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What Causes A Lot of Tar?

undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
in Cigar 101
I've smoked enough cigars in my day and have seen pretty much everything but today I had a first. I am two-third through a La Herencia Cubana Toro which I've had many before. The tar at the foot is well. . . crazy. I started with a punch cut because I was too lazy to go inside for my cutter then somewhere in the first-third I noticed it a little. Then, the draw got a little tight (now I know because of the tar) so I went in, grabbed my cutter, and snipped it clean. The draw opened immediately. Within 5-10 puffs, the foot became saturated with tar. So much that when you touch it, it comes off thick on my finger. As mentioned before, I've had at least 30+ of this cigar and size and have never had a problem. This cigar also had well over a year on it at damn near 70/70 the whole time. Has this happened to anyone before?

Comments

  • bigharpoonbigharpoon Posts: 2,963 ✭✭✭
    I have had plenty of cigars tar up on me and I can't figure it out. I've troubleshot everything I could think of and nothing produced a solution. I went FOREVER before I saw tar and then I hit a stretch where I was getting it probably more than half the time. I was seriously frustrated because I take good care of my sticks. It's less now but it still happens. My only theory left is...I don't know.
  • kaspera79kaspera79 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭
    I read that tar is sometimes caused by sap left in stems of the leaf which does not evaporate during the fermentation process. I can't remember this ever happening to me, perhaps I've just been lucky.
  • DiamondogDiamondog Posts: 4,171 ✭✭
    Smaller clip? Smoking too fast?
  • docbp87docbp87 Posts: 3,521 ✭
    Temperature and humidity, specifically both being too low can cause this. It happened to me a lot this winter. Always a bummer. I'm not sure of the science behind it, but I have read this elsewhere, and my own experience confirms it. Also, smoking too fast/hot, and having too tight a draw can contribute as well.
  • LeftFiveLeftFive Posts: 184 ✭✭
    I get most of my tar problems when I cut a torpedo too shallow or punch. It's not consistent, though it does seems to happen in the winter more.
    It's a terrible thing to get in your mouth!
  • bigharpoonbigharpoon Posts: 2,963 ✭✭✭
    docbp87:
    Temperature and humidity, specifically both being too low can cause this. It happened to me a lot this winter. Always a bummer. I'm not sure of the science behind it, but I have read this elsewhere, and my own experience confirms it. Also, smoking too fast/hot, and having too tight a draw can contribute as well.
    This seems consistent with my experience. My RH was fairly low this winter, about 60%. Of course, smoking outside in the winter is both low temperature and low RH as well. I do smoke pretty slow though, but I guess that isn't enough to help.
  • undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
    Diamondog:
    Smaller clip? Smoking too fast?
    After reading these posts, it has to be the smaller clip as I very rarely use a punch cut unless I have to or in this case, I was too lazy to go inside to get my cutter. As for smoking too fast, that wouldn't have been the case as I've gone from a fairly quick smoker to a slower one. For example, the Diesel D.5 that I'm about to finish right now has lasted me two hours.
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