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hey everyone,
i was just wondering how soft a cigar should be at 70% humidity. if you take one out of your humidor and gently squeeze it on the ends, does it feel like a sponge?? i have noticeds that sometimes when i gently squeeze mine, that it will make a cracking sound on the end that you smoke from?? is this okay or are my cigars dried out??/ also, when smoking, sometimes, they will begin to unwrap..
Squeezing the cigar shows the quality of the wrap. If your cigars feel like a sponge when you squeeze them, they are poor quality cigars that are wrapped to loose. You want a cigar that you can squeeze lightly and you can feel some firmness, but, it also gives a liitle and then returns to its origional shape. You don't want it so firm that you cannot squeeze it all becuase most likely you will have a hard time drawing off it.
Out of curiosity, what cigars do you have this issue with??
the "loose cigar" thing is a variable.
Some cigars may be packed more than others, others less. This is one of many ways to affect a cigar's burn and flavor.
Now when I say loose, that's difficult to explain here in print. You'll see as you smoke more and more and can compare the major brands.
Granted a quality cigar shouldn't be "squishy". Some give or squeezability is normal. We are dealing with a leafy, organic material here! It will vary from brand to brand and type to type.
The only thing one could tell from GENTLY squeezing a cigar is uniformity. However, I don't recommend squeezing your cigars. You risk cracking the wrapper.
The crackling sound bit is a myth. ANY cigar will make that sound when gently squeezed and rolled between your thumb and finger, but yes a DRY cigar will do it much more. It's a poor way to judge a cigar's rh.
So, IMO, there's no way to tell you how soft any given cigar should be at 70%rh. I wouldn't sweat it as long as your rh% is under control.
My two cents :smiley24:
Another thing you want to remember is consistency through out the length of the cigar. You want to feel the same "give" (for lack of a better term) from end to end (granted some torpedo's will obviously be much different towards the pointed end).
If you feel a tight spot in the middle of the cigar this can be indicative of a "knot" which will affect the draw until you get through it.
You also want to check for sections which are looser then the rest of the cigar. A looser section will burn faster and hotter then the rest of the smoke.
Hehe the owners at my local B&M call that "finger-fucking" when people manhandle cigars in the humidor - they get pretty pissed off when they see people finger-fucking their sticks.