Tight Draws

[Worknman]

I believe a prerequisite for any good cigar is a nice easy draw that produces alot of smoke. If its like sucking on a milkshake then its pretty much worthless IMO. It gets bitter real quick.

Can you tell if a cigar is going to have a tight draw before you even light it? Like if it feels really hard or something.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I believe a prerequisite for any good cigar is a nice easy draw that produces alot of smoke. If its like sucking on a milkshake then its pretty much worthless IMO. It gets bitter real quick.

Can you tell if a cigar is going to have a tight draw before you even light it? Like if it feels really hard or something.

The vast majority of tight draws are due to something wrong in the bottom third of the cigar. I'd bet I could tell you 75% of the time or better if the draw is going to be tight by feel. If it is rock hard, no give at all, forget about it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I saw the title, I was thinking, “down har in de South, too much cornbread gives ya tight draws.”

I have yet to develop a feel for what is going to make a draw tight. Sometimes a tight feel gives me a better draw than a looser feeling cigar.
I’ll have to start looking at the third Hoos is talking about.
I’ve had some luck with using the pick part of a Czech tool to wallow it out a bit. But it can booger up the butt end, making a mess.

 

[Worknman]

I’ve had some luck with using the pick part of a Czech tool to wallow it out a bit. But it can booger up the butt end, making a mess.

Taken out of context this is a bit concerning ?

 

[jaytex1969]

I am barely past noob status with cigars.

However, I've determined that using a punch on looser/softer cigars and a guillotine cutter on more densely rolled ones helps to mitigate the differences a bit.

“down har in de South, too much cornbread gives ya tight draws.”

Chinese buffet! Run in, waddle out!

 

[TheDesertPiper]

They sell a tool specifically to fix this issue. I don't own it, but I have heard via YouTube reviews that it works quite well.

 

[warren]

A punch or a nail is usually good for too tight a draw. I rarely find a cigar in my humidor which is improperly rolled.

 

[pantsBoots]

I believe a prerequisite for any good cigar is a nice easy draw that produces alot of smoke. If its like sucking on a milkshake then its pretty much worthless IMO. It gets bitter real quick.

Can you tell if a cigar is going to have a tight draw before you even light it? Like if it feels really hard or something.

With respect to Havana cigars, I would argue a firm draw is desirable. The amount of smoke produced is of no consequence to me and a well-rolled cigar will burn slow. For most non-Cuban cigars I smoke, I usually resort to a punch cut as it tempers the free, loose draw. I've also found many NC to be abnormally light - with a firm bunch, you know you're getting your money's worth and there will be no voids (which is probably my greatest pet peeve in the cigar world). I've noticed loose draws tend to be poorly bunched and rolled.

 

[DanWil84]

You can evaluate the pack, but it begins with storage. For me Cubans need a longer drying time, I "drybox" at 60rh generally about a month or 2, but this also depends on storage from the shop: my B&M stores cubans to wet for my preference. Non Cubans I store at 67rh which I don't drybox. For cubans it is true they are tending to underfill a cigar, non cubans are generally more generously packed. After you got the storage method right I think your able to judge the pack of the cigar upon taking it out of the humidor. It should be springy but not soft. Hard parts in a cigar doesn't have to be alarming, they can soften up with heat and some steam. If you judge the pack to be right and it still doesn't work it could be a stem stuck. You have a couple of tools for those, I'm not gonna recommend one as the experiences with either are mostly biased. I don't have a tool as I haven't seen the need for it.

I hope this helps, my noobism in cigars is a bit less than in pipes.

 

[kcghost]

There's a guy who goes into the B&M I go to who will smoke half a cigar then complain he can't draw on it and get another one for free. And it wasn't a $2 smoke either. So I mentioned to this guy that I have been coming to the store 35 years and have had maybe one or two cigars that don't draw. I just don't see how anybody smoking good cigars could have problems of any noticeable kind like this.

But to the question at hand, the only method I know for checking a cigar's draw is by feeling the cigar in the upper third of it and if it is noticeably firmer than the rest of the cigar you might have a draw problem. But it isn't terribly accurate. The only true way to tell is light the cigar up.

 

[tbradsim1]

Although I’m new to Cigars my experience has been when I feel a cigar that has been roiled as tight as a misers wallet, I try and rolling it to kind of undo the tightness, sometimes it worKs.

 

[jvnshr]

Can you tell if a cigar is going to have a tight draw before you even light it? Like if it feels really hard or something.

The only way to tell if a cigar is going to have a good draw is cutting the head and checking it. There may be various reasons behind a tight draw such as over-humidification, tight rolling and filler placement. In some cases you may even get a plugged cigar which is mostly caused by the filler placement and stems. When you are having a tight draw problem, gently massage the cigar, especially to the knots that you will feel under your fingers. If it doesn't help, then you may use a cigar draw enhancer tool.

 

[Rustamgtx]

I believe a prerequisite for any good cigar is a nice easy draw that produces alot of smoke. If its like sucking on a milkshake then its pretty much worthless IMO. It gets bitter real quick.

Can you tell if a cigar is going to have a tight draw before you even light it? Like if it feels really hard or something.

Hey, what cigar it was? And how many of cigars you tried is fucked up?
You know, sometime you can use toothpick just to make a hole or two or more, and not only on the bottom of cigar, but in the side behind the teeth hold place. Also sometime but it's happening, it is a streak of tobacco life stay inside cigar because of lack of rolling, at this way you have only one choice... garbage ?
In my experience, it was only two or three times when it's happened.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

They sell a tool specifically to fix this issue. I don't own it, but I have heard via YouTube reviews that it works quite well.

I have the PerfecDraw tool and it works very well—it has barbs on the sides, so it actually pulls some tobacco out to keep a channel open (as opposed to a spike that pushes the tobacco to the sides and can close again). Highly recommended for fixing cigars with a tight draw.