

The plugged ones that feel like they have knot in them are tried for a little while but then replaced with choice #2. We only give them that long if they taste unsatisfactory to us as well.

Just like it to be so good.

Friends here are so right if you like their answers too.

CB

[Hoepssa]

Proof that bad storage < bad construction 😁

Flight home from Amsterdam by KLM and my Habanos turning to Box pressed Habanos.
They are so tasty, even better than other boxes I smoked 2-3 years later.

[NSXCIGAR]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:35 PM, Uwiik said:

How is it possible to grab hold of that tiny stems with a roll that tight? Care to share? If you pull enough tiny stems then draw should ease up? This is interesting, like many here I find that PD has a low success rate and my friend vouch by his finger pulling method. My friend made it sounds so easy. 

You're partially correct. As I said above if the cigar is absolutely packed rock hard it is difficult for the barbs to pull anything out. The barbs end up tearing through whatever it has ahold of. 

And as mentioned above most people are simply not using the PD optimally. Even Rod's instructional video on the site isn't perfect IMO. No criticism of his insertion technique but I think he withdraws it far too aggressively. I've found the most success withdrawing as slowly and gently as possible so the barbs don't tear through what they've grabbed on the way out. 

But as I said a rock hard cigar will just not allow any room for the leaf the barbs have grabbed to be pulled through. Those are the toughest cases. 

[joeypots]

On 4/9/2024 at 11:42 PM, BrightonCorgi said:

I'd say it's always construction unless the cigar is hydroscopic. If it is then you'll have to sit it out and wait for that phase to change.

My experience has been that because tobacco is hydroscopic, more so when fresh, less so as it ages, that it can take a good long while for the cigars to acclimate to a smokeable RH. MRN states this in his encyclopedia somewhere. My Cuban cigars tend to be less problematic the older they get and I’ve had few plugged cigars lately because construction has been very good for a number of years. I have a box of MC#4 that were tent pegs when young and are now smoking beautifully. 

[SCgarman]

6 hours ago, joeypots said:

My experience has been that because tobacco is hydroscopic, more so when fresh, less so as it ages, that it can take a good long while for the cigars to acclimate to a smokeable RH. MRN states this in his encyclopedia somewhere. My Cuban cigars tend to be less problematic the older they get and I’ve had few plugged cigars lately because construction has been very good for a number of years. I have a box of MC#4 that were tent pegs when young and are now smoking beautifully. 

If they are plugged due to excessive leaf stems or simply too much tobacco packed during bunching, no amount of lower humidity/drying out will rectify these issues. I have an '05 box of Juan Lopez#1 that were tent pegs when bought new around 2009, and they are tent pegs to this day in 2024. Hamlet explained the issue perfectly when he stated the tobacco is over moistened with water, which allows the buncher to "squeeze" more leaf together tightly, which results in poor/no smoke draw. Consider yourself lucky with the Monte4's.

[Li Bai]

5 hours ago, SCgarman said:

Hamlet explained the issue perfectly when he stated the tobacco is over moistened with water, which allows the buncher to "squeeze" more leaf together tightly, which results in poor/no smoke draw.

I've seen this video a few days ago and it was VERY interesting. Between this and the "zapatón", I learned a lot already.