Tunneling driving me bonkers

[Cep]

Pulled out my first ever connie a from a sealed container at 65rh 64f. Lit it. 

After half an inch i knew i was done for. I let it go out.  Later discovered it had tunnelled in the centre over an inch down. 

This doesnt happen all the time but i think its my lighting technique.  When there is wind it makes it harder to toast properly. Then when i have the cigar in my mouth and bring the flame to it, its hard to know where im lighting (since u cant see it)  so maybe im burning the center too much? 

It just makes me scared to try these bigger more expensive cigars when i cant even light them properly.  I need help. 

[Ginseng]

Had this happen to me just today with a big fat well-aged Partagas Salomones and it threw me a scorched highway to hell a good 1.5" up from the foot. Only way to deal with it was to amputate. Had to take off over 2" to get back to right. This only worked because it was a big honker of a cigar. It had nothing to do with lighting. It was a construction issue as far as I could tell from taking the cut piece apart.

What was left was pretty well wrecked.

Wilkey

[El Presidente]

I gently toast the foot of the cigar for a good minute. It is not a blowtorch job. 

For me:

Cigar in left hand, lighter in right. 

Flame doesn't touch the cigar...almost but not quite. 

turn the cigar ever so slowly as you toast the bottom. First rotation of the cigar should turn the tobacco black (not red).  Ensure it is uniform. 

Now do it again.  i rotate the opposite direction but it makes no difference. 

Lift the foot of the cigar to your mouth.....now blow on it. Watch the burn to ensure it is even. 

Observe, touch up if need be. 

Now put the cigar to your mouth and light up. Draw (pull) slightly. 

The foot of the cigar should combust evenly and quickly. You will see a mini fireball for a split second. 

Again...Inspect the foot of the cigar. touch up any uneven areas. Blow on it

Job done. 

 

 

[feral]

I know a guy that is the tunnel master. We should call him dig-dug. I don't understand how digdug does it. I've theorized that the problem is his draw. I told him to remind himself constantly to go slower and lighter on his draw and relax.
I never let him pick a cigar for me though, just in case it's his curse.

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[Fugu]

Could be the cigar but may also be the particular smoking technique - more than the actual lighting procedure, as I would think. Make sure to leave enough time between draws so as to give wrapper and binder enough time to become heated up by the ember between draws, so that they combust easily upon the next draw. Watch for the wrapper to properly burn when drawing. And if not, taking a shallow second or third draw will usually help. When a wrapper renders burn-proof don't wait for the burn to correct itself - do touchups immediately (or dump...).

That said, the Conny A, when fresh, may be prone to burn issues, as it is made from comparatively hygroscopic tobacco in my experience.

There is another issue I noticed recently (also displayed by some posts/pictures of members): It seems Cuba and/or certain importers use a particular device for checking tobacco moisture levels of cigars in storage (see pic below). This looks like a two-pronged fork, which is pushed in deeply into the cigar and is used to gauge conductivity (similar to the types you use for determining wood moisture). This seems to destroy or to at least negatively affect the uniformity of the bunching and does leave two deep holes in the bunch, which may favour later tunelling. A while back I had such an example of a Sig IV which rendered almost unsmokable due to tunneling and showed exactly that sensor pattern (coincidence?). Depending on the actual size and diameter of said sensor elements, it seems this "invasive" procedure might be detrimental to the product.

[Cep]

Hmmmm. Yes i have also observed that taking a 2nd draw is sometimes needed to see the wrapper burning. Well thats when i know im going to have problems. 

[irratebass]

I gently toast the foot of the cigar for a good minute. It is not a blowtorch job. 

For me:

Cigar in left hand, lighter in right. 

Flame doesn't touch the cigar...almost but not quite. 

turn the cigar ever so slowly as you toast the bottom. First rotation of the cigar should turn the tobacco black (not red).  Ensure it is uniform. 

Now do it again.  i rotate the opposite direction but it makes no difference. 

Lift the foot of the cigar to your mouth.....now blow on it. Watch the burn to ensure it is even. 

Observe, touch up if need be. 

Now put the cigar to your mouth and light up. Draw (pull) slightly. 

The foot of the cigar should combust evenly and quickly. You will see a mini fireball for a split second. 

Again...Inspect the foot of the cigar. touch up any uneven areas. Blow on it

Job done. 

 

 

Perhaps a video with you & Ken demonstrating your toasting methods on your next vid eh Cap'n? ?

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[mrwhitt]

When I'm outside and concerned about the impact of wind when lighting my cigar, I toast the foot before cutting the cap. My goal is to prevent any draft through the cigar. Not sure if science is legit but the results suggest so.

