years ago when the vhs recorder and tapes were first sold, i was told by several people not to store the tapes on their side, but rather on their long thin end, sort of the bottom, not the edges. the reason given was if tapes were left on their side, the tapes would slip and eventually bind or somehow get ruined.

i have smoked a few acid eggs, and found the way to prevent them from canoing is to store them on end and every so often reverse the ends. that does in fact work.

the question becomes, why does everyone stack and store their boxes of cigars on the bottom.

the vhs tape information may not be correct, but it seems reasonable that cigar boxes stored on their bottom will result in the moisture in the cigars settling towards the bottom of the cigars and cause canoing. why don't we store cigar boxes with the head's pointing down and the feet up?

your ideas and opinions please.

I'll have to think about that.

Is this a trick question???

gorob23

no.

i'm taking a break from politics and getting down to what's really important.

Lately my cigars have started to kayak.

roll over red rover and keep your head out of the water.

I read on a site just yesterday. that storaing on end will cause the foot to expand, and split, and that the moisture wicks throughout the cigar evenly without rotation. Just my .02

Most uneven burns are a result of poor lighting technique. Therefore, patience should be applied during the lighting to insure that the cigar burns properly, and does not "tunnel" or "canoe".

Your cigar is tunneling when the inner filler is burning down, and the outer layers, including the wrapper and binder, are still unlit.

This will taste unpleasant, as you are not smoking the balanced blend. It will ultimately go out, as the inner core suffocates from lack of air.

If your cigar tunnels you can try to fix it by using your cutter and clipping down the unburned exterior and then try to relight the cigar.

A problem that is more common than tunneling is canoeing. This is when your cigar is imitating a canoe, by one half burning slower than the other. It can be caused by improperly lighting the cigar, or by smoking too quickly, puffing away like mad.

The best way to fix this is to leave the cigar alone and let the slow side catch up as soon as you notice it is happening. The sooner you "back off", the sooner the cigar will even up. If you ignore it, it will get more and more pronounced.

I do not recommend "flash burning" the slow half, as it will usually leave a burning taste on the rest of the cigar as you smoke it.

Both of these syndromes can be prevented by correctly lighting the cigar. Very windy conditions can also make the cigar canoe to tunnel. Unfortunately, this is out of your control and is no mark against your ignition techniques.

Slim is dead on. I used to have this problem untill I bought a qulaity lighter and learnd how to light a cigar properly.

rdk --- the person who wrote the article is 'dead on' ...

... I only did the research, and I'm only the 'copy 'n paste' messenger ... 😉

i used to keep my ceiling fan on high to keep the air from getting stagnant -- HUGE mistake. my cigars, every one of them, canoed like crazy. wised up, turned the fan down to low, and the problem disappeared. DOH!

antonio

Slimboli

your's was the answer i was looking for, and what you have posted is all true of course, but the moisture settling in the box was the answer i was looking for.

stack on bottom or with the heads down to prevent moisture settling in the cigars?

Hi Rick,
An interesting question.
It would seem to me though, that the cigar makers (rollers) would consider that when they are aging the cigars, if it were a concern.

It doesn't look like they are concerned about storing them on end, so I would think that while it is a very interesting idea, they must think it does more harm than good?

I don't know, just thinking out loud, but definitely deserves some thought.
Thanks!

It's only a thought without any pat scientific reasoning to back it up but perhaps though what you are saying seems to make logical sense Rick, water being heavy and "wanting" to settle. Perhaps the physical dynamics of moisture, (consider that the tobbacco is moist when rolled) within a very porous medium, may be different and unique.

This leads me to think that the center of the cigar is moist and the outside where and when it contacts air is dry I'm guessing that water will move to balance the humidity regardless of gravity (or at least without much consideration for gravity) moved by capillary or wicking action. One may postulate that a wheel of cigars bound close will act much like one large cigar if this is true....

I should probably get back to work now.

P.S. my scientist wife would regard this as another one of my cockamamie untested theories, (is that how you spell cockamamie?).

djheater

COCKAMAIME is correct.

may i alter your "water wanting to settle" to water seeks it's on level.

of course that would mean in death vally, parts of which are below sea level, the moisture would flow up.

this is as close to cello on or off as i want to get.

thank you all.