Cigar Ash/ colour...a pictography.

[Trevor2118]

» More importantly.....could someone e-mail Lisa who found me on the deck

» smoking cigars and drinking wine....and explain to her that it was a

» serious scientific project .....please.....:-|

You you really think that Lisa is going to believe a single word from any of us???? :-D

[gehrig24]

» » More importantly.....could someone e-mail Lisa who found me on the deck

» » smoking cigars and drinking wine....

Since I posted the original question I will send her a note. I have to say that you must have had a tough day at the office but thank you for the pictures and thoughts.

By the way, on the HDM cigar you rip it in your decription on the czar website....are you just doing this to keep them for yourself? I read your review and you gave it an 89.5, any improvement with this one?

[El Presidente]

» » » More importantly.....could someone e-mail Lisa who found me on the

» deck

» » » smoking cigars and drinking wine....

»

» Since I posted the original question I will send her a note. I have to

» say that you must have had a tough day at the office but thank you for the

» pictures and thoughts.

»

» By the way, on the HDM cigar you rip it in your decription on the czar

» website....are you just doing this to keep them for yourself? I read your

» review and you gave it an 89.5, any improvement with this one?

HDM Gourmet was plagued with construction problems going back to 99- 2001. During 2003-2004 it was plagued with underfilling issues.

It is a tough vitola to roll properly in volume. They appear to have got it right in 2005/2006 but this is a cigar which does need 2-3 years to reveal it's true flavour essence. Give me another 3-4 months to re-evaluate. I need to inspect and smoke another 12 or so from different boxes of different codes to get a true line on it's current status.

PS....Lisa has decided to take tomorrow (Friday) off. I wasn't going to stop her

[Jimmy2]

Keep up the good work PreZ.

[Colt45]

» I am not even sure if pictography is a word

»

» This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject ( which led

» me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on the Czar House deck).

»

» I am not even sure if pictography is a word

»

» This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject (copied

» below) which led me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on the

» Czar House deck.

Thanks for the report. What you are willing to do in the name of science never

ceases to amaze.

I take it the wine was good as well.....

[Tiny Tim]

Obviously this was pure scientific experimentation at it's highest! ;-) May I congratulate you on a job well done, sir! :-)

Man! He's got a tough job!!!! :-P

[Freefallguy]

» » I am not even sure if pictography is a word

» »

» » This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject ( which

» led

» » me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on the Czar House

» deck).

» »

» » I am not even sure if pictography is a word

» »

» » This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject (copied

» » below) which led me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on

» the

» » Czar House deck.

» I take it the wine was good as well.....

Colt, it would seem that the wine was good enough for him to double up on the cut and paste!;-)

[cigardawg]

Nice work, Rob. Interesting that you picked the SdC 3 as one of your "test" subjects. I have smoked a number of them from 98. Full bodied, well aged. All, without exception, have had a dark ash. Tight ash, loose ash...make not difference. Dark ash.

Like I said in my other post, those were just some loose observations. I think the overall ash color does have to do with combustion and not soil content, but combustion is a very complicated thing. It is impacted by too many things to wrap my head around. Oil content in the tobacco, humidity, tightness of the roll, presence of long versus short chained hydrocarbons, how hard your are drawing, how fast you are smoking, air flow in the room, etc. Too many variables.

Thanks for the "hard work," though. Scientific experimentation is tough stuff.:-P

[Ginseng]

Nice investigation, Rob. The the more I read and think about it, the more I am convinced that the characteristics of the combustion are the most significant factor in determining ash color.

Wilkey

[Colt45]

» Colt, it would seem that the wine was good enough for him to double up on

» the cut and paste!;-)

yesh, I shink you are correcsh....hiccup....

Next experiment:

A test of sobriety. I think a definate conclusion will be much easier to establish.......

[Matthew]

Excellent photographs. Thank you!

[n2advnture]

» I am convinced that the characteristics of the combustion are the most

» significant factor in determining ash color.

»

» Wilkey

I agree Wilkey. It's evident by the fact that you can change the ash color just by applying a torch to the ash to get it to turn white.

Nice pics Rob! (what kind of camera were you using?)

~Mark

[kjellfrick]

Rocket science, Prez! As an occational dabbler in science I dare to vouch for the impeccable method used. :-D

However, what struck me was the very nice scientific utensils used - especially the ashtray. Where could one find this invaluable tool for further scientific investigations?

[El Presidente]

» » Colt, it would seem that the wine was good enough for him to double up

» on

» » the cut and paste!;-)

»

» yesh, I shink you are correcsh....hiccup....

»

» Next experiment:

»

» A test of sobriety. I think a definate conclusion will be much easier to

» establish.......

Well Ross......the wine was indeed excellent...and yes....I may have been missing a few kwyboard keys when typing up my synopsis ;-)

Dawg, I agree. The PASDC3 normally has a dark firm ash. Remember that the roll on this one was slightly loose which made the difference to combustion. I know (from smoking 100's and 100's of PASDC3...my favourite cigar) that it would have an almost black ash charachteristic if it has a perfect roll.

This experiment is in no way concluded. I will evolve it next week ;-)

Mark, camera used is a Canon 350 SLR

[El Presidente]

I am not even sure if pictography is a word

This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject ( which led me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on the Czar House deck).

I am not even sure if pictography is a word

This is a follow up to Cigadawgs excellent post on the subject (copied below) which led me to conduct a little experiment this afternoon on the Czar House deck.

Tools: 1 x HDM Le Hoyo De Gourmet (light blend)

1 x Partagas Serie De Connoisseur No 3 (Full Bodied Blend)

1 x bottle of Temparanillo red wine.

I chose the HDM Gourmet because it is a mild to medium bodied creamy light cigar. The Partagas Serie De Connoisseur No 3 because it is full bodied and one of my absolue favourites. Ring guage are roughly comparable. Both cigars cam out of our humidor and so have an equivalent moisture content (65% RH).

Note...the Partagas had a slightly looser roll than the HDM Gourmet

Love the shape of the HDM Gourmet.....feels like a fine MontBlanc in the hand.

I smoked the HDM Gourmet first. The flavour profile is classic cream with a touch of honey. It maintained its ash as well as I hold my money in a fly fishing store....but I persevered. Classic grey ash with flecks of white.

But look what happens to the ash when I use the torch to touch up the burn......almost pure white

Love this cigar

Down to the end, ashed the cigar and a crossection shot. Notice the whitest ash is at the hottest section of combustion.

Now for the heavier blend Partagas Serie De Connoisseur No 3. Remember, it had a slightly looser roll. It is definately a whiter ash than the HDM Gourmet.

I nubbed this one ;-)

Conclusion

While this was not a definitive test, I am left with the conclusion that blend has little to do with white ash...whereas combustion has everything to do with it. The Partagas Serie D No 3 with a slighlty looser roll but a stronger blend, produced a significantly whiter ash.

I could achieve the same whiter ash on the HDMGourmet by applying heat to touch up the burn.

More importantly.....could someone e-mail Lisa who found me on the deck smoking cigars and drinking wine....and explain to her that it was a serious scientific project .....please.....:-|