When good cigars go bad

Stogie Talk7 Comments on When good cigars go bad

When good cigars go bad

Ever since seeing Brian’s writeup of a Padron with a prize inside, I got to thinking about all of the good cigars that have turned bad on me. While none of them have had anything nearly as crazy as a piece of twine inside, I’ve run into a couple which had voids in the filler. The hole made a normally enjoyable cigar turn difficult and sucked the enjoyment right out of it.

Often times problems with cigars are created by the end user. Be it high humidity leading to uneven distribution of moisture bringing on burn problems, or the over zealous clipper which leads to the cigar unwrapping.

In my case, I believe it was a problem with the bunching of the cigar. Being that cigars are a hand made product, mistakes happen from time to time and it simply needs to be chalked up as a bad stick. Even the best of cigar brands have a problem stick on occasion.

Take the Cusano Corojo for example. This is a cigar that I enjoy on a semi regular basis and have not run into many issues with. A few months back I lit one up and enjoyed it for a little while before it turned on me. The dense smoke that I was enjoying so much dissapeared and left me scratching me head for a reason behind it.

While examining the foot I realized what the issue was. I ran into a void in the filler which was allowing too much air to pass through the cigar. I would assume this was a situation where the air followed the path of least resistance and didn’t allow the cigar to combust and produce the amount of smoke that it should.


Cusano Corojo With Hole - 1

Fortunately in this case the void was small enough that I was able to smoke past it, although slowly, and the smoke volume picked up where it left off. Since then I have not run into this problem with another Cusano product.

My second experience of this nature came with a cigar that I absolutely adore, the Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic. This time around the problem was more sever as the void was much larger and deeper. Just as before, the smoke was excellent leading up to the void then it was as if a switch was flipped and the smoke was turned off.

Being that this was one of the few remaining Black Labels in my humidor, I was determined to smoke past the issue and enjoy the rest of the cigar. After lots and lots of puffing I became frustrated and was left with no other choice than to set it down in the ashtray to die a miserable death.


Don Pepin Garcia Black Label With Hole - 1

Don Pepin Garcia Black Label With Hole - 2

Just like the Cusano, this was the first problem that I experienced with this brand which was a direct result of a factory flaw. This goes to show that from time to time we will get a bad stick, regardless of the brand name printed on the band.

I have experienced this type of problem before, which indirectly a factory issue. In that case I had a cigar which had a tight draw, to remedy the problem I used a draw correction tool to create a tunnel down the length of the cigar. The tunnel that I created lead to the same low smoke volume problem.

For more information on burn issues and how to correct them, take a look at a series that I wrote for our good friend Doc Stogiefresh.


Have you ever run into cigar problems
that were a direct result of manufacturing issues?





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7 thoughts on “When good cigars go bad

  1. I had a Graycliff 1666 with all sorts of holes and tunnels in it. Here’s a link to the review with some pics: stogiereview.com/fanforum/index.php?topic=831.0 The next one had similar issues but not as bad. Luckily this rarely happens with my favorite Camachos. 🙂

  2. Ive had a few cigars in which some of the tobacco is ‘dead’ and doesn’t burn at all; it just turns a crispy black. I don’t know if it is a manufacturing issue, but a problem nonetheless.
    A few days ago, i had a Carlos Torano Exodus with this problem. A shame, because I love that cigar

  3. Todd,
    I’ve seen what you are talking about. My father was smoking a CAO Criollo a few months back and parts of the ash were as black as coal and rock hard. It was as if there was a piece of wood in the filler or something.

    He asked me what it could be and I had no idea. He fired off an email to CAO and stressed that this was the only time he has had an issue like that and asked what might cause it.

    The response didn’t contain much information on what the issue was, but they went above and beyond and sent him a sampler of cigars as well as a hat for his troubles.

    When an issue like the one I posted pops up, I generally don’t contact the manufacturer if I know what it is. In the case of the CAO, my father was simply trying to educate himself on what caused the issue and the manufacturer compensated him for the unfortunate stick.

    Steve,
    Thats one nasty looking burn. I’ve never had anything that bad and hope I can steer clear of it in the future. But then again, you really never know when you are going to get a bum stick.

    -Walt

  4. I have had a few cigars that have had voids in the filler and it can really screw up the burn. Ive not noticed it really change the flavour profile of a cigar tho which im thankful for.

  5. I think it’s really funny when store owners try to tell me “Well you can’t expect too much all the time, because these products are coming from third world countries”.

    I think it’s funny b/c the companies themselves hold themselves in high regard and quality. Third world countries have nothing to do with how much pride and care people take in their work.

  6. I had an Opus x perfecxion No.4 that had all sorts of tunnels in it. It even cracked during the last third. I had my hopes up for this one too.

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