Tar Taste in the final Third

[asc]

Is it largely in part due to youth?

As my sticks age, will the tar like tastes vanish and turn more into what I tasted in the first two-thirds?

I searched, but found nothing on this common topic.

[n2advnture]

Is it largely in part due to youth?

As my sticks age, will the tar like tastes vanish and turn more into what I tasted in the first two-thirds?

I searched, but found nothing on this common topic.

The tar taste in the final third is most likely just that. Tar tends to build up the further along you smoke. Do a search for "purging" and see if that helps.

~Mark

[Colt45]

I very often find that young cigars turn ornery past mid point / near the end. A real tar or varnish taste could be youth or as Mark has

mentioned tar buildup. This can be exacerbated by smoking a bit too quickly - especially with a thinner cigar.

Has it been a regular occurrence?

[aavkk]

I definitely second what Mark and Ross mentioned above. Do you recall any thick liquid building at the head of the cigar? I have had this happen to me several times and find it to be a very harsh tar like substance/flavor. I have to recut the cigar and that takes care of the issue.

[Tampa1257]

Slow down your speed of smoking and that will reduce the Tar build-up. It is a sure sign of smoking way too fast.

[asc]

Will pay more attention...most of my stock is 12-24 months old.

Boli PC took 60 min. to smoke.

Cohiba Sig IV took around 80 min.

No thick liquid building up at the head...just a mildly unpleasant tar like taste in the final third that makes the final bit blah.

[samb]

x2 on all of the above... Smoke slower, give them some age (always helps) and purge purge purge!!

[MontrealRon]

Another factor could be humidity.

A damp cigar can be harder to draw on, while burning at a lower temperature and less evenly.

This could cause incomplete combustion of the ligero, which is higher in oil content.

The result is unburnt oils depositing at the head of the cigar.

Try dryboxing for a few days.

This might give a more open and even draw, with better combustion.

[Van55]

To save you the trouble of searching....

The solution to a cigar beginning to taste "tarry" as you smoke it toward the nub is to "purge" it. You do this by gently exhaling through the head of the cigar to expel smoke and gases from the head out through the foot. If you want to dramatize for yourself what you are doing, hold a lit torch up to the foot of the cigar as you purge and watch the gases burn with a blue flame. It's not necessary to burn of the gases this way, of course.

Here's a photo of burning gases from a cigar being purged: