How to Fix a Plugged Cigar

Your cigar-smoking time is precious, so we know very well how annoying it can be to discover your cigar is plugged and difficult to smoke. So what should you do if you find your cigar is plugged?

At Havana House, we always replace a plugged cigar and send it back to Cuba for inspection, so if a cigar you have purchased from us is plugged, please get in touch. If you can’t return your cigar, then we share some suggestions for last-ditched attempts to save your stogie below.

What is a Plugged Cigar?

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “why is my cigar hard to draw on”, it might be that the cigar was plugged.

Premium cigars are 100% handmade, and this, unfortunately, means that sometimes there is an individual variable that has led to inconsistency that causes a plug – like a knot, lump or twist in the filler tobacco. This is very rare, but it can happen.

When you have a plugged cigar, the draw is very hard and the smoke volume is low. To overcome this, you might try to puff harder on the cigar, but this only creates a terrible technique that can cause harsh and bitter flavours.

Massage the Cigar

The reason most cigars get plugged is that the cigar is rolled much too tightly, or sometimes a bunching near the top of the cigar occurs.

When a professional cigar roller is at work, they will spend quite some time finishing off the cigar where the cap is applied. If the roller gets this moment wrong a stray leaf can close off all the airways, and that becomes a plug.

If the plug is near the foot of the cigar, there is a great chance the heat will unravel the plug as the tobacco softens, and if the plug is near the band, massaging the stogie between your fingertips combined with the heat should help open it up.

If massaging the cigar doesn’t work, then you may have to get a bit more serious and utilise some of the techniques below.

Use a Skewer

Use a metal skewer or bamboo satay stick to pierce a hole all the way through the cigar, or at least until you can feel the plug has been opened up. This can run the risk of the stogie burning a bit too hot and fast, but as aforementioned, this technique can be a better solution than having nothing to smoke at all.

Cut Your Cigar

This method will only really work for larger formats, such as double coronas. Cut your cigar in half and smoke it reversed. This works most times; you may notice quite a bizarre smoking experience because cigars are rolled to be smoked from the foot to the cap. As the blend burns backward, you may encounter unexpected and surprising flavours.

We hope no one reading this has to be put in a situation where they cannot just pull out a fresh stogie from the humidor and stick with the standard cigar-smoking option. However, if you are stuck in the tundra and that last Cuban has a plug, we hope you can draw (excuse the pun) some good advice from this guide.

To ensure you get the best smoking experience every time, take a look at our cigar care tips blog to discover the right way to look after your cigar collection.