Firm Draw

Let it rest for a couple weeks. But if your like me, and you have to smoke it now, GENTLY roll it around in your fingertips to GENTLY loosen it up. Most times it is really tight just in front of the band. Macallan told me this is caused by rollers who hold the cigar wrong when they roll it.

A tight roll is a tight roll, unless one DOES own a poker. Other than that, I personally can't think of anything. Also, a tight draw and long smoker are not synonymous. You will find that there are cigars that draw wonderfully, but take a long time to smoke, despite the size. One example is the Magus Pronto M that I posted a review of at Cigar Wise. Onyx Reserve is a cigar that has a tendency to not only be tightly rolled, but also contain slow burning tobacco.

Don't smoke yourself green just to avoid wasting a cigar. I've done that and met up with Earnie Shavers' fist many times. If a cigar has a truly bad draw, and you've tried your best, and don't own a poker, ditch it or you'll be sorry.

That would do fine. I don't own one. When I encounter a bad draw, I usually finish it, unless it's nearly impossible. What I do is smoke slowly. Most people will quicken the smoking process with a bad draw, in order to get it burning, so they think. I've done this a number of times, because it's instinctual. That's what turned me green a few times. Oh look, it's not burning, let me puff it 81 MORE times. That's it, now it's going. Oh look, it's not really going so good, let me take 73 more puffs. That's what turns you green. It's rare that I get a draw that bad. I keep my humidity levels at less than 70%. Lower levels of humidity will prevent a certain number of bad drawing cigars from becoming impossible to smoke.

Bloofington said:

It's rare that I get a draw that bad. I keep my humidity levels at less than 70%. Lower levels of humidity will prevent a certain number of bad drawing cigars from becoming impossible to smoke.

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Jesse,
That is the #1 thing you can do to keep your cigars smoking good is to keep your humidity levels down in the mid 60's range. Also recently received cigars from a lot of venders tend to be very wet (damp), however you want to call them. Most cigars will benefit from a rest peiod of several weeks at lower humidity levels after buying a new box. Not only will the cigar draw better but the flavor profiles will come out at lower humidity levels.

All good advise!
I'll add - if you feel a hard spot around the band you can cut the cigar there. I usually cut right in the middle of the hard spot, try a puff if it is still tight I'll cut the hard spot completely off.
This only works if there is a bad spot.
If the whole cigar is tight,

GENTLY roll it around in your fingertips to GENTLY loosen it up

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and then a poker.

When I first saw this, I thought what can I contribute? Then I remembered I had the sme problem with some box pressed coronas, and what I used was a paper clip. I straightend the paper clip - it was a large one, not huge, but large - and then I gently poked it into the cigar. It just loosened it up enough to smoke quite nicely. There you go! Let us know how it turns out.

Ahhhhh, Bikeman, Bikeman, yes, truly, the Moderator's blond(e) locks are showing. Why did I not think paper clip? And do you all know what sticking a straightened paper clip in a cigar is USUALLY used for?

. . . to keep from burning your knuckles??? Or am I way off on this one?

I tried to loosen up a tight cigar once with a wooden shish kebab skewer and it was impossible. Need to use a metal one next time.

-D

The first time I tried it I used a punch awl. OOPS!

Bloofington said:

And do you all know what sticking a straightened paper clip in a cigar is USUALLY used for?

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Isn't it to keep the ash from falling off

Yes. The old straightened paper clip in the cigar trick is used by unscrupulous cigar smokers who drum up "long ash" contests. They'll get something going among cigar smokers in a club, bar, wherever, get a bunch of other people interested, with action going on all around, and slip the paper clip in the middle of the cigar, and . . .

look Ma, that guy's ash is almost four inches long and it hasn't fallen off yet!!! mg:

And all this time I've been sitting in the same position the entire smoke so the ash remains on :roll: :lol:

Apparently, those unscrupulous cigar smokers never tried smoking a Cuesta Rey...for some reason they always hold a very long ash for me.

:cryinlaugh:

If you mean the Cuesta Rey with the light Connecticut Shade wrapper, I love those.

Those are the ones, although the Centro Fino's that come with the club membership are nearly as good at holding the ash.