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Tunneling on most sticks

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Most of my sticks have been suffering from tunneling, mainly the ones with oily wrappers such as maduros. Connecticuts dont seem to have it as bad, but they do tunnel too. It seems as the filler is dry and some outer leaves are wet, I have lowered the humidity from 70 to 62-65 in the past month because they just wouldn't light at all or the burn would die very fast. I have tried both smoking fast and slow, but fast makes it tunnel and slow the cherry just dies out quick. Has any one gone through this?
 

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Thick wrapper/maduros sometimes have that problem. I wish I could tell you it never happens to me but I can't. I've smoked two cigars sitting right next to each other in the humidor, same brand from the same box and have a problem with one but not the other. So I just keep a lighter close bye and burn off the extra wrapper when it gets out of hand.

Smoking in high humidity, high humidor humidity, improper lighting can all be a cause. So if you figure it out let us know but for now try smoking faster, change the type of cigar you are smoking and or keep a lighter handy to correct it.

You may also consider dry boxing your cigars for a couple of weeks before smoking them. 62% in a travel humidor works for me.
 
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Thick wrapper/maduros sometimes have that problem. I wish I could tell you it never happens to me but I can't. I've smoked two cigars sitting right next to each other in the humidor, same brand from the same box and have a problem with one but not the other. So I just keep a lighter close bye and burn off the extra wrapper when it gets out of hand.

Smoking in high humidity, high humidor humidity, improper lighting can all be a cause. So if you figure it out let us know but for now try smoking faster, change the type of cigar you are smoking and or keep a lighter handy to correct it.

You may also consider dry boxing your cigars for a couple of weeks before smoking them. 62% in a travel humidor works for me.
In my case, is all of my cigars that have this problem. The only ones that burn better are the AJ connecticut which Im out of.

Usually, it happens like this: I light properly, the cigar burns quite nicely at the beggining and is peppery. Then it starts to taste foul and starts dying out. I begin to smoke faster, and the tunnel starts forming. Relighting does not fix it. The leaves that dont want to burn get black and hard.

I never had such bad tunneling on my cigars, and I always kept them in the 68-70% range. So, it could be the change in humidity from 70 to low 60 has dried out some leaves, leaving the wet ones (I think its the binder) preventing proper combustion throughout the leaves. I have never went this low in humidity and I also never had this issue before. I have dryboxed for days with no luck. I have gotten some brittle wrappers that break as I cut the cap to smoke.
 
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In my case, is all of my cigars that have this problem. The only ones that burn better are the AJ connecticut which Im out of.

Usually, it happens like this: I light properly, the cigar burns quite nicely at the beggining and is peppery. Then it starts to taste foul and starts dying out. I begin to smoke faster, and the tunnel starts forming. Relighting does not fix it. The leaves that dont want to burn get black and hard.

I never had such bad tunneling on my cigars, and I always kept them in the 68-70% range. So, it could be the change in humidity from 70 to low 60 has dried out some leaves, leaving the wet ones (I think its the binder) preventing proper combustion throughout the leaves. I have never went this low in humidity and I also never had this issue before. I have dryboxed for days with no luck. I have gotten some brittle wrappers that break as I cut the cap to smoke.
Try switching to a lower humidity. If you use boveda 65 works better for me. Or toss them in a box with no humidity a day or two before you smoke. Helped me
 
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I would suggest you give them a little more time to fully Acclimate to the lower Rh and also give a little more attention to insuring you have a good even light. Maybe a good double or triple draw once in a while would do the trick.
 
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I would suggest you give them a little more time to fully Acclimate to the lower Rh and also give a little more attention to insuring you have a good even light. Maybe a good double or triple draw once in a while would do the trick.
Oh man, its over a month now with the lower humidity, do you think it needs more time? It feels as it is harder to dry out than it is to humidify.
 
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Oh man, its over a month now with the lower humidity, do you think it needs more time? It feels as it is harder to dry out than it is to humidify.
I have heard it takes about a week for each 1% of Rh drop. So going from 70 to 63 you are looking at 7 weeks approx. I keep my cigars 63-65 and I have no problems. Give it a little more time and see if it improves.
 

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If it helps, I've found that actual RH% tracks about 2-4% above the RH% on Boveda packs. Guess it's due to the seal on my humi being airtight or close to it. I use 65% Bovedas and my hygrometers usually read 67-69%. Would probably actually go lower, but I'm scared to try 62%. Granted, I live in a hellishly humid area...
 

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I have heard it takes about a week for each 1% of Rh drop. So going from 70 to 63 you are looking at 7 weeks approx. I keep my cigars 63-65 and I have no problems. Give it a little more time and see if it improves.
This advice is spot-on!

63-65 RH will give you the best burn but it will take some time to get there. Your patience will pay off.
 
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