noob tip: post ashing burn problems

[salimoneus]

i used to have burn issues, enough so that i was touching up my smokes at least two or three times, and it got a bit annoying and was even slightly embarrassing. at first i wasn't sure why, and since i was mostly smoking sub $2 cigars i thought maybe that was just something you deal with smoking bundles and seconds, or maybe there was something wrong with my storage setup (despite good aging and instrument readings). then the dummy in me gave way and i finally realized that almost all of my burn problems coincidentally came about shortly after an ash drop, whether it be a "natural" drop or a forcible ashing.

so it got me thinking a little, and it did seem logical that losing a significant portion of ash off the cigar might interrupt the burn pattern, enough for it to cause problems. then i thought, well then maybe if i take a nice strong puff right before forcibly ashing, then another medium puff afterwards, that i might make it through the ashing without having those annoying burn problems. well, with some tweaking and figuring out how "strong but not too strong" a puff i needed without overheating the cigar, i pretty much cured my post ashing burn problems for good

[havana_lover]

Thanks for sharing..

[PUFFNMO]

Good piece of info. Will try it today... Larry

[Coz77]

Once I see the ash start to crack or I feel like its about to naturally give away, I take 2 hard puffs without overheating before ashing. It seems to keep the head of the gar hot enough to start a new consitant burn....works like a charm!

[sporting]

How do you judge overheating? I tend to have to touch up a lot but it is mostly tunneling from slow smoking less aged cigars. Thanks for info

[salimoneus]

Originally Posted by sporting

How do you judge overheating? I tend to have to touch up a lot but it is mostly tunneling from slow smoking less aged cigars. Thanks for info

I think taste is probably the best way to judge overheating. Once you start tasting more of a bittery burnt tobacco taste, then you know you are running too hot. I have problems with this on smaller ring gauge cigars sometimes because they tend to run hotter anyway due to their smaller size, and I usually end up having to slow myself down.

When smoking a cigar I like to gradually increase the draw strength until I find that point where the taste starts to get negatively affected, and then back off just a tad, and try to keep it consistent from there on out, seems to help give a consistent burn.