One side never burns...

[DanLW]

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. It seems every time I smoke a cigar, I get one part of the band that doesn't keep up, and I end up doing multiple touch-ups through the course of the smoke. I always seem to get a good light after a toast, and I'll have a ring going all the way around. But it seems that one part will go out, and will keep going out after multiple touch-ups.

Am I puffing too much? Not enough? Should I draw long and slow, or hard and fast? Quick puff followed by a long slow draw? Do I need to rotate it as I smoke? It's not been windy when I've smoked, so I'm pretty sure that's not it, unless a very light breeze is enough to mess up the burn...

 

[SurpriseMVP]

Could be your humidification in your humidor.

 

[hdroadglide]

consistant no matter what brand or size of cigar?

 

[dpricenator]

Are you sqeezing the cigar hard between fingers and not changing the possition ever? Still it seems like you are over humidified and might be puffing too quickly.

 

[Herfin' Harg]

Are you smoking in a hot tub?

If so, I think I've got your problem nailed down. :nodlaugh:

 

[DanLW]

Humidor stays around 65-68% per my digital hygrometer, and humidity is controled by a pair of drymistats. Humidor is a Brickhouse Robusto cigar box kept sealed inside a ziploc bag. I open the box once a day to circulate the air (and sniff the cigars) To calibrate the hygrometer, I put it and a drymistat in a ziplock bag for a couple hours. The hygrometer was only 1% away from 70, so I adjusted it and re-checked. I'm pretty certain it is within a a couple % of true.

I've had this happen with CAO Brazilia, Italia, Mx2, JC Newman El Baton, Centenario, and Brickhouse. Don't rightly remember if the La Unica did it.

The smaller ring guage cigars (35, 42) don't seem to give me issues.

Ambient humidity where I am at is usually low. (currently 12%).

Actually, I do vary cigar position as I try to rectify the problem - hold non burning portion (maybe 1/5 to 1/6 of the wrapper) down, up, to the side...

 

[sonarman]

Try rotating your stock often, the cigar box may read a certain RH but I'm willing to bet its not even all around. Seems to be you are getting high or low spots of RH that sit in your humi. Until then try dry boxing a smoke for about a day and see if that evens things out.

 

[njstone]

I find that holding the non-burning portion DOWN usually works better. I know that's kind of counter-intutitive since heat rises, but it seems to work better.

Do a test: pick the two cigars you think you want to smoke next, make sure the wrappers are facing perfectly UP in your humidor (towards the humidification device). When you smoke them, see if THAT SIDE is the one that's having burn issues ... if so, it might be the hymidifier (too close to the sticks?).

Also, if your ambiant humidity is that low, I'd suggest just leaving your cigar out in the air for a few hours prior to smoking it, that might clear up the issue too.

 

[ChazHollywood]

Been struggling with the same phenomenon, as well as some tunneling. Smoking slower (puffing less often) seems to help quite a bit.

-Charles

 

[Jwrussell]

Get a Boveda pack and check your Hygro with it. I wouldn't trust your calibration to a drymistat.


Sent from my personal space using my iPhone

 

[Jfire]

Drop the rh a few points to 65%. Seeems to help me quite a bit. That and make sure that foot is lit. I mean really lit!

 

[DanLW]

I think I did get a boveda pack with a cigar bomb I recently got. I'll check the cal against that. The drymistats both sit on one side of the box. Perhaps I should even them out?

With all the messing around I do with the cigars, they definitely do get rotated often.

I'll try holding the non burning part down. I did think that was helping a bit, but I guess I got too impatient. I have two identical CAOs, so I'll probably try those next, and hold the non burning end down religiously and see if that helps. I'll also be sure to get a really good light. I usually think I do, but I'll take extra steps. I'll smoke one concentrating on long slow and maybe try to keep puffs down to once a minute. The next one I'll try to take stronger draws. I'll also try leaving them out to let them dry a little, but I'd be nervous about a couple hours with the humidity (or lack thereof) which we have here...

