Splitting

[derek]

I need a little help here.

I was smoking a cigar last night and about 3 minutes after I lit it up the outside wrapper started to split. As I continued to smoke it, it split more. The whole cigar started to feel like it was swollen. After it became a mess I peel the wrap, and when I took the label off it, it had left a band around it as if it did swell up.

My humidor is about 68% humidity. I'm almost positive it was a machine made cigar.

Any ideas on what would of cause this?

 

[Wasch_24]

I've found that sometimes the humidity in the smoking environment can cause this.

The last time it happened to me, for instance, was while smoking in the rain on the golf course.

 

[SMOKOZUNA]

Cigar expanding is usually caused by sudden change in temperatures. You probably store the cigars in the lower 60's. When exposed to the heat change, some cigars appear to explode. This is also common in very humid smoking conditions.

 

[fvfanmc]

Deano is correct. I tend to have this happen to my cigars in the winter. If I take a cigar out to smoke, the sudden influx of heat will cause the splitting. What I do to avoid this, is to take the cigar out and let it set awhile. This will acclimate the cigar to room temperature, thus avoiding the drastic heat increase. Also, I avoid smoking outdoors in the winter.

 

[Wasch_24]

This happened to me a lot this past winter...now I know why...thanks guys.

 

[tedski]

IMO, this is due not only to temperature differences, but humidity differences. You see splits happen quite often in winter as cold air cannot hold much moisture. So while your humidor is around 65% humidity ... the outside air is around 40% or less. (Same variance can occur inside as forced-air heat in homes severly dries indoor air.) So this difference can quickly dry out the wrapper making it more fragile and prone to split.

However, as this is almost summer and your description indicates a swelling cigar, I think the cause is more likely wet tobacco (which will noticeably expand while burning). Are you sure your hygrometer is accurate? Was this cigar recently purchased? Maybe it did not have time to acclimate to your humidor environment.

As an experiment, you might try dry-boxing a similiar cigar for a day prior to smoking.

 

[Kingston]

I've seen splits about to happen before I light up (cigar was swollen), and dry boxing helped a little but the damage was already done. In this case it was because of humidity/temp changes.

 

[Poni]

was this cigar pre-cut?

 

[derek]

No it wasn't pre-cut. Last night I smoked a RyJ out of the same humidor with no problem.

I'm thinking it was the cigar itself or the temp difference. The temp in my basement stays around 60 degrees, and when I went to smoke it was the first warm night we have had all year. Was 70 and humid out.

I will have to smoke a few more to see if it happens agian.