Tunneling ordeal

[kjellfrick]

Few things detract from my smoking experience as much as tunneling. If I detect a harshness in the taste of the cigar nine times out of ten there is a hole happily digging down into the innards of the cigar, passing charcoal taste straight down into my poor palate. The problem can be mild, it can be severe. Small tunnels I can live with, but I've been confronted with holes with a diameter exceeding 3 mm (making the cigar impossible to smoke) a number of times in fresh cigars from 07-08. My pals have the same experience. Is there another explanation than bad construction for this kind of tunnel? If the reason is bad rolling, why has it become progressively more common, or is it just that me and my pals have had extremely bad luck in this?

As an example me and friends ordered 11 boxes of ERdM Grandes de Espana -08. The number of unsmokable, tunneling cigars were astonishing and the construction quality really bad with very soft spots here and there along the length of many cigars. Some boxes were worse than others, but the general impression is that many of these cigars were rolled by some very inexperienced or uncaring rollers. It's like the cigars were rolled around a stick that was removed before the wrapper was applied!

The problem occurs in other cigars too, not only the Grandes de Espana. Is this a way of overcompensating for past sins of tight cigars? Whatever the explanation, I'd like to know if there's anyone else who has similar experiences as me and my friends.

[bolivr]

Hi Kjell, Can't say I have and so I find this very surprising. Time to have a chat with your supplier, I should think they would jump at the chance to look after a customer who buys such a high volume of cigars.

[SamuraiJack]

My latest theory on tunneling, tho I'm sure there can be many reasons, is uneven distribution of the various leaf types across the cross-section of the cigar. Some types burn better that others. I am even getting to the point where I can look at the foot of an unlit cigar and see color variances and predict where it will burn faster/easier, whether it will result in tunneling or tracking down one side. So, I blame bad bunching.

Bottom line, I don't let tunneling completely kill a cigar for me and have gotten used to touching up the wrapper/binder regularly. Its obviously not optimal and sometimes is like drinking a premium mixed drink one ingredient at a time.

[PigFish]

I don't often get cigars that tunnel but I often smoke thin ring cigars. I am very surprised to find that a cigar like the Espana tunnels. With a very limited volume of air necessary to keep the cigar lit in a small ring, I have never gotten a small ring cigar to tunnel; piramides, churchill, DC... yes, but never cigars under 42 ring.

Do the cigar taste okay before they tunnel or are they weak kneed? If the proper amount of slower burning more pungent filler is used the cigar should taste right and the filler should burn correctly. Beyond speculation about construction my only suggestion on diagnosis would be to clip a few and really dry them out. You want to make sure that the binder and outer filler is as dry as you would speculate the inner filler is and try again. I can imagine that if a cigar were extremely dry, then re-humidified that the outer portion of the cigar may be more moist than the inner causing your problem. Otherwise I would have to conclude the same as you have and that the cigars that you posses were boxed with little ligero, or a mis-blend of leaves. -

[kjellfrick]

I don't often get cigars that tunnel but I often smoke thin ring cigars. I am very surprised to find that a cigar like the Espana tunnels. With a very limited volume of air necessary to keep the cigar lit in a small ring, I have never gotten a small ring cigar to tunnel; piramides, churchill, DC... yes, but never cigars under 42 ring.

Do the cigar taste okay before they tunnel or are they weak kneed? If the proper amount of slower burning more pungent filler is used the cigar should taste right and the filler should burn correctly. Beyond speculation about construction my only suggestion on diagnosis would be to clip a few and really dry them out. You want to make sure that the binder and outer filler is as dry as you would speculate the inner filler is and try again. I can imagine that if a cigar were extremely dry, then re-humidified that the outer portion of the cigar may be more moist than the inner causing your problem. Otherwise I would have to conclude the same as you have and that the cigars that you posses were boxed with little ligero, or a mis-blend of leaves. -

I've only smoked one from my box and that was only after hearing the rumble from my pals. I felt all the cigars in the upper layer and selected one of the 3-4 that had exceptinal soft spots. It developed a hole that was about 4 mm in diameter. Take a look at the picture below; it's a cigar from a fríends box...mine was identical. I suspect that a full third or more from my box is unsmokeable. Another pal has smoked seven cigars from his box of Espanas and six of them tunneled.

i know that this is not a new phenomenon and like you I've mainly had tunneling in larger gauge cigars like DC's. I'm as surprised as you and would love to know the explanation of this.

Bolivr...I can send them back and the merchant is quite ok with that. I'll se what I'll do.

[Colt45]

Sorry to see this Kjell. If a picture is worth a thousand words, yours is worth a million.

I'm surprised you guys were able to draw any smoke at all with holes that large.

[SamuraiJack]

WOW, ok, that is unsmokable.

