CSI Cigar

[SeanGAR]

I had 4 cigars that didn't look smokeable for one reason or another do I decided to dissect them. I thought the results were interesting enough to share.

- La Gloria Cubana Serie R No. 5
- JR Cuban Alt Bolivar Corona
- CAO Brazilia Piranha
- Professor Sila Connecticut Toro

LGCR5

Stunning construction quality. Individual leaves booked separately. Wrapper just flawless, binder was also very nice. All long filler.

JR Alt

Surprisingly nice construction, a Cuban sandwich with most of the cigar being long filler leaves. Whoever rolls these for Lew does a good job on a cheap cigar.

Piranha

Not booked the same way as the LGCR5 but rolled nicely nonetheless. One of the leaves in there, a dark black ligero (bottom right), was absolutely amazing to hold and smell. I wanted to eat it the smell was so overpoweringly delicious. I wonder what a cigar made entirely of that stuff would taste like.....

Professor Sila

Wrapper was top drawer. Binder was in 2 pieces, acceptable with nice leaves. The filler was mostly short. A couple of long pieces thrown in there but I wouldn't call it a sandwich, it was short filler.

I'll try to post some pictures to go along with these descriptions tomorrow.

Ciao
Sean

[SeanGAR]

Sila Wrapper & binder


LGCR5 Wrapper & binder


JR Alt Wrapper & binder

[floydp]

Looking forward to it Professor... As my wife says I know your not reading, it must be the pictures..

[DsrtDog]

Shredded Wheat anyone...yummy . Thanks for the pics. I was wondering about the construction and these are the first pics of a deconstruction I have seen. Thanks again!

[AlCarbon]

Man...I love this place!

[miketafc]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

- La Gloria Cubana Serie R No. 5
- JR Cuban Alt Bolivar Corona
- CAO Brazilia Piranha
- Professor Sila Connecticut Toro

Sean

LCG Ser 5 OWW
CAO Brazilia Piranha I can't stand to look

This is enough to make anybody howl

[pinokio]

Thanks for the pics SeanGAR, nicely done. I suffered a little accident the other day with my some new cigars I had put into a Tupperware for 2 or 3 days with a smaller Tupper inside with some distilled water so they would´nt suffer the shock of humi difference (older gorilla advice). My wife knocked it over by accident not knowing about the water. After the 3 days when I opened the Tupper completely ruined. Decided to disect. Will post some pics.

Regards

[horrorview]

Great post!! I am amazed by the construction of those Cuban Alts from JR's (I have a half-a-bundle of Churchill sized ones left). I may have to put one of mine under the knife for comparitive purposes!

[Heartpumper]

Shocking photos. Should be posted with a warning to viewers.

[Wetterhorn]

It looks like one of the gorillas has become a forensic scientist!

Great post and pics Sean! Very interesting to see what cigars look like from the inside. It really helps me understand what the difference is between the long and short fillers and how cigars are put together.

Thanks!

[MiamiE]

that Serie R makes me cry lol

[colgate]

What does booked signify? I understand when a cigar becomes pressed in a box and takes on more of a square foot but not sure if this has anything to do with booked. Thanks.

[MiamiE]

Originally Posted by colgate

What does booked signify? I understand when a cigar becomes pressed in a box and takes on more of a square foot but not sure if this has anything to do with booked. Thanks.

colgate, your not alone. i thought the same thing

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by MiamiE

colgate, your not alone. i thought the same thing

http://cigars.about.com/library/weekly/aa040801a.htm

Sorry, I used the wrong term. The LGCR5 was "entubar" rolled (see link), the Piranha was "booked". Entubar: each leave is folded separately from one another than bundled together. When they are dissected each folded leaf comes apart separately. I think you can see perhaps better in the picture below. Each filler leaf was folded that way, and then they were bunched together. So after you take off the binder, the leaves separate one from another easily. Supposedly a good way to roll a cigar, and with my experience with perfect draws with the LGCR5s, I'd say it works.

A mold is used to shape and press the tobacco into a tube before the binder is put on, but that is separate from how the leaves are put together. Some cigars are pressed after rolling to give groovy shapes (trilogy, Padron 1964s), but this is a separate operation from box pressing, which is never that extreme.

I could be wrong....its not like I study cigars, but I will stay at a Holiday Inn next week...

Entubar leaf.

[MiamiE]

sounds good. thanks for the update!