Head Cracks

Lordjust2

Today I attempted to smoke two cigars. When I cut the head of the first the cigar head cracked and began to unravel. I abandoned that cigar and grabbed another brand from the humidor. The head cracked really bad. It was very difficult to smoke as it went out several times. I was outdoors at 54 degrees. The previous two days I smoked cigars from that same humidor that were smaller and they smoked just fine. I have a boveda pack in the humidor. What may be the problem?

Rain

Lordjust2:

Today I attempted to smoke two cigars. When I cut the head of the first the cigar head cracked and began to unravel. I abandoned that cigar and grabbed another brand from the humidor. The head cracked really bad. It was very difficult to smoke as it went out several times. I was outdoors at 54 degrees. The previous two days I smoked cigars from that same humidor that were smaller and they smoked just fine. I have a boveda pack in the humidor. What may be the problem?

Eh..do you moisten the cap before you cut? That has taken care of 99% of my problems.

Lordjust2

No, I just get straight to cutting. Should I let it sit for a few seconds after moistening?

Rain

I just moisten and cut. To be clear, I'm talking about putting the cap in your mouth and getting it moist, not dunking it in water. Yes, this sounds wrong....

bbass2

What kind of cutter? I lost my xikar and had to resort to a backup which resulted in a completely butchered cap.

kingjk729

I smoked today in 38 degree weather and and punched my cigar outside ..... Moistened the cap like I always do and eased my punch in and it was perfect. See pic below. LOL


Look Rain .... There's a hole in my cigar ...... LOL

Rain

Hahahaha.

kingjk729

Rain .... I am worried .... Do you think that's a beetle hole .... its a perfect circle .... I am scared

Lordjust2

The basic one I got from the shop when I first started

Rain

Lordjust2:

The basic one I got from the shop when I first started

That could be it, you might be doing more smashing then cutting. You should upgrade to a quality cutter ASAP. You can have a God of Fire, but with crappy matches/lighter and cutter...

Rhamlin

Definately upgrade your cutter. I always thought there couldn't be much of a difference but I was wrong, you'll be amazed at the difference. And I to find moistening the cap helps a lot.

CLEsmokes

These guys have it covered, but same exact thing was happening to me after about 2 months with my Cuban Crafters cutter. After the second cigar that split down both sides I picked up a Xikar X1 and it has not happened since.

webmost

When I spotted this thread title, I thought: "Gee, I hope he followed the whole NFL concussion protocol". I used to crack heads with a cheap cutter, but a baseball bat works better. I seldom cracked heads with a punch; maybe didn't get enough shoulder behind it. I have not had a crack since I started using my pocket knife. I always taste the head first, just to taste it.

A pocket knife is so simple to use, and I always have mine handy in my pocket anyway. I don't know why it's not the method of choice -- at least for parejos.

Lee.mcglynn

Yup you guys covered it!! Bad cutter=pain in butt!! Also try a good v cut!!

blurr

Dull blades it sounds like. Plus like everyone else mentioned, I learned quick if you just slobber up the cap a bit before cutting and can prevent splits most of the time.

*Petey*

Just saw this thread so apologies for being so late in the game with a suggestion, but . . . . . even though its a bit offtopic . . . . aside from a sharper cutter and moistening the cap, make sure when you are cutting that you don't cut off the entire cap. You need to leave part of the cap or most cigars will unravel on you even if they don't crack it.

Just throwing it out there.