Comments on: Tar and Cigars: A Match Made In Hell

By: TriMarkC

TriMarkC — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:49:40 +0000

Well, it happened to me, with a La Gloria Cubana Serie N! Totally gross! It tasted bitter and nasty, and completely ruined the cigar – had to toss it after only 1/3-1/2 way in!

By: TriMarkC

TriMarkC — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:01:57 +0000

Those pictures are disgusting! Especially the first – if I saw that in one of my cigars I might think that I had cut into a mass of cigar beetles!! GROSS! And like Jon W, I might want to cut it all open to see what was going on.

By: Lizardlips

Lizardlips — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:41:27 +0000

Interesting discussion. This never happened to me until sometime into the Cigar Boom, say mid 1990′s. As that dark period of cigar history came to a close, the tar issue seems to more or less have dried up as well. Though, apparently not entirely. I’ve never completely figured it out. But I agree with what some of the posts here are saying. From my experience it seems like you need two things; a cigar that is filled with leaf that has not been properly aged and/or de-stemmed, and a cut at the head that is on the smallish side. Cutting into a fresh part of the filler sometimes resolves the issue, but not always. Perhaps there is some quantity of “sap” still left in the veins that quickly “boils” to the end of the stem. Not really sure.

In my experience it doesn’t matter if you smoke “wet” or “dry”. A good cigar should not have any tar, period. Gar tar doesn’t happen unless you have a faulty cigar. Same with the issue of humidity in the humidor. If you over humidify your smokes you’ll have problems, but you won’t cause them to have tar.

If it happens again, I’m thinking I will do an autopsy on the cigar to see if there are any clues to be discovered inside.

Oh, and if you do get it on the tongue, which always happens to me, lick or wipe your tongue with a paper towel. Nearly all of the tar will transfer to the towel. But the flavor, unfortunately will linger…

By: SpanishGrey

SpanishGrey — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:49:28 +0000

This occurred to me with a Cohiba Maduro Secretos that I smoked very young. If your humidor is kept at 70 rh or higher, and you age them less than 6 months, this can occur. It is a rarety, but a necessary experience. I have since, brought the rh down to 67 and give my most valued cigars a good two years. I also have a second humidor in which I keep already aged and well kept cigars purchased locally that I can pick from day to day without tempting to open my prized bunch. I’m going to make a shirt that says “Tar Happens”.

By: Razorhog

Razorhog — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:02:22 +0000

I had this experience with a 5 Vegas Relic last night. I tried clipping more, and it did help, but the tar just kept coming back. After several clips I finally ditched the cigar after the first third. A shame because it started out pretty darn tasty. I received the cigar the day before, so being ROTT it could have been a little wet. However, I’ve had the tar issue with a few cigars, some well aged and others ROTT. It does seem to happen more often with Perfectos…which leads me to believe a small draw hole (such as with a punch cutter) would be a causing factor. Also, the cigars in question have all had a tight draw, which can lead to harder pulls and overheating.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:11:03 +0000

I am a super dry smoker, guillotine user and have had this tar build up issue maybe 5 or more times and have always ended up tossing the stick (some with a tear seeing as they were $6 plus sticks). Tonight I lit up a cigar fresh from the manufacturer and sure enough I got that horrid taste again. I looked at the end and sure enough there was the bubbly black goo I’ve come to hate. So I fired up google and found this fine site, tried the recut technique and sure enough it worked like a charm. Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort not only to give a reason for this issue but to give me a remedy.

By: Walt

Walt — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:56:47 +0000

No, I’ve seen it happen on a variety of cigars. Brand doesn’t seem to make a difference, it can happen to the best of them. The best solution seems to be re-clipping the cigar below the tar-line.

-Walt