Ultimate cure for plugged up cigar - The dark art of stem plucking

[Uwiik]

One of my online friends introduced me to the dark art of stem plucking from the head/cap, and this has revolutionized everything for me. Because of this technique, I now venture to the colder and wetter side on my storage and I am liking it. Most of us understand PerfecDraw is hit and miss, it also tends to ruin the flavor by altering the way air passes through the stick and the end result is rarely perfect nor natural, this is not a problem with stem plucking, everything feels as natural as it can be, just like a perfectly rolled cigar.

I am just curious about how many here are familiar with this method and their techniques?? I have had good success by using haemostatic forceps (I was told about it by someone here) and just grab and very slowly pull some visible stems from the head, when I cannot see any stems I just jab the tip randomly into the cap trying to grab onto something, and more often than not, I manage to grab onto some stems hidden a bit deeper inside. It is crazy how big some of the stems I managed to pull out. With my current technique I would guesstimate that I have about 70-80% success rate. Let's share your technique so we can all improve the success rate. With how expensive cigars are nowadays we can't afford to throw away sticks anymore! 

[Ford2112]

I have tried to cut down on stem plucking.

[mohammed.s.almutlaq11]

Never heard of it or how it works.

[ha_banos]

I recently plucked 4 stems from an LGC serie d5. It would draw but very little smoke would come out! Weird. Cigar felt ok when pressed. Not too firm. Not too soft. Anyway, I noticed a couple of stems had protruded from the cut cap. So after a while I tugged at one. Fingernails were enough. Was about 3" with a bit of leaf attached. That softened the cigar a bit... Still v little smoke. Few minutes more, I went for more stems. 3 more, just stems not much leaf attached. Should have taken photos. Anyway was almost 2 thirds in by this point and a good number of relights. Cigar had become very squishy now. Bit more smoke, but not right. Gave up. Had enough. No idea how weird this roll must have been. Maybe the PD could have done a better job on this one? Won't know now. Have 9 more in this box..... Stay tuned.

[Bijan]

Works best when the stem does not run all the way to the foot/lit end. Otherwise similar problem as with the perfecdraw and digging in too deep and creating a tunnel.

[Nevrknow]

Ahhh the force is strong with this one. Welcome to the dark side….

[Uwiik]

On 6/1/2024 at 3:41 PM, Ford2112 said:

I have tried to cut down on stem plucking.

Care to share the reason? Just saved another Montecristo No.2 today with my trusty hemostat, transformed the stick from OK to fantastic...

[Sandman]

Very interesting. I’m going to try this, thanks. 

[ha_banos]

4 hours ago, Uwiik said:

Care to share the reason?Just saved another Montecristo No.2 today with my trusty hemostat, transformed the stick from OK to fantastic...

Omg. That's NOTHING lol. But it made a difference? 

I pulled these from a Boli no.3 ... A very thin cigar. It then smoked well!

[VeguerosMAN]

Perfect draw tool might be the answer... 

[GerardMichaelTX]

On 6/2/2024 at 8:53 AM, ha_banos said:

Omg. That's NOTHING lol. But it made a difference? 

In my experiences cigar rolling sometimes the reason the cigar is plugged is specifically on how the cigar was bunched at the head. This is especially true for torpedos and lanceros. Sometimes all you need to do is get that little piece out.

I have also noticed that rolling the head between your thumb and index finger helps to allieviate draw issues especially in younger cigars. You'll want to be a bit sloppy with the way your puffing and have the tip of the cigar moistened a bit so that you do not damage the wrapper.

A lot of people stigmatize stems but they're there to actually help with draw in a normally bunched cigar.

[Cigar Surgeon]

2 hours ago, GerardMichaelTX said:

A lot of people stigmatize stems but they're there to actually help with draw in a normally bunched cigar.

Pete Johnson of Tatuaje went on an absolute tear in a Facebook cigar group many years ago educating people on why stems are important to the blend.

I should dig it up, it was one of the all time great posts.

[SCgarman]

Funny thing is, with NC cigars bad draws are usually never an issue. With Habanos, draws are all over the map. For instance, I have a '17 cab of 50 PLPC. Most have been smokable so far, but a few have been utter tent pegs that you couldn't get a puff of smoke out of. Had one two weekends ago. Entire cigar felt overfilled and hard as a steel drill bit. Lit it up, virtually no draw. Tried the PerfecDraw. Still nothing. Gave up on it and grabbed something else. Took a utility knife and slit the cigar lengthwise. No large stems to be seen blocking the draw. Ultimately I concluded simply too much filler tobacco compressed together in the bunch. Hamlet described this exact thing. The filler tobacco is moistened too much, which allows the buncher to compress too many leaves too tightly together. Bingo. More times than not, the draw poker doesn't help and creates other issues. Only fix, toss the culprit and light another cigar. 

[Chitmo]

18 minutes ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

Pete Johnson of Tatuaje went on an absolute tear in a Facebook cigar group many years ago educating people on why stems are important to the blend.

I should dig it up, it was one of the all time great posts.

Yeah, but he operates in a different world where cigars draw like they’re supposed to. Personally when it comes to CCs the first thing I try is putting it in the freezer for a few hours which works most of the time. If that doesn’t work I go to stem plucking, I find that draw tools tend to mess up more than they help. Anyways, my point is Pete lives in a world where draw isn’t so much of a problem. 

[Cigar Surgeon]

2 hours ago, Chitmo said:

Yeah, but he operates in a different world where cigars draw like they’re supposed to. Personally when it comes to CCs the first thing I try is putting it in the freezer for a few hours which works most of the time. If that doesn’t work I go to stem plucking, I find that draw tools tend to mess up more than they help. Anyways, my point is Pete lives in a world where draw isn’t so much of a problem. 

I can tell you that in the past 3 - 4 years the section of my reviews associated with draw (and burn) have gone from a dozen words to thirty or fourty words on average. Gone is the day that being an NC meant automatically great construction.

But specifically Pete was responding to people complaining about draw problems and pulling stems to improve it. I think it was the SnS club where this started and it spilled into Facebook and cigar forums.

Found Pete's post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAm4eayPxUF/

Quote

For educational purposes, I opened up 7 cigars from 7 popular brands. I removed the excess leaf from the center veins/stems to show that they are in every cigar and are a key part to each blend. All of them(the cigars) varying in strength from mild to strong. The cigar on the bottom is a stronger cigar I know well that uses Nicaraguan higher primings in the filler. The thicker the leaf, the thicker the vein/stem. This is normal. @tatuajecigars @thesnsclub Forgot to mention the need for them in reference to the structure of the cigar.

[Chitmo]

4 hours ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

I can tell you that in the past 3 - 4 years the section of my reviews associated with draw (and burn) have gone from a dozen words to thirty or fourty words on average. Gone is the day that being an NC meant automatically great construction.

But specifically Pete was responding to people complaining about draw problems and pulling stems to improve it. I think it was the SnS club where this started and it spilled into Facebook and cigar forums.

Found Pete's post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAm4eayPxUF/

I’m not denying their purpose, in fact I agree with you. I’m simply stating that given my options I’ll pull stems vs discarding the cigar or using a draw tool. I smoke very few NCs as well, so my experience is limited and can only speak to what I have experienced.