Crack............in a cigar

Jay6

So you have a really nice stick with a vertical crack near the band. Anyway to reliably fix that or is it a lost cause? I was hoping a patch job would be possible 

peter4jc

If you can slide the band over the crack, sometimes that works.  Patrick managed to do so last night on Vherf, and it worked.  It might depend on where the crack is in relation to the cherry.  I suppose anything to cover the crack would work; I've used masking tape - ain't purdy, but worked - and then just put the cigar down before smoking the tape.

jlmarta

Head shops carry a paper made of tobacco for rolling blunts. If I remember correctly, there's even a gummed portion that you can lick and stick. 

You can cut a patch out of this stuff that should help with your problem. 

Jay6

Thanks guys......time to channel my inner McGyver!

90+_Irishman

Another solution is to get Pectin from the grocery store, mix that up with some warm water and create a sticky solution. You then take a clean paint brush and lightly paint over the crack to seal it and stick it back together. I just got done the other day repairing 7 severely damaged cigars. I wouldn't hand them out but I can still smoke them at least and they will burn. Pectin is what is used to stick the cigars together when making them anyways from what I understand. Hope this helps

Brett

Sketch6995

You can buy cigar glue, and a little peice of a rolling paper.  I usually end up getting frustrated and throwing it into martys yard.  lol

TNBigfoot68

Every time I see the title of this thread I want to respond "just say no to crack", put down the crack pipe, who would put crack in their cigar, and several other S/A comments. On a serious not though there is nothing worse than a crack in your cigar, I have fought that issue a couple of times, and sometimes it is just better to toss it, depending on where it is, and how bad.

90+_Irishman

Here are a few pics of cigars that I repaired the other day with pectin. A few were more than 50% covered in cracks and flakes etc. pectin works wonders and will hold these together so that they can at least be smoked. It's a shame since all of these are really amazing cigars!!! Hopefully the pics show the damage ok and repairs. Let me know if anyone has more questions. 

TNBigfoot68

Great work and advice @90+_Irishman.  Love it.

90+_Irishman

Thanks Paul appreciate the kind words!

Jay6

TNBigfoot68 said:

Every time I see the title of this thread I want to respond "just say no to crack", put down the crack pipe, who would put crack in their cigar, and several other S/A comments. On a serious not though there is nothing worse than a crack in your cigar, I have fought that issue a couple of times, and sometimes it is just better to toss it, depending on where it is, and how bad.

CAcigarguy007

I have had this happen a few times and the easiest solution is to use the clipped cap to make the repair. No glue required as it usually has some, just a bit of spit to re-moisten; should make it pliable and sticky in order to make the repair. I've done it several times. You can even smoke it right away as it will dry from the smoke by the time it gets near the band. 

Diver43

90+_Irishman said:

Here are a few pics of cigars that I repaired the other day with pectin. A few were more than 50% covered in cracks and flakes etc. pectin works wonders and will hold these together so that they can at least be smoked. It's a shame since all of these are really amazing cigars!!! Hopefully the pics show the damage ok and repairs. Let me know if anyone has more questions. 

Good saves

skydiverD

@90+_Irishman, you do know those are cigars, and not swords, right?  I've seen weapons of war require less repair.  Just sayin' 

90+_Irishman

skydiverD said:

@90+_Irishman, you do know those are cigars, and not swords, right?  I've seen weapons of war require less repair.  Just sayin' 

LMAO no doubt, most of these got pretty damned abused during shipping and just came apart. One or two of them really were beyond saving but I tried anyways as I wanted to try out that cigar since I hadn't had it before, or it was a stick I know I really loved. Will report back when I smoke one, will be interesting if the fix worked and allowed them to be smoked or not.

Bob_Luken

@90+_Irishman,....... Brett, I read and re-read your original post and couldn't find mention of patches made from cigar wrappers. The photos showed maybe some with pectin alone and some with "tobacco patches" so I thought I'd bring it up. I save wrapper from any heavily damaged cigar or maybe even sacrifice a cheaper stick just to have repair patches. Were some of your repairs with pectin alone?   

Yakster

CAcigarguy007 said:

I have had this happen a few times and the easiest solution is to use the clipped cap to make the repair. No glue required as it usually has some, just a bit of spit to re-moisten; should make it pliable and sticky in order to make the repair. I've done it several times. You can even smoke it right away as it will dry from the smoke by the time it gets near the band. 

I like this idea.

90+_Irishman

Bob_Luken said:

@90+_Irishman,....... Brett, I read and re-read your original post and couldn't find mention of patches made from cigar wrappers. The photos showed maybe some with pectin alone and some with "tobacco patches" so I thought I'd bring it up. I save wrapper from any heavily damaged cigar or maybe even sacrifice a cheaper stick just to have repair patches. Were some of your repairs with pectin alone?   

Hey Bob, great question there and I can absolutely answer that. In this case all repairs were made with pectin alone. A few of the sticks had small patches of wrapper that flat came off and at the time I wasn't rubbing my brain cells together and didn't think to sacrifice a cheap stick which I have plenty of to spare. So in this case it was all pectin, the spots that look like patches are where the wrapper leaf was missing so I just sealed it with pectin to keep it from spreading and hold down the leaf that is left. On the ones where the wrapper was unraveling like the Melanio I gently peeled the wrapper back and painted pectin under it and then glued it back down, then went back over it heavily with a brush soaked again in pectin to hold it from the bottom as well as the top and help seal it back in. The King Is Dead would be a great one to have wrapper sacrificed from another to patch is as would be the Ortsac Habano one as the cap is just destroyed on it. Thanks for the ideas and will be trying those out, will report back with some pics and results in a few days when I get around to it.


Brett