Tight Draws

I think the foot would be the wrong end to examine for a tight draw. Even if it was the foot that was too tight, as soon as you burn past it, it'd open up. Sometimes you can tell by squeezing the whole cigar between your fingers. If it is super firm, it may be rolled too tight. Also, rolling bwtween fingers and listening for a slight pop or crackle can tell you if it's too moist. This can loosen up a tight draw as well, sometimes.

I need a good draw tool. Nothing pisses me off more that a cigar ruined by a tight draw. Sometimes you can smoke past a construction issues, but more times it seems like, the whole cigar is just rolled too tight. Im angry thinking about it!

Gray4lines:

I think the foot would be the wrong end to examine for a tight draw. Even if it was the foot that was too tight, as soon as you burn past it, it'd open up. Sometimes you can tell by squeezing the whole cigar between your fingers. If it is super firm, it may be rolled too tight. Also, rolling bwtween fingers and listening for a slight pop or crackle can tell you if it's too moist. This can loosen up a tight draw as well, sometimes.

I need a good draw tool. Nothing pisses me off more that a cigar ruined by a tight draw. Sometimes you can smoke past a construction issues, but more times it seems like, the whole cigar is just rolled too tight. Im angry thinking about it!

oh really? You haven't moved recently have you?

Rain:

I hate having a tight draw, but I also hate waiting for it to open up. When I'm trying to see if the draw will open at all, I'm puffing too hard to get a little smoke, and then I'm making the cigar too hot. It's a vicious cycle.Is it possible to look at the foot of a stick and tell that it's rolled to tight? I looked at the head and it seemed that why, but that might just be placebo. I'm sure there are gars out there that look tight but end up having a lose draw.

Dude, I hope that wasn't the Cab I sent..... sounds like it wrecked your day! Kuzi once said, cigar smoking should make you relax.... it doesn't sound like you had that to say the least! I hope you dropped it and lit up another that was PERFECT!

Let me see if I can remember this correctly. One of the main causes of tight draws, aside from over humidifying, is an improperly bunched cigar. Someone explained it on here once, Alex or Kuzi, I forget.

Sometimes when a cigar is bunched, and if the buncher doesn't hold it correctly, or miss-aligns the tobacco, the cigar will end up having a tight draw once it's finished. Usually you can tell a stick that is like this by pinching near the head, or around the band area. If it's rock hard, and rest of the stick isn't, that's an indication that that stick may end up having a really tight draw. It isn't 100%, as I've had sticks that were hard around the band, and still smoked fine, but over the years it does seem to bear out. It's usually a very good indicator. YMMV.

catfishbluezz:

Precisely why I have a draw tool. Not sure why it took me so long to buy one.

I need one of those too. I can't find one on ccom so where can I get one?

catfishbluezz:

Gray4lines:

I think the foot would be the wrong end to examine for a tight draw. Even if it was the foot that was too tight, as soon as you burn past it, it'd open up. Sometimes you can tell by squeezing the whole cigar between your fingers. If it is super firm, it may be rolled too tight. Also, rolling bwtween fingers and listening for a slight pop or crackle can tell you if it's too moist. This can loosen up a tight draw as well, sometimes.

I need a good draw tool. Nothing pisses me off more that a cigar ruined by a tight draw. Sometimes you can smoke past a construction issues, but more times it seems like, the whole cigar is just rolled too tight. Im angry thinking about it!

oh really? You haven't moved recently have you?

Not yet, bro!

Go to a Walmart in BBQ grill accessories. There is a $1.50 wire grill remover for gas grill tops. Strong SS and perfect circumference, about quarter of a clothes hanger in diameter but just as strong. Works like a charm because you have the wound spring like end to hold.

Bob Luken:

So if you decide to us a draw tool ( or a walmart grill remover ) on a badly drawing cigar, do you let it go out first or do you fix it while lit? And how deep do you go into the head of the cigar? (I'm assuming you go in through the head.) Just passed the tight spot or all the way? (Maybe dumb questions but,.....)

Poke the thing before you light. Prelight draw is the best time to test for tightness. All the way through is the preferred method I think.

There are no dumb questions.

Rain:

Bob Luken:

So if you decide to us a draw tool ( or a walmart grill remover ) on a badly drawing cigar, do you let it go out first or do you fix it while lit? And how deep do you go into the head of the cigar? (I'm assuming you go in through the head.) Just passed the tight spot or all the way? (Maybe dumb questions but,.....)

Bob, whose lips are those?

I saw this poster for Avalon cigars in my B&M. I thought it was a really cool photo. Then I googled Avalon cigars and this pic was available on their website as wallpaper. (avaloncigars.com) I don't know exactly who's lips they are. He might be a famous blues musician. Avalon was Mississippi based and I think they signed up some blues musicians in their promotional efforts. My B&M manager said Avalon was out of business now. But I haven't read or heard anyone else confirm this as fact.

I like this one too
http://avaloncigars.com/images/wallpapers/full_bodied.jpg

I have 3 draw tools and each is a size for Robustos up to Churchills....they work great and I haven't had to deal with a bad cigar for the last 10 years. If you clip your cigar do a dry draw on it to see how open it is...sometimes you can massage it with your fingers to open up and other times you have to use something that will open it up...draw tool is your weapon of choice.

Best of luck, @transplant, but be aware that a pointed end on a draw tool can lead to a split cigar. The point acts as a wedge would when splitting Fire wood. 

I always recommend a square end as in the old carpenter's trick of blunting the end of a nail to avoid splitting the lumber. I make my draw tools out of a straight piece of the thinnest coat hanger wire I can find and I cut it square across the end. 

The square cut forms a cutting edge that will cut and push tobacco ahead of it, leaving an air passage. It works for me....

Okey Dokey, Bro. Here's one of my draw tools...

If I get a tight draw I will usually toss it and move on to another. There is nothing more that pisses me off about cigars than a cigar that won't draw.