Pics of your sticks!!

[Mathaious12]

The story of No 7. as told my Matt. The bunch was good, dare I say even and tight enogh. It felt like it would be a good smoke, and that is the exact moment everything went wrong.


Yes that's right. I decided to get cute with this one and wrap it with a ligero. Suffice it to say, it did not burn well. Tasted good though. I'll be moving back to the thinner seco leaf as a wrapper, wile I continue to get construction down.

 

[Jim D]

The story of No 7. as told my Matt. The bunch was good, dare I say even and tight enogh. It felt like it would be a good smoke, and that is the exact moment everything went wrong.

View attachment 29324
Yes that's right. I decided to get cute with this one and wrap it with a ligero. Suffice it to say, it did not burn well. Tasted good though. I'll be moving back to the thinner seco leaf as a wrapper, wile I continue to get construction down.

I wonder if it had enough down time to dry out enough for a proper burn. Do you think that with a thicker wrapper, it may need longer to dry after bunching and wrapping?

 

[tullius]

wonder if it had enough down time to dry out

wonder this too.

the more weeks and months drying down and resting in the humidor, the better and more evenly they burn. the difference is a lot, compared to 1 hour or two days.
no shame in burning after an hour or a couple days though, i've done that plenty too, and you still can taste and learn about the blend. but, they'll just get better if you can wait.

@waikikigun recommended at least 6 weeks to give the sticks a chance, and the more time passes, the more i'm inclined to agree with him.

 

[tullius]

that said, generally better to wrap with seco than ligero for a number of reasons, so you're on the right track

 

[deluxestogie]

With the wrapper and the binder combination, at least one of the two needs to easily combust. A well-burning binder can usually carry along a slow-burning wrapper, and vice versa. If both are easy burning, that's great. If neither burns well, then my cigar will likely burn down the center, leaving hollow wrapper char.

The WLT Sumatra and Besuki that I've used for either binder or wrapper are quite thin, and burn extremely well. I've used either of them as a double binder beneath a thick, groaty looking ligero filler leaf wrapper. That flavor on the exterior is sometimes fabulous, sometimes way too intense, but the burn of the combination is usually adequate.

When I use a thick, heavy, sluggish burner as binder, then my wrapper always needs to be a thin, easy burner.

Sometimes this magic works. Sometimes it doesn't. Soggy filler, of course, never burns well.

Bob

 

[Mathaious12]

I wonder if it had enough down time to dry out enough for a proper burn. Do you think that with a thicker wrapper, it may need longer to dry after bunching and wrapping?

It rested outsise the humidor for 4 days then in it for three.

With the wrapper and the binder combination, at least one of the two needs to easily combust. A well-burning binder can usually carry along a slow-burning wrapper, and vice versa. If both are easy burning, that's great. If neither burns well, then my cigar will likely burn down the center, leaving hollow wrapper char.

It may be the issue that Bob brings up, I have been rolling with double binders and not paying attention to the thickness as the seco I’ve been using as wrapper has been thin. The filler was burning fine. I let it go out a few times and removed the ash to see how the burn was going, it was just the binder and wrapper that wasn’t burning well. I may try this again at some point, but I’ll make sure the binder is thin and a good burner. Thanks all.

Matt

 

[MarcL]

52 X 4.8 & 60 X 4
from the center, 1 Criollo 98 Viso, 1/2 Corojo 99 Viso , 1/2 Criollo 98 Seco fillers. 1/2 Corojo 99 Seco binders with, Criollo 98 Wrappers.

 

[MarcL]

 

[PressuredLeaf]

I am a big fan of the thinner ring gauge cigars, especially lanceros. So I tried to roll something close to one without a mold over the weekend.

It measure ~7 x something and is composed of:
1 Nicaraguan Viso
1/2 Corojo ligero
Sumatra binder
Habano 2000 wrapper

It looks good, my hope is the draw is okay

.

 

[deluxestogie]

Nice looking lancero. I find thin cigars more difficult to roll with a good draw than fatter ones. Something about the Bernoulli equation.

Bob

 

[waikikigun]

I am a big fan of the thinner ring gauge cigars, especially lanceros. So I tried to roll something close to one without a mold over the weekend.

