To Trim or Not to Trim

[blisscigarco]

Cigar making is a purely empirical learning experience once you've watched a few thousand videos. After that all you can do is find your own way. You'll get advice in a forum, but it'll be immediately followed in the same thread by the opposite advice from someone who doesn't do it that way. So all you can do is find your own way.

I've been trimming my heads before I mold them, but lately have done have a dozen mold-fulls without trimming because BH does it that way and Willy does it that way. When I told BH I wasn't getting the good round domes I like on the head he said you have to really jam it in there; so I really jammed it in there.

Here's why not trimming doesn't work for me: it fucks up the draw at the head. If you don't trim then there is a lot more compression at the head and the draw is completely altered. That tobacco has to go somewhere. I'd either have to bunch it so that the head is looser before I molded, or I'd have to stick a skewer in there or pluck something out with a tweezers to get back to the draw I originally created in my hands. I had this problem across three different mold sizes.

Well, Willy and BH don't have that problem. And MarcL says he doesn't create the draw through the whole bunch because he likes a lightly packed bunch; he creates the draw "in the shoulder."

It's just another example of how you have to try everything but find your own way. And why it's nice to have a few pounds each of your favorite leafs so you have plenty of opportunity to find that way.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I love this post. I could not agree with the general theme more.

Step 1. Find what works for you
Step 2. Repeat
Step 3. Enjoy watching your work improve as you continue to practice

The way I bunch and cut the head of my bunch, it is a slightly less packed as the rest of the bunch. This is the way that Willy taught me and I think can probably be done with any bunching method you use, you just cut the excess off the bunch at the spot where it starts to taper so it is less dense than the rest of the bunch. What works well for me doesn't necessarily translate to everyone else's style though. I have tried trimming the heads of my bunches and haven't noticed any significant difference in appearance and found it to be more time consuming than I personally cared for. I think the reasoning behind Willy not trimming is due to time spent as well. When we roll, it's like a factory worker trying to maximize volume for the time spent. As a hobbyist, you take as much time as you take to perfect your craft and I think that is a significant factor as well

 

[Marc L]

That last audio video you made got me thinking along the same lines yesterday how it really is most learned hands on.
Another thing I've noticed without trimming, when it comes to cutting the cap of for smoking, having all the extra in there can be troublesome.

 

[webmost]

I think the question whether to trim or not to trim mostly is decided by whether a fellow was trimmed himself. If he was trimmed as a baby, then when he has a son, he will trim his baby, and then ratiocinate all sorts of hygiene excuses for mutilating the little feller. If he was not trimmed himself, then he will teach that boy how to clean himself when he takes a shower, and that will be the end of it.

I never trim my perfectos. I have learned to stuff them a tad softer at the head and nearly empty at the foot. I simply stick the foot into the mold, then tug the foot of it until the head will fit. It's chancy. If I don't stuff the right length, then I may have to un-bind the thing to snatch some baccer out. If I don't get pointy foot empty enough, then that stick will draw tight as a clam's ass at high tide.

I remember how in my youth, trim was a constant obsession, taking up every waking moment and half my sleeping dreams. No, wait... it's still that way.

$str = ' foo ';
echo(trim($str));

Stop that. Get back to work.

 

[Gdaddy]

It's good to experiment with different methods to see what the end result can give.

I'm sort of in both camps. Make sure it's cut square then slightly trim the sharpness off the edge with scissors and then slide it in tight (jam it in there snug). Takes a little finger nail to tuck in the binder. It seems the end of the cigar is simply 'crimped over' to form the shape. I don't find any over stuffing or too much pressure caused by this slight rounded compression.

 

[blisscigarco]

It depends on the curvature of the mold, but I do a pretty minimal deal in general: probably 16th-inch cut at a 45-degree bias. More about clearing away stuff in accordance with the radius of the curvature in the mold than cutting a final shape into it. I can't get too radical without risking losing suction at the head if someone cuts it wrong.

 

[TheFlask]

I do a square cut, no trim, and then stuff. But hey what do I know.

I with y'all. Figure out what works best for you and sticking with it. I haven't been rolling for long enough to have an opinion on what is best. Hell I haven't smoked enough of my cigars to even say if what I am doing works. All I know is I'm having fun.

To all the noobs out there just starting to roll. Listen to everyone. Try everything. No one is wrong because there is no wrong way to do any of this.

 

[Gdaddy]

To all the noobs out there just starting to roll. Listen to everyone. Try everything. No one is wrong because there is no wrong way to do any of this.

Man that says it all right there!! In the end it's your cigar and do what makes you happy.

 

[webmost]

I use a pair of toenail scissors to trim the head when rolling a parejo.