By Walt White

[Doc notes: The following article is Part Two in a three-part series. For a look at accompanying photos, go to the “Burn Issues: Slideshow.”]

More Serious Burn Problems

On occasion you may find yourself in a bit of a predicament due to a bad burn turning severe. Some of these severe burn problems can be prevented if caught early, but to catch one early, you must first understand what to look for and how to correct what you see.

Canoeing

Of the severe burn problems, the most common is probably what is referred to as a “Canoe” or described as “Canoeing.” This type of burn problem is when the burn line of your cigar gets out of control and burns deep into one side of the body. As shown in the photo below, you can see that it appears as though the cigar was split in half across the diameter, and only allowed to burn on one side.

Below: A developing “canoe.”

A Canoe can sometimes be caught early by paying attention to the appearance of the burn line. A proper burn line should be thin and even all the way around the circumference of the cigar. An early sign of the Canoe is when the burn line of the cigar becomes irregular, and wide on one part of the cigar. This generally means that the cigar is heating up unevenly and there is a chance that one side will begin to combust at a faster rate. When this faster combustion occurs, the binder and wrapper will begin to burn away on the hotter side while the burn remains slow on the opposing side.

To prevent a Canoe in this type of situation, try slowing down your rate of smoking. Take extra care to puff lightly and less frequently. Doing this will allow the over heated side of the cigar to cool which will, in turn, allow the burn to even up across the foot of the cigar. If the correction is slow going, you may want to consider touching up one side (as described previously) to accelerate the slower burning side of the cigar.

If you find yourself victim to a Canoe which is too far gone to correct by slowing down your rate of smoking, you can set the cigar down and allow it to go out. Once the cigar is cooled and completely unlit, use a guillotine style cutter to clip the foot of the cigar so that you have an even starting point once again. Once clipped, place the cigar in your mouth and gently exhale through the cigar to help exhaust any foul chemical flavors that may be lingering do to partially combusted tobacco. After purging, begin the toasting and lighting process once again so that you may continue to enjoy your fine cigar.  

Tunneling

When tunneling occurs it can best be described as though a fuse was lit down the center of your cigar, burning away the core and leaving the exterior intact. The filler (or core) of your cigar is slowly burned from the inside out. As this tunneling occurs, the ash within the center falls out leaving what appears to be a hole or void within the body of your cigar.

This type of burn problem is common for slow smokers. When the cigar is left sitting n the ashtray, or not puffed on frequently enough, the burning foot of the cigar partially goes out. As the outer part of the foot goes out first, the filler is left smoldering. The smoldering filler slowly continues to burn throughout the length of the body. As more infrequent puffs are taken, the filler is kept lit while the binder and wrapper remain cool and unburned. Finally, when the smoker becomes bothered by the lack of smoke volume, the cigar gets tapped on the ashtray and the burned away filler falls revealing a tunnel throughout the core of the cigar.

Above: tunneling burns away the core of the cigar.

Below: Cross section of tunneling cigar when ash has been clipped away.

A common sign of this type of problem is a gradual lack of smoke while puffing. In addition to the lack of smoke, the ash will cease to progress down the cigar. To remedy a tunnel, the easiest thing to do is immediately touch up the foot and begin to smoke at a slightly faster rate. A purge is also recommended at this point as the partially burnt tobacco may begin to leave an unenjoyable flavor on your palate.

Just like a canoe that is too far gone, you can allow the cigar to cool and go out, then clip and re-light the foot to resume your smoke.

Coning

“Coning” is the opposite of tunneling and presents itself as a sharp spike or peak protruding from the foot of the cigar. This is a burn problem that is common among those that enjoy smoking at an accelerated pace. As the cigar is puffed frequently, the dense filler begins to heat up and is not allowed adequate time to properly cool. As this happens the binder and wrapper are burnt away by a sort of super heated bunch of filler. Because this mass of filler stays hot and burns slower than its surrounding tobacco, it remains on the foot and protrudes away from the binder and wrapper. Of course, tobacco that is course, dense, and full of resins (like ligero) will accentuate this problem since it does not burn as readily as other types of tobacco.

A common sign that coning may be occurring is a gradual harshness of the smoke. As the filler becomes overheated the tobacco surrounding it also becomes overly hot and has a tendency to produce hot and undesirable flavors.

Once it is determined that you are experiencing coning, it is recommended that the cigar be set down and allowed to cool for a few minutes. After the filler cools, smoking can resume, but be sure to resume at a much slower rate. This will allow the filler stay somewhat cool and catch up to the burn rate of the binder and wrapper.

Another way to help prevent coning is to allow the ash to remain on the foot of the cigar until it appears as though it is going to drop off. This will help to keep the foot cool by limiting airflow into the burning filler, which in turn slows down combustion.

Runners

Of all the serious burn problems, “runners” have the most potential to destroy a cigar in a matter of minutes. When a runner occurs there is a dramatic change in the burn line and generally appears to take off down one part of the cigar.

Below: a “Runner” creeps up the side of a cigar.

In many cases, when a runner occurs it is due to a heavy vein in the wrapper. When this heavy vein begins to burn, it acts much like a fuse and begins to burn down the length of the cigar, destroying the wrapper as it burns. The best way to picture it would be to imagine unzipping your coat. As the zipper comes undone and travels down your coat, it moves in a predictable line and as it passes it opens the portion of the coat above it. In the case of the cigar the predicable path would be a heavy vein. As it burns down the vein, the wrapper pulls itself apart leaving a large hole where the binder will begin to show.

Often times people will categorize an off center tunnel as a runner. In this case, a tunnel begins to form off center and close to the wrapper of the cigar. As the tunnel worsens and the heat is increased, a hole will appear in your cigar, often times within an inch of the burn line. At first glance this will appear as a small hole in the wrapper and will quickly progress into a much larger hole resulting in the same effect as a runner. You will be left with a large opening in the wrapper exposing the binder and filler.

If you find yourself victim to a runner caused by a tunnel, the best course of action would be to let the cigar cool, then clip and re-light the cigar as mentioned above. If your runner is caused by a vein the first thing to do is wet the tip of your finger and apply a small amount of saliva to the vein in question. This will help to slow the exaggerated burn and hopefully stop it in its tracks. If the added moisture does not help, look to see if the vein shows any signs of getting smaller or stopping, if this is the case continue smoking with hopes that the runner will stop before destroying too much of your cigar.

It is often very difficult to tell if and when a runner will occur in a cigar. In fact, as I have been writing this article I have been smoking cigars with very large veins just so that I may possibly catch a picture of a runner in progress. I was unable to attain a picture of runner, which simply goes to show that, just because a cigar has large veins, there is no guarantee that they will cause burn problems.

At this juncture in the article you should now feel very comfortable diagnosing and dealing with burn problems ranging from simple to serious. The most important thing to remember when handling burn problems, regardless of their complexity, is to take your time in diagnosing and be patient when attempting to correct the issue at hand.

Walt White is one of the cofounders of the Stogie Review, a premiere cigar review blog.

Walt can be found on any number of online cigar forums and is constantly pushing the limits of web technology. This is his first contribution to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.