Smoking a cigar is easy. You clip the head and light the foot. Suck on the end that isn't burning and away you go. So why then do things sometimes go wrong even if it really is just that simple? Today we take a look at the phenomenon of unwrapping.
If you've ever been at the local cigar shop and looked at several different boxes of cigars right next to each other, you might have noticed that some are wound "righty" and some are wound "lefty." That is, some have the wrapper spiraling up from right to left and some spiraling up from left to right. For example, here are two AVO LE07 cigars from the same box.
(IMG:http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/Gins...RightyLefty.jpg)
The "winding" of a wrapper is a consequence of which half of the leaf the roller is working with. Each half of the leaf can typically be applied in one direction and only with the vein side against the bunch.
Now let's take a little closer look at the head and foot of a typical parejo or straight-sided cigar. Since the torcedor or roller starts applying the wrapper at the foot, we'll begin there as well. In the following photo, the cropped image of the foot shows exactly what we should see. As you move up the cigar, in the direction of the burn, the next layer of wrapper is always "over" or laying on top of the layer below it. This is precisely what keeps the burning end from unraveling.
At the head, though, it's a different story. Since the roller finishes up at this end of the stick, he's left with a flap that must be dealt with. Typically this is trimmed and then formed into the foundation of the cap. Other times, it's curled up and twisted into a pigtail. The key point being that if the loose end of the wrapper is not immobilized, the cigar will unwrap. In this case, the wrapper is finished in a cap. The red "cut line" is representative of where a smoker might typically cut the head for smoking. The portion of the cap labeled "safety" is what remains behind to pin the wrapper to the cigar.
(IMG:http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/Gins...Direction01.jpg)
Now if you were to chop the head of a cigar down past the "safety" zone, then you might expect the tail of the wrapper to start coming loose. And even if you leave some margin for error, it's not at all unusual for a thin safety strip to come loose and lead to unraveling.
Unfortunately, sometimes you might encounter a cigar that is constructed "upside down." In other words, the roller closes up what should be the foot and leaves the head open. Although I've never heard of this occurring with production smokes, farm rolls, customs, and other irregular production may see this once in a great while. Here is one such case.
Wilkey
If you've ever been at the local cigar shop and looked at several different boxes of cigars right next to each other, you might have noticed that some are wound "righty" and some are wound "lefty." That is, some have the wrapper spiraling up from right to left and some spiraling up from left to right. For example, here are two AVO LE07 cigars from the same box.
(IMG:http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/Gins...RightyLefty.jpg)
The "winding" of a wrapper is a consequence of which half of the leaf the roller is working with. Each half of the leaf can typically be applied in one direction and only with the vein side against the bunch.
Now let's take a little closer look at the head and foot of a typical parejo or straight-sided cigar. Since the torcedor or roller starts applying the wrapper at the foot, we'll begin there as well. In the following photo, the cropped image of the foot shows exactly what we should see. As you move up the cigar, in the direction of the burn, the next layer of wrapper is always "over" or laying on top of the layer below it. This is precisely what keeps the burning end from unraveling.
At the head, though, it's a different story. Since the roller finishes up at this end of the stick, he's left with a flap that must be dealt with. Typically this is trimmed and then formed into the foundation of the cap. Other times, it's curled up and twisted into a pigtail. The key point being that if the loose end of the wrapper is not immobilized, the cigar will unwrap. In this case, the wrapper is finished in a cap. The red "cut line" is representative of where a smoker might typically cut the head for smoking. The portion of the cap labeled "safety" is what remains behind to pin the wrapper to the cigar.
(IMG:http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/Gins...Direction01.jpg)
Now if you were to chop the head of a cigar down past the "safety" zone, then you might expect the tail of the wrapper to start coming loose. And even if you leave some margin for error, it's not at all unusual for a thin safety strip to come loose and lead to unraveling.
Unfortunately, sometimes you might encounter a cigar that is constructed "upside down." In other words, the roller closes up what should be the foot and leaves the head open. Although I've never heard of this occurring with production smokes, farm rolls, customs, and other irregular production may see this once in a great while. Here is one such case.
Wilkey
