Most Plugged Vitola

[Mel]

I have had more problems with churchills being plugged or tight than any other vitola, what about ya'll? The Punch and Upmann marcas have given me the most trouble with the Cohiba being the best. Man I hate to pull out a nice big smoke and have to fight with it. No cigar that is overly snug will ever score well with me. Any other whimpy suckers out there?;-)

[Colt45]

In general, I'd agree with churchills, along with DCs. Marque-wise, it's a mixed bag.

Along with Upmanns, I've had some plugged experiences with LGC tainos,

SLR DC, HdM........

I prefer to think of it as being discerning, rather than wimpy

[cigardawg]

I don't smoke a lot of big cigars, so I would have to go with the lonsdale. It seems that any box that I have sampled from 99-2002 has had at least 1/3 plugged cigars. I've had this problem across the board...Upmanns, ERDM, Bolivars. The one exception that I have had are my 01 Partagas...not a plugged cigar in the bunch...yet.

[stogies&hoagies]

» I have had more problems with churchills being plugged or tight than any

» other vitola, what about ya'll? The Punch and Upmann marcas have given me

» the most trouble with the Cohiba being the best. Man I hate to pull out a

» nice big smoke and have to fight with it. No cigar that is overly snug

» will ever score well with me. Any other whimpy suckers out there?;-)

Reading your post, I'm a little confused. When you say a cigar is "plugged", do you mean it still draws, but is very firm? To me a plugged cigar is one with no draw whatsoever. I have not found very many truely plugged cigars in my experience.

As far as cigars with firm draw, which can make for a rather frustrating experience, I have found just about any cigar to suffer from that from time to time. I'm talking very firm draw, where you get little smoke volume, and about get crosseyed trying to take a draw. I can't say any one vitola or marque in particular is any worse than any other. I will say that more recent cigars, say from late '04 on, I have not found this to be as much of an issue as in cigars from before then.

[Guest boss hogg]

I spoke with a large retailer in Switzerland, and they said that they've had lots of problems with plugged Trini Fundadores, FWIW.

[stevejb]

I've had 3 boxes that were impossible to get a draw from over the years: Boli tubos #3, Hoyo du Gourmet, and Cohiba panetela.

[Taino]

Historically my most plugged vitolas have been the smaller ones, Demi Tasse to be exact and here RyJ Petit Julietas by far the worst.

[gyosa]

over the years my experience has been that cigars with very tight draws "fix" thenselves after 3-4 years in the humidor .

i had 3 boxes of RyJ Celestial Finos , for example , most suffered from draws so tight that they were almost impossibe to enjoy...i put them away and forgot about them for 3 years or so .... now they are 5 years old and have been smoking BEAUTIFULLY for the last 2 years or so !

i have also had the exact same experiences w/ 4 boxes of the 2000 EL Partagas Piramides ..... and a few others.

-bk

[Mel]

While there may be a difference in plugged and overly firm I consider any cigar without good draw unacceptable. Most of the ones I was talking about were so tight that you could not enjoy the cigar but were not absolutely plugged slap up.

[CWS]

I have to agree with the churchills and the H. Upmans ar ekilling me. Had a full box of Monarchs from 01 that very single one was plugged. Very sad.

[habanohal]

My #1 would be H. Upmann Lonsdales

[El Presidente]

» I have had more problems with churchills being plugged or tight than any

» other vitola, what about ya'll? The Punch and Upmann marcas have given me

» the most trouble with the Cohiba being the best. Man I hate to pull out a

» nice big smoke and have to fight with it. No cigar that is overly snug

» will ever score well with me. Any other whimpy suckers out there?;-)

I hope you are well mate ;-)

Lonsdales, Churchills and Double Corona's

No excuse for the Churchills and Double Corona's

[jnpb]

» » I have had more problems with churchills being plugged or tight than any

» » other vitola, what about ya'll? The Punch and Upmann marcas have given

» me

» » the most trouble with the Cohiba being the best. Man I hate to pull out

» a

» » nice big smoke and have to fight with it. No cigar that is overly snug

» » will ever score well with me. Any other whimpy suckers out there?;-)

»

» I hope you are well mate ;-)

»

» Lonsdales, Churchills and Double Corona's

»

» No excuse for the Churchills and Double Corona's

I once split a box of RyJ Churchills (from another vendor) that had most of them plugged, the only good thing was I didn't buy the whole box.

[Mel]

I'm good El Prez, but tell me why I have some Partagas Serie du Conn 2 and 3 (little bitty things) that draw super and some 47 churchills that are very mature, 01/02 and they frustrate me to no end. I hate looking at the box that they are in.

Would it cost me extra to have you open a box of cigars, cut them and test suck them? May be i"d rather have Lisa do the last part. Send me only the ones that draw.:-D

[harwellplant]

» Would it cost me extra to have you open a box of cigars, cut them and test

» suck them? May be i"d rather have Lisa do the last part. Send me only the

» ones that draw.:-D

a good vendor will definitely test suck, or even just simply suck by itself. lol.

[anacostiakat]

I smoke a lot (for me) of DCs, Churchies and torps as they are my favorite and fit well with a few beverages while relaxing.

For me the worst was my '01 Upmann Tubed Monarchs. Damn shame. I have had a small number of others like Punch Churchills, etc. But not many. Also dont have a lot of stock from 99 - 01. :-(

[bassman]

99 SLR Regios, 99 Partagas Presedentes & 01 Upmann Monarchs had the highest % of plugs for me. Later years of all three have been fine.

[mulberry]

quality control has been much better since 99-00-01, still get a plugged one or two in box, but not like it was

(i also have a better vendor now;-) )

[El Presidente]

;-) » I'm good El Prez, but tell me why I have some Partagas Serie du Conn 2 and

» 3 (little bitty things) that draw super and some 47 churchills that are

» very mature, 01/02 and they frustrate me to no end. I hate looking at the

» box that they are in.

»

» Would it cost me extra to have you open a box of cigars, cut them and test

» suck them? May be i"d rather have Lisa do the last part. Send me only the

» ones that draw.:-D

You know Lisa would do anything for you....but don't ask.

The most frustrating about the quality control of late 90's early 00's Churchills and DC's is that every box had some suspect cigars. In my experience the problem has been twisted tobacco. There are no excuses.

The good news is that the problem in the larger formats has essentially disappeared since 05. The draws on what I have had have been impeccable.

Mel, I will call you next week to discuss fishing next year. Looking forward to it.l

[Mel]

Yeh call me and I'll get some money saved up.

[Mr Peat]

I've seen like 2 plugged cigars in 10 years. Both of them was a PC. I did take the last one apart that was a 2yo Partagas PC. The plug was nearly 3" long. The filler was really packed and when I pulled the leaves apart, they was still damp.