Cracked Feet

[Sluffo]

I've been having a problem with cracked feet in just about all of my shipments of CCs over the last 5 months.  They aren't showing up much in dress boxes but mainly happening in all SLBs and singles.  For example, I received six Esplendidos in pristine, sealed cardboard packs last week and 5 out of 6 had cracked feet, some with peeling wrappers.  Same shipment had some RyJ Churchill tubos and those were all just fine.  Also had a box of Siglo IV that had five or six cracked feet on the cigars at the edges of the bundle.  It's been happening with more than Cohibas - those are just the ones that stick out the most in my mind.  I haven't had any issues with NC cigars in cellophane.

This leads me to two questions:

1. What causes cracked feet?  All the temp, humidity, pressure changes during transit?  Is this normal or am I just extremely unlucky?
2. I've used PerfecRepair cigar glue in the past.  Anyone have any suggestions on whether this should be used right away and then just start aging or wait until about to smoke it before trying to repair?

Guess that was actually four questions.  I'm bad at math tonight.

[HarveyBoulevard]

I've never really thought about cracked feet being a problem. Seeing as that is the first end I light, it seems to be a minor issue. However, I am open to the fact that I may be in the minority in this opinion.

[MD Puffer]

Since I started using O’keeffe’s, I haven’t had any more cracked feet- give it a try!

 

[Astar20]

Cracked feet is the first to be smoke I think they actually light and burn a little better IMHO

[Sluffo]

35 minutes ago, HarveyBoulevard said:

I've never really thought about cracked feet being a problem. Seeing as that is the first end I light, it seems to be a minor issue. However, I am open to the fact that I may be in the minority in this opinion.

The minor cracks are definitely cosmetic more than anything, no issues with those at all.  The ones that also have peeling wrappers are more of a problem.  Just seems like they are a lot more prevalent than they used to be - for me at least.

[Capt. Corona]

No expert on the subject but I beleive two things can cause this.....

rough travel.....cigars not secured and consistantly rattling around in the box/tube/cab

and even worse....rapid change in humidity/temp somewhere in the shipping process.

I pick out the cracked ones first for test burning.  

[BarryVT]

Get the occasional cracked foot, but as said, since you light the foot, doesnt seem to bother me. The only ones that I serious problem with are slb mag 50s. Seems like there are more cracked than not cracked. Maybe due to such a thin delicate wrapper. As much as I like the 50, I quit ordering them.

[Edward7]

It's like a DIY shag foot. Very combustible and user friendly. When I receive a new box that is pristine, in a disappointment fueled rage, I usually drop them one by one on the ground to get some nice cracks going.

[Kitchen]

I typically don't really care unless the crack is like 1/2 inch or more.  Most though are just small cracks that don't impact the experience.  Every now and then I will come across a cigar that has some cracks in the body of it.  If I have some time, and I have a few of these, I will usually cut the cap off, let it sit between a paper towel with hot distilled water for about 20 minutes, so the glue breaks down, and unravel the cap.  Then I will glue that tobacco over the crack to sell using cigar glue and let it dry out in the humidor.  Of course it take a couple weeks for the cigar to get back to normal humidity, so these are not ones you can smoke right away.  

[Tstew75]

Carboard packs are the biggest offenders, especially vintage ones...they've probably been shipped more than once, and the cigars wiggle much more in shipment.

RE: SLBs, I dont mind a cracked foot or two, but if you're seeing more than that the retailer is being slack about them with bubble wrap inside the box. I've only sent one box back ever that had like 15 cracked foot cigars. All that said, most reputable retailers pack cigars well.

[TBird55]

Guess I am lucky, rarely get any with cracked feet, unless its where Rob sells some with 2 or 3 cracked feet as seconds. Then again, I  purchase 95% of my cigars from FOH.

[Cayman17]

7 minutes ago, TBird55 said:

Guess I am lucky, rarely get any with cracked feet, unless its where Rob sells some with 2 or 3 cracked feet as seconds. Then again, I  purchase 95% of my cigars from FOH.

I bought a “seconds” box of Coloniales last year from 24:24 where cracked feet warnings were expressly given.  I think I’ve only seen one that was slightly cracked so far.  Like you, I don’t really experience many cracked feet with FOH, if any. 

[blakeLA]

I’ve never had the problem until a friend shipped me some stuff recently. Well packed but i was in the Midwest here in the US and it’s been a brutal summer. I assume the high heat and humidity fluctuations made them more fragile. Smoke great though so I can’t complain. Didn’t worry about repairing. I’ve never had a problem outside of that with singles or slb

[JY0]

I recently received a box of PE2 seconds (cracked feet) from our host. Great price, can’t find the cracks. 

The feet burn first anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it.