Why Do My Cigars Crack & Unravel, & How Can I Prevent It? And… Awesome Prize Giveaway Right Here!

You have just got to hate it when you’re smoking a fine cigar that you paid good money for, and it either cracks down the side, or the outer leaf starts to unravel. Damn. Well, there are a few causes for this agregious happening and I’m here to share what can cause this as well as how to avoid it.

Your Cigar is Too Dry – Lack of proper moisture can cause all kinds of nasty problems for your cigars, and cracking is a major problem. Most people generally keep their humidors anywhere from 65% to 72% humidity. Any less than that will start to cause your cigars to dry out. The proper moisture keeps it smoking at a proper burning pace. Too dry will cause the cigar to burn faster which can cause it to crack, unravel, canoe, or let off a ton of smoke. If you can tell that your stick is too dry, put it in the proper humid condition for a week or two so it becomes right for smoking.

Your Cigar is Too Moist – Yeah, I said “moist”, sorry about that. But when your humidity in the humidor is high, like 75% and up, your cigars will become too moist which also makes bad things happen. You’ll generally find that it’s too hard to light up because, well, it’s wet. Ever try to burn a pile of wet leaves? It’s doesn’t fire up very well and it smolders. Your cigar will do the same thing. And the heat from your lighter will also make it swell which will cause it to crack, unravel, and canoe. If you can tell that your cigar is too moist and squishy, take it out of the humidor for several days until it feels more firm. And get your humidor back to the proper humidity by either leaving your box open, or take the humidifier out for a few days

You Don’t Toast Your Cigar – You warm up or toast your cigars for a good reason. It slowly gets the inside up to temperature and lowers the humidity so it will smoke perfectly. When you don’t hold your lighter or match up to the open foot for 5 to 10 seconds  and just ram a flame up there, well, it can cause the cigars to get too hot, too fast which can cause it to swell and crack. So, if you’re not too familiar how to toast your smokes, just look it up on the web or You Tube and there will be tons of helpful info on how to go about it.

You Toast Your Cigar Too Much – I have seen guys hold the flame up to their stick for 20 – 30 seconds and about 15% – 20% gets blackened. It basically heat’s things up just too damned fast and cause your cigar to crack and unravel. Plus, it ruins the flavor makes your cigar taste burnt, yick. Again, check out the web for the best ways to warm up your handrolleds.

Lastly, DO NOT Cut TOO Deep or Too Much of Your Cigar – This will definitely cause your cigar’s wrapper leaf to unravel and ruin a perfectly good smoke. If you’re straight cutting with a guillotine, you really just want to cut down a little to remove the cap. Do that and then give it a dry puff to see it you removed enough. If it’s too tight, just cut down a little bit more.

If you have any thoughts or questions, post them below the article – thanks!

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It’s running ‘til the end of the month and all you’ve got to do is put your email address in the form and you are officially in the running!

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