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Tunneling cigars, Illusione in particular

JHolmes763

JHolmes763

Drinkin' the koolaid
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
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Location
Michigan (Thumb)
Anyone have some insight as to what contributes to tunneling? Can it be a storage, humidity issue? Or is it a pure construction issue? I don't think beatles are the cause! :laugh:

I've been having an issue in particular with a large number of my Illusione cigars tunneling. Once was an obvious construction issue as the filler was basically split down the middle and I was sucking air between the two halves. Others have had tiny black circle areas in the ash (after I knock it off) showing holes running right up the middle or down the side of the cigar.

I don't think it's an issue with the wrapper being too wet compared to the filler. The whole center of the cigar isn't burning hot while the wrapper doesn't burn at all. Each time, it really appears as if there are tiny parts of the filler burning real fast and creating a tunnel up the cigar. I'll try to snap a picture the next time it happens...

Anyone else having these issues with any cigar?

Thanks for any comments. :)

---John Holmes...
 
John, I've had this problem with the last 3 or 4 I smoked. It's not just you, I had one the other day that became impossible to smoke because so much air was coming through. I decided to cut the cigar back about an inch from the end of the ash and the small burned area was still there. I had to take off 2+ inches of the cigar to get to where all the tobacco was even. It was o.k. for a while then it started again.
 
puffstuff said:
John, I've had this problem with the last 3 or 4 I smoked. It's not just you, I had one the other day that became impossible to smoke because so much air was coming through. I decided to cut the cigar back about an inch from the end of the ash and the small burned area was still there. I had to take off 2+ inches of the cigar to get to where all the tobacco was even. It was o.k. for a while then it started again.
Click to expand...

That's funny because I did exactly that yesterday. I had an ~f9~ that was unsmokable, so I cut it off again about an inch behind the ash. You could see a small black burned area still where the tunnel was going. Once I relit the the cigar, it burned decent after that point down to the knub. Only ended up getting to smoke about half the cigar, though.

Thanks for the comments, guys.
 
Often it can be caused by over humidification.

When I was in S.Africa March/April, I purchased a couple of Cohiba Secretos, they smoked great. I went back to the B&M and purchased 10 more. The first two tunneled badly so I left the others
in my travel humi at 65% for 4 weeks, they corrected and smoked great after that.

The guys at the B&M had opened a new box and moved this box right next to the humidifier!

Just saying, it's not always about the roll :D

Brian
 
Infinity said:
Often it can be caused by over humidification.
Click to expand...
Really? It seems like overhumidification plugs up a cigar more than opens holes through it. I don't have a humidity gauge in my tupperware/otter box containers, so I can't say what the humidity is. I've got 60% beads in one and a couple water pillows in another.

It happened again tonight with a ~cg4~ I was smoking. I was able to smoke the entire cigar without cutting it off, but it didn't burn or taste very well. The smoke was thinner than normal as I was drawing more air, it seemed.

Here's a couple of pictures I snapped.

gallery_3866_104_37064.jpg


Edit: Just saw your additional comments, Infinity. I'm going to move all of the Illusiones to my otterbox w/60% beads and see if that clears up any issues. Thanks. :)

---John Holmes...
 
Well, if you can easily pinch it almost flat, like a straw, it's underfilled.
If it was me, and I had invested in a box, I'd be on the phone with the retailer.
If you get a replacement box, you may want check them to see if they look inferior.
For the money these cost, I would not accept this at all.
 
Hmmm. I have or have had a number of boxes of Illusione cg4, 68, eccj, and hl. Other than a couple of cracked heads on the hl (from shipping I'm quite sure) I have had no problems at all.

I hope this is just a bit of bad luck for you and not a sign of falling QC for Illusione.

- Tim
 
It may be, as many of us suspected would be the case when the rave reviews came out in CI, that in an effort to meet the demand perhaps production was a bit less controlled then pre-published era.

That is not to say they are overhyped, as I have several boxes and count them as some of my favorite go to smokes. Just that since they are so sought after and relatively less money than comparable sticks that in an effort to please so many wanting consumers that choices had to be made. Perhaps a few issues will refocus the standard, and cut back on the bandwagon jumpers who cause the decisions to have to be made.......just on mans humble opinion.
 
MadMonk said:
If it was me, and I had invested in a box, I'd be on the phone with the retailer.
If you get a replacement box, you may want check them to see if they look inferior.
For the money these cost, I would not accept this at all.
Click to expand...

Me too Dan....no way I would sit by when so many of these are doing this....we're not talking $3 cigars here :angry:


Seavita said:
It may be, as many of us suspected would be the case when the rave reviews came out in CI, that in an effort to meet the demand perhaps production was a bit less controlled then pre-published era.

.......just on mans humble opinion.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I was thinking as I read down to your post...the classic scenario. I have all (of what I would guess to be) original release versions. I got them right when they first came out and I've smoked 20 or more of almost all the sizes....all without an issue of any kind.

With everyone having burn issues, when did you get your sticks...recently or on the first go round?
 
A number of factors can contribute to tunneling.

-over humidification
-inproper lighting of cigar
-poorly rolled cigar


Do any of you guys try and touch up the cigar befor it starts to tunnel? I have never had a cigar tunnel on me. When i see an uneven burn i quickly try to touch up the cigar.
 
I have 2 boxes of illusione a box of 2 and a box of 88 and have not had a problem with them I keep my humidor at 65% and out of about the 25 I've smoked Ive had no problem at all. Its prob just a bad roll, as I was told with some other sticks when i first started smoking 3 years ago they are made by humans and the fact someone could have just had a bad day at rolling and we just have to pay for it when we get them, which we should not have to deal with but it does happen.
 
alexgtp said:
A number of factors can contribute to tunneling.

-over humidification
-inproper lighting of cigar
-poorly rolled cigar
-smoking too fast ( I added this one to your bullet points - vudu9 )


Do any of you guys try and touch up the cigar befor it starts to tunnel? I have never had a cigar tunnel on me. When i see an uneven burn i quickly try to touch up the cigar.
Click to expand...


Weird, Good to know. On a personal note, I've had very few if any in recent memory that have done this. I had an hl and an f9 that have done this to me but, that's it. it was when I got them right off of a palate a few months back so, I just attributed it to humidity. I'll copy this thread link and send it to the factory. Thanks for the heads-up!

Dion
 
Good to see ya around here Dion. Out of the couple of boxes I have I have only had a couple cg4s have a slight tunnel going on. And all of mine are of the late 07 batch besides the Hl's.
 
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