eleltea makes a very valuable point. Most vendors keep their cigars at storage in excess of 70 RH. Consequently, the excess moisture in the tobacco has swollen the filler so that little air can pass and allow a comfortable draw. Your cigars, generally, will need to stabilize for a few days before they reach optimum RH for smoking. This can vary with every cigar, so it's a good idea to clip the cap and test the draw before you light the cigar. If it's too tight, allow the cigar to rest in an unhumidified cedar box for a day or two. If it doesn't improve, either there's a twist in the filler or the torcedor crammed too much tobacco into the mold, before applying the wrapper. The turkey needle solution sounds much like what I did for years with Cuban petite coronas. My cigar of choice, for many years, was the Cuban Fonseca Delicia. It's a small inexpensive cigar, about 4.5 x 40 in size. Many during the late 90s were rolled too tight. I used a 6" upholstery needle and dental tape (not floss, too thin). When a box arrived, I'd thread the needle with dental tape and push it through the cap to the foot, of each cigar, then clip the double strands of tape, leaving about a quarter inch of tape at each end of the cigar. Then I'd place all the cigars, floss running through the middle, back in the box and let them rest for a couple of months. When I wanted to smoke one, I'd simply remove the floss, and find that I had a cigar that was smokeable. The problem with the drawpoker or any device that doesn't remain within the cigar for, at least a few days, is that the tobacco will rebound after you withdraw the poker and get tight again as you smoke.
