Squashed Cigars

[Adric]

I received some cigars today, vacuum sealed for freshness, unfortunately the box was not a solid thick box, so the vacuum sealing has squashed them into flat sided square cigars.

My question is this: Is there anything that can be done with them? Will they naturally spring back (hope against hope)? Are they likely to be smokeable?

Or am I just kidding myself and I should be sending them back?

Any comments or help would be appreciated.

[Trevor2118]

» I received some cigars today, vacuum sealed for freshness, unfortunately

» the box was not a solid thick box, so the vacuum sealing has squashed them

» into flat sided square cigars.

They may well be just normal box-pressed cigars!

[Colt45]

More than likely, if they were properly rolled to begin with, they will be fine.

Dress box cigars usually have various degrees of box press anyway.

Once the cigar is lit and warms up, the cigars tend to "round out".

My personal opinion would be to smoke one, and if the draw is acceptable, you

should be fine.

[El Presidente]

» I received some cigars today, vacuum sealed for freshness, unfortunately

» the box was not a solid thick box, so the vacuum sealing has squashed them

» into flat sided square cigars.

» My question is this: Is there anything that can be done with them? Will

» they naturally spring back (hope against hope)? Are they likely to be

» smokeable?

» Or am I just kidding myself and I should be sending them back?

»

» Any comments or help would be appreciated.

If you can post a photo mate. If it is an Australian retailer then there should be no problem seeking an exchange if the cigars are indeed damaged and not simply box pressed.

[gyosa]

believe it or not ... i actually 'kinda prefer a box-pressed cigar !

less likely to roll off the edge of an ashtray or table during my normal inebriated cigar-smoking state ..... :-D

-bk

[Trevor2118]

» believe it or not ... i actually 'kinda prefer a box-pressed cigar !

»

» less likely to roll off the edge of an ashtray or table during my normal

» inebriated cigar-smoking state ..... :-D

»

» -bk

Yes, fully agree!......Now, if I could just work out how to stop falling off the chair.............

[Adric]

Here are a couple of shots of the cigars, please forgive the quality as my camera isn't great.

Oh, also, I know there's only 9 cigars there, I didn't get ripped, I took one out to give the others breathing room

[Ginseng]

» Here are a couple of shots of the cigars, please forgive the quality as my

» camera isn't great.

» Oh, also, I know there's only 9 cigars there, I didn't get ripped, I took

» one out to give the others breathing room

Wow,

That's pretty flat. My guess is that if the box was not permanently deformed, given enough time they will round out a bit. They do not look to have taken any crushing damage so chances are, they will smoke just fine.

Wilkey

[El Presidente]

Adric...something doesn't look right here. I have never seen such a box pressed Monte 2. I am not saying they are fake but if not then something very unusual has happened. Can this be simply due to Vaccum Sealing of the box?

Smoke 1 and see if it is a classic Monte 2. If not then return them.

***It may be the camera...but wrapper shade looks a little inconsistent...beyond the normal***

[Adric]

Yeah, they could be fakes, I'll be finding out some time today whether they smoke like a Monte 2 or not, I've still got some left from the '06 sale from Rob to compare them to.

I saw the reason they were so box pressed the minute they were out of the postal packaging, the vacuum sealed bag was one of those ones I've seen advertised on TV for storing all kinds of stuff in, but it had sucked absolutely every bit of space out of there, when I punctured the plastic bag it gasped and sucked in air, I could see before I did this though that the lid had been sucked down into the box, before I even opened it I worried the cigars were damaged.

The proof will be in the smoking I guess, I'll keep you guys posted.

**** Oh and yes, it is the camera, the actual cigars wrappers are more consistent than the pics show****

[El Presidente]

Thanks Adric. I didn't realise the packaging was that invasive but it would provide a sensible explanation.

If they smoke fine then I wouldn't worry about sending them back. They look bloody interesting

[Adric]

Just got done smoking one, and Colt45 was right, it plumped out as I smoked it, tasted fine, I don't consider myself an expert by any stretch, but was pretty smooth and couldn't tell a difference from Monte 2's in the past.

So just seems they're squarish, which is simply an aesthetic factor, as the draw was lovely, just like No. 2's I've had in the past, ash was marbled, not too light, not too dark, again, nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks for all the thoughts and such everyone, was very worried when they first arrived, but I think I can rest easy now, next time I might mention some padding or less suction on the sealer would be good :-P

[Tampa1257]

After reading this thread, I would request that future shipments not be vacuumed sealed at all, or change vendors, you know that Rob is a pretty good vendor!

[JMH]

»

You can see that they're almost concave - the lid has been depressed furthest in the middle, and least at the ends where it had the front and back of the box to support it.