It measure ~7 x something and is composed of:
1 Nicaraguan Viso
1/2 Corojo ligero
Sumatra binder
Habano 2000 wrapper

It looks good, my hope is the draw is okay

.View attachment 29328View attachment 29329View attachment 29330

That's a real beauty.

 

[tullius]

no. 133, long morning smoke: 1 cvva seco 1 piloto viso 1 coro ligero, sumat bind, conn wrap, ~3.5 week rest

46x7

 

[tullius]

result: perfect draw, good burn, not very good flavor. getting only slightly better in the mid. should have picked another smoke. won't do this combo again.

*correction: seco was cv dominican, not cvva

 

[Mathaious12]

No. 8 and No. 11.

8 smoked decent, only needed two touch-up lights. It had a good draw, but is still a little looser than I would like as are most of the ones I roll.

For the draw issue, I have some experiments in mind to better understand the bunch and how tight it should be. I'm going to try one with a mold( paper mold to start), bunch some in Hulk mode trying to have a to tight draw. Reason to do the latter is to see what kind of force it takes to get on the other side of the draw issue.

This brings me to 11, the first paper mold. I found some very thin seco and ligero, and decided to try the ligero wrapper again. I'll leave this one out longer to dry incase that was part of the problem with the last one.

In the next couple of days I plan on rolling the second part of the experiment, the one that has to tight a draw.





Matt

 

[deluxestogie]

Most of my cigars are rolled free-hand (no mold). My experience has been that in rolling a cigar of a thickness of about 45 ring or larger, and with filler in low case, I cannot roll it too tightly to draw, without tearing the binder. So I just crunch the filler bunch in my hands as tightly as I can (I'm old and weak!), while rotating it for 10 or 20 seconds, then apply the binder. This doesn't work as reliably for thinner cigars, and does not work at all for filler in medium or high case.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Most of my cigars are rolled free-hand (no mold). My experience has been that in rolling a cigar of a thickness of about 45 ring or larger, and with filler in low case, I cannot roll it too tightly to draw, without tearing the binder. So I just crunch the filler bunch in my hands as tightly as I can (I'm old and weak!), while rotating it for 10 or 20 seconds, then apply the binder. This doesn't work as reliably for thinner cigars, and does not work at all for filler in medium or high case.

Bob

I agree with Bob. As long as you are hand rolling and using low cased filler, it's very hard to roll it too tightly. If you do, then your filler is probably in too high a case. If you still can't get it tight enough, increase the case level a tiny bit and try again. Concentrate on the point where the binder is meeting the filler at your fingers - that's where the pressure should be. As soon as you reach the end of the cigar, before you tidy up the end, give it a quick test draw. If it's not right, now is the time to unroll and try again. The advantage is you will immediately know if it's too tight or loose while you are rolling, not in a day or two when you try it out. I still do this if I haven't rolled in a while to make sure everything is as it should be. Keep at it and have fun!

 

[Mathaious12]

Thanks Bob, with the crunching of the filler (I've seen you do it on YouTube) does that get it close to what a mold will do, or are free-hand cigars just always have looser draw?

Concentrate on the point where the binder is meeting the filler at your fingers - that's where the pressure should be.

I thought I may have been doing something wrong.
I think I have been moving to far down the stick to quickly after having read that.

Matt

 

[deluxestogie]

The sole benefit of a mold is aesthetic: to create a smoother surface and a more uniform and reproducible shape. This is of paramount importance to cigar factories.

The disadvantage of a mold to a novice home-roller is that it allows you to easily over-compress a bunch, until you develop the separately acquired skill of estimating the "hand-feel" of what will fit into a particular mold. Once you get the hang of it, then that is much less of an issue.

I usually roll my cigars without using a mold, because my primary interest is in smoking them. Sometimes, when I roll cigars to be given as gifts, I spend the (not insignificant, additional) time to use a mold.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Rough day at work today, so am enjoying tonight’s selection while watching Orion rise over the rooftop. Mix is a blend of WLT and home grown. Balanced cigar, with chocolate and nutmeg, and that certain Little Dutch taste on the exhale. Nic is medium and has a distinct incense like taste/aroma.

 

[deluxestogie]

watching Orion rise over the rooftop

Is his shoulder gone yet?

Bob