[PigFish]

7 hours ago, Fugu said:

Could be the cigar but may also be the particular smoking technique - more than the actual lighting procedure, as I would think. Make sure to leave enough time between draws so as to give wrapper and binder enough time to become heated up by the ember between draws, so that they combust easily upon the next draw. Watch for the wrapper to properly burn when drawing. And if not, taking a shallow second or third draw will usually help. When a wrapper renders burn-proof don't wait for the burn to correct itself - do touchups immediately (or dump...).

That said, the Conny A, when fresh, may be prone to burn issues, as it is made from comparatively hygroscopic tobacco in my experience.

There is another issue I noticed recently (also displayed by some posts/pictures of members): It seems Cuba and/or certain importers use a particular device for checking tobacco moisture levels of cigars in storage (see pic below). This looks like a two-pronged fork, which is pushed in deeply into the cigar and is used to gauge conductivity (similar to the types you use for determining wood moisture). This seems to destroy or to at least negatively affect the uniformity of the bunching and does leave two deep holes in the bunch, which may favour later tunelling. A while back I had such an example of a Sig IV which rendered almost unsmokable due to tunneling and showed exactly that sensor pattern (coincidence?). Depending on the actual size and diameter of said sensor elements, it seems this "invasive" procedure might be detrimental to the product.

Nice post my friend.

This is a really stupid practice as this type of analytical instrument is designed to test a homogeneous substrate. I have one of these instruments, and it is not meant for tobacco!

If these people want to test tobacco they need a Aw analyzer, and they cost real money... It is the only way to do this correctly.

It makes you think... If these people actually spent more time maintaining the equilibrium space (their frigg'n humidor!) none of this crap, or posing for this shot would not be necessary.

So what have we learned here? Whoever it is represented in this picture is ignoring the requirement of temperature and rH, and then going through using the wrong instrument to test for water.

Oh, we're in good hands here!!! -LOL

-the Pig

[Jimmy_jack]

Look what I just found in my Trinidad 

[luvdunhill]

Vampires?

[Dodgeski]

2 hours ago, luvdunhill said:

Vampires?

Tobacco vampires, their the worst kind.

 

[Notsocleaver]

Ill second (third?) the hygroscopic Connie A theory. Ive experienced it as well, even while other thick ring cigars from similar vintages are burning fine.

Also, Ive totally seen that vampire bite thing on a recent cigar. Burn was off but not awful. Just remember seeing it and thinking it was weird.

.

 

[BellevilleMXZ]

Huh, never noticed till I saw the pics.......went to blow on this ERDM, and there are the 2 holes. Sorry, pic doesn't show it that well, but very easy to see in person.

 

EDIT messed up the burn pretty good on the spot where its close to the outside,

[TomF]

Examine your cigar for vampire bites before lighting. If you see vampire bites, draw it mild, gentlemen, draw it mild...

[Hedgehog]

Had a vampire bitten RASS the other day. PET MAY 16. It did not seem to affect the burn.




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[Cep]

I lit up a RASS yesterday and the burn was going typically wrong at the beginning.  The wrapper just didnt want to burn as fast as the filler.  I used Prez 2nd short puff method and it totally worked for me!  I did it occasionally for the rest of the cigar.  The burn was perfect until the last 1/4.   Small victory for me!

 

[TBird55]

May help to slow down puffing your cigar,  give it a chance. Generally when I have burn issues,  it's because I  am puffing  too fast. 

[GWG]

I have discussed this often as it happens with many cigars NC and cc alike and what I understand to be the reasons are first construction. If you have ever rolled up a carpet, where you put pressure is tight and elsewhere is looser,  same with a cigar. Second is different density tobacco in the filler burning at different rates. The third is the binder, if the binder is wet the filler will burn faster. I also have asked if wet binder is discernable and have been told that it isnt. The usual comment during this conversation is can you change this and for the most part the response is no if the above  conditions exist, it will probably tunnel. Aging helps with everything cigars and smoking at the one draw a min" recommended "rate will help a little as well as keeping the cigar from getting to hot. So now I think it's time to test for tunneling and hope like hell I don't find any.

[Leopolis Semper Fidelis]

On 5/1/2017 at 1:25 PM, El Presidente said:

I gently toast the foot of the cigar for a good minute. It is not a blowtorch job. 

For me:

Cigar in left hand, lighter in right. 

Flame doesn't touch the cigar...almost but not quite. 

turn the cigar ever so slowly as you toast the bottom. First rotation of the cigar should turn the tobacco black (not red).  Ensure it is uniform. 

Now do it again.  i rotate the opposite direction but it makes no difference. 

Lift the foot of the cigar to your mouth.....now blow on it. Watch the burn to ensure it is even. 

Observe, touch up if need be. 

Now put the cigar to your mouth and light up. Draw (pull) slightly. 

The foot of the cigar should combust evenly and quickly. You will see a mini fireball for a split second. 

Again...Inspect the foot of the cigar. touch up any uneven areas. Blow on it

Job done. 

 

 

My cigar mentor taught me to do much the same.