 

[orangedog]

Ambient humidity where I am at is usually low. (currently 12%).

12%!?!?! Do you live in Nevada?

Dry boxing sounds like a winning idea to me.

 

[c1ark]

Does someone need a humidor??? :timebomb::devil:

 

[pnoguy]

Yeah, I think someone needs a humidor. I'm guessing that the cigar box is of the 25 count variety, so you should really only need one drymistat. As for the calibration, you really need to check your hygro with a boveda pack, or, failing that, by doing a salt test. I'd rather spend my dough on smokes than boveda packs, so I just do a salt test to calibrate, and it works perfectly. Get a plastic bottle cap, fill it halfway with salt, and add enough water to wet all the salt. You want wet salt, not salt water. Seal that in a sandwich sized ziploc with your hygro for 24 hours. The RH in the bag is now 75%. Check your hygro against that and you may find it isn't quite as accurate as you thought. I'd definitely get a real humidor, though. You can get a good little 20-25 count on cbid for 10 or 15 bucks. Then you can graduate to a 100 count, then another, and some HF beads and more smokes and......bwahahahahaha!!!! :bouncetau

 

[OB-Left]

I find that holding the non-burning portion DOWN usually works better. I know that's kind of counter-intuitive since heat rises, but it seems to work better.

No, No, No.... :nono: Heat moves from Hot to Cold... PERIOD. :stickbeat It is hot air that rises. Its a small but very important distinction. Sorry, pet peeve, off soapbox. eace:

 

[ChazHollywood]

No, No, No.... :nono: Heat moves from Hot to Cold... PERIOD. :stickbeat It is hot air that rises. Its a small but very important distinction. Sorry, pet peeve, off soapbox. eace:

Sure, but I think most important in this case is how the combustion reaction moves through the material.

The two arguments I've heard are "Fire burns up, turn the slow side to the top" and "Smoke at the top retards combustion, while the fresh air at the bottom fuels it, keep the slow side on the bottom."

I don't know who to believe... :dunno:

-Charles

 

[SurpriseMVP]

Are you smoking in a hot tub?

If so, I think I've got your problem nailed down. :nodlaugh:

Read this twice and still laughing. Guess I had a long day

 

[Ravenwood]

A couple of things Dan...

1) Calibrate your hygrometer with a Boveda calibration kit. I have 3 digitals. Two are 6% low and the 3rd is 4% low. If yours is reading 69% it could really be in the mid 70's which is much too high.

2) Get in the habit of slightly rotating the cigar after each puff.

3) Slow down. Roughly 1 draw per minute. Make it a nice even draw. I like to "sip" my cigars.

4) Finally, make sure you've got a nice even light. Take your time lighting your cigar and be sure to rotate it as you light it.

Hope this helps.

RW

 

[DanLW]

For the next 45 days (approx.) I live in Afghanistan, thus the triple digit temps and single digit humidity. (Seen it as low as 4%)

I have a proper humidor waiting for me back home. I found it online and my wife acquired it for me. She is seasoning it the slow way by leaving a glass of water to evaporate, and we should have a half pound of 65% beads in the next couple days. We got it used plus a herf-a-dor for $50:

http://www.slipperyrockcigars.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1873

I got a 69% Boveda pack in a cigar bomb the other day. (Thank you, StocktonJohn!) I've had the hygrometer sitting in that for an hour so far, I'll get the reading after I wake up in about 8 hours. For what it's worth, the hygrometer I got is a Quality Importers Hygroset II. It's in a small Cigars International bag, and reading 70F/62% after less than an hour. I think I may double bag it and see how it reads after 8 hours. I'd imagine a certain amount of humidity will escape out the bag in this extreme dry climate.

I do rotate as I light. I took wood coffee stir sticks from the chow hall and cut a bunch of them lengthwise into thirds. It takes 2 to 4 of them to get a good light, depending on the cigar. I'll then blow on the foot to assure a burn all the way across.

Interesting discussion arising out of the whole up/down thing...