Bursting Cigar Syndrome
A few weeks ago, I was enjoying some cigars at Famous Smoke Shop with a few of the regulars in the retail store. Among the good fellows who stop in each weekend is "John D." On this particular day, Mr. D. brought up an interesting topic: the problem of bursting cigars. He said that when he smokes cigars in the 54 to 60-ring range, they often tend to burst on him, and asked if I had any thoughts on the subject. I suggested that maybe the RH in his humidor was on the high side, but he said his box consistently averaged at around 70%.
My take on why wide ring cigars tend to burst sometimes is that since there's so much more tobacco in the cigar, it tends to get pretty juicy in there. Combine that with the heat inside the cigar and the "steam" needs to escape somewhere. If there's a weak spot along the way, that's where it's going to pop. Certainly, an over-humidified cigar would tend to make the bursting scenario that much more likely to happen.
John nodded, but then he came up with a very interesting angle, which became the motivation for this posting. He said that when he removed the band from the cigar first, the cigar didn't burst. His theory being, as the cigar began to expand from the heat, the ring was restricting it in such a way that the cigar had no other option but to split. Frankly, I never thought of that, and it seems entirely logical. Remove the band, ease the flow of smoke.
Truth be told, I've had this happen with cigars that were already unbanded, since I tend to remove the band early on when I smoke. It actually happened to me this morning, and it was a pretty decent cigar, too.
So, I think John D's solution has merit, but I think there are other factors that may be attributed to bursting: The overall quality of the cigar, its moisture content, and the type or thickness of the wrapper, to name a few. I'd also add that how often or hard you draw on the cigar would be a contributing factor, since it has a direct effect on the amount of heat the cigar produces.
I'm curious if anyone has their own theories or remedies with regard to "BCS" (Bursting Cigar Syndrome). If you do, please add your comments.
~ Gary Korb
My take on why wide ring cigars tend to burst sometimes is that since there's so much more tobacco in the cigar, it tends to get pretty juicy in there. Combine that with the heat inside the cigar and the "steam" needs to escape somewhere. If there's a weak spot along the way, that's where it's going to pop. Certainly, an over-humidified cigar would tend to make the bursting scenario that much more likely to happen.
John nodded, but then he came up with a very interesting angle, which became the motivation for this posting. He said that when he removed the band from the cigar first, the cigar didn't burst. His theory being, as the cigar began to expand from the heat, the ring was restricting it in such a way that the cigar had no other option but to split. Frankly, I never thought of that, and it seems entirely logical. Remove the band, ease the flow of smoke.
Truth be told, I've had this happen with cigars that were already unbanded, since I tend to remove the band early on when I smoke. It actually happened to me this morning, and it was a pretty decent cigar, too.
So, I think John D's solution has merit, but I think there are other factors that may be attributed to bursting: The overall quality of the cigar, its moisture content, and the type or thickness of the wrapper, to name a few. I'd also add that how often or hard you draw on the cigar would be a contributing factor, since it has a direct effect on the amount of heat the cigar produces.
I'm curious if anyone has their own theories or remedies with regard to "BCS" (Bursting Cigar Syndrome). If you do, please add your comments.
~ Gary Korb
Comments
John D.
I also had that problem with a 5 Vegas Series 'A', which split during the last third. Once again, the wrapper was kind of thin. Maybe for a thin-wrapper cigar, the binder needs to be thicker and stronger to compensate?
Is the wrapper for flavor or construction?
John D
G~