I was referring to 'tunneling' as the burn sinking down the center of the cigar, not a LITERAL tunnel opening up!

[BobLobLaw]

Yeah thats pretty bad, I thought it was just the wrapper not burning as fast in which case I would have said dry boxing may make sense. Especially with thick wrappers. However, I got nothing and would be curious to hear what type of resolution you get.

[PigFish]

Wow... That is awful. I have never had tunneling to that effect. I would simply send those back if it is an option. That is unfortunately a loser for everyone. Who would ever know that a cigar would burn like that? Good luck and thanks for sharing the experience. -Piggy

[anacostiakat]

And How! That is horrible. Very sorry to see and hear this. Send 'em packing!

[Colt45]

Kjell, in addition, I've had this occur very rarely, and not with anything recent. The few times it's happened has been with double coronas

and churchills. The "channels" were a bit smaller in diameter - say 2mm or so, but nonetheless, had rendered the cigars unsmokeable.

Call me naïve, but I'm kind of surprised to see this with such recent vintage cigars. Perhaps I shouldn't be, but let's leave it at that. You've

taken one for the team, and for that I thank you - though that's no consolation to you or your friends........

[jlotrug]

I was looking around for someone having this problem. It took a while, but I think I narrowed down the issue - for me anyway. I bought a new humidor, and after seasoning it, loaded the 2 large humidifiers with distilled water. I had no problems with my cigars until sometime after loading cigars into the new humi. My calibrated analog humidistat was running really high sitting in the lid between the humidifiers. The reading was pushing 80%. (I know. Wowsa!). I didn't believe it, and thinking because it was mounted right between the humidifiers thought it was getting the high reading from being between the humidifiers, so I moved the humidistat lower inside the humidor. The reading lowered but was still in the high mid 70s. I let it ride like that instead of removing one of the humidifiers as I should have.

In conclusion, I believe the problem was due to high and SUDDEN humidification of my stogies. This sudden humidification wasn't quite through the whole of the cigar, and just as flowing water finds its own level, so does the burn of a cigar, and begins tunneling wherever it finds the easiet (dryest) way through the cigar, hence the experience was tunneling. Its one thing if you get a bad box, but if you begin experiencing tunneling with a wide range of cigars, its a good bet, you have a sudden over humidification of your cigars.

[samb]

Tunneling sure does suck!

[android]

I've only smoked one from my box and that was only after hearing the rumble from my pals. I felt all the cigars in the upper layer and selected one of the 3-4 that had exceptinal soft spots. It developed a hole that was about 4 mm in diameter. Take a look at the picture below; it's a cigar from a fríends box...mine was identical. I suspect that a full third or more from my box is unsmokeable. Another pal has smoked seven cigars from his box of Espanas and six of them tunneled.

i know that this is not a new phenomenon and like you I've mainly had tunneling in larger gauge cigars like DC's. I'm as surprised as you and would love to know the explanation of this.

Bolivr...I can send them back and the merchant is quite ok with that. I'll se what I'll do.

Looks like a home for a small animal...sucks to see that and another let down by HSA QC.

[kjellfrick]

I was looking around for someone having this problem. It took a while, but I think I narrowed down the issue - for me anyway. I bought a new humidor, and after seasoning it, loaded the 2 large humidifiers with distilled water. I had no problems with my cigars until sometime after loading cigars into the new humi. My calibrated analog humidistat was running really high sitting in the lid between the humidifiers. The reading was pushing 80%. (I know. Wowsa!). I didn't believe it, and thinking because it was mounted right between the humidifiers thought it was getting the high reading from being between the humidifiers, so I moved the humidistat lower inside the humidor. The reading lowered but was still in the high mid 70s. I let it ride like that instead of removing one of the humidifiers as I should have.

In conclusion, I believe the problem was due to high and SUDDEN humidification of my stogies. This sudden humidification wasn't quite through the whole of the cigar, and just as flowing water finds its own level, so does the burn of a cigar, and begins tunneling wherever it finds the easiet (dryest) way through the cigar, hence the experience was tunneling. Its one thing if you get a bad box, but if you begin experiencing tunneling with a wide range of cigars, its a good bet, you have a sudden over humidification of your cigars.

Interesting explanation for your tunneling problems. I've never had any humidification problems though. The humidity in my cabinets varies slowly but surely with the seasons, going from high 50's in this very dry winter to high 60's in a very humid summer. The Grandes de Espana have stabilised a long time ago, but still tunnel. No, I haven't returned them...

[Stormin691]

Hey fellas been watching this post as you guys discuss it, and was curious- could this be a bettle problem? Considering it has affected so many boxes of cigars? Is It possible the the beetle was in an initial stage and has not 'surfaced' yet? I'm sure its not as you guys would know better then I but that struck me as soon as I saw the picture... -Mike