MOW Puro Authentico - Problem Solved

lonewolf2011

First let me say that this has been one of my favorite smokes for the last several months. I usually pair it with a cup of coffee in the morning and have gone through about 8 boxes so far. The problem I was having had been that about 10% or so would start to have an awful sour bitter taste beginning in the first third and even after correction attempts would not improve much. I was confused by this because it appeared so random; the sticks were either excellent or nearly un-smoke able with no middle ground. They were all stored the same and all smoked fresh (no more than a week resting time from delivery). My first thought was that the inconsistency was in the construction. I had emailed Tim asking if he had heard of any similar reports and also posted this on the forum a while back with no comments. Thinking it was just me or just the nature of the blend, I continued buying them because the good outweighed the bad. Just recently I discovered that the problem was with how I opened them up. I found out early that cutting the tip usually resulted in a split cap or wrapper so I then just started pinching off the pigtail and smoking through the small ragged hole that it made. As I stated before this was fine for about 90% of them, and I have been using this method ever since until recently. The solution I found came a week or so ago. By doing some research on the forum I realized what was happening was tar build up, due probably to such a small opening in the cap. So I tried using a small punch directly over the pigtail to open it up a bit more and I haven’t had a repeat of the problem. I was even able to fix one that I had pinched that turned sour by punching out the tar soaked section and blowing through it. Maybe everyone else already knows this but I wanted to post it just in case there is someone out there that may have had a bad experience and not gone back to try one again.

KCW

lonewolf2011:

First let me say that this has been one of my favorite smokes for the last several months. I usually pair it with a cup of coffee in the morning and have gone through about 8 boxes so far. The problem I was having had been that about 10% or so would start to have an awful sour bitter taste beginning in the first third and even after correction attempts would not improve much. I was confused by this because it appeared so random; the sticks were either excellent or nearly un-smoke able with no middle ground. They were all stored the same and all smoked fresh (no more than a week resting time from delivery). My first thought was that the inconsistency was in the construction. I had emailed Tim asking if he had heard of any similar reports and also posted this on the forum a while back with no comments. Thinking it was just me or just the nature of the blend, I continued buying them because the good outweighed the bad. Just recently I discovered that the problem was with how I opened them up. I found out early that cutting the tip usually resulted in a split cap or wrapper so I then just started pinching off the pigtail and smoking through the small ragged hole that it made. As I stated before this was fine for about 90% of them, and I have been using this method ever since until recently. The solution I found came a week or so ago. By doing some research on the forum I realized what was happening was tar build up, due probably to such a small opening in the cap. So I tried using a small punch directly over the pigtail to open it up a bit more and I haven’t had a repeat of the problem. I was even able to fix one that I had pinched that turned sour by punching out the tar soaked section and blowing through it. Maybe everyone else already knows this but I wanted to post it just in case there is someone out there that may have had a bad experience and not gone back to try one again.

Thank you for that. I got ONE to try. I usually cut w/ my Xikar so my opening wouldn't be too small.

JudoChinX

Sounds like a good heads up.

Krieg

lonewolf2011:

First let me say that this has been one of my favorite smokes for the last several months. I usually pair it with a cup of coffee in the morning and have gone through about 8 boxes so far. The problem I was having had been that about 10% or so would start to have an awful sour bitter taste beginning in the first third and even after correction attempts would not improve much. I was confused by this because it appeared so random; the sticks were either excellent or nearly un-smoke able with no middle ground. They were all stored the same and all smoked fresh (no more than a week resting time from delivery). My first thought was that the inconsistency was in the construction. I had emailed Tim asking if he had heard of any similar reports and also posted this on the forum a while back with no comments. Thinking it was just me or just the nature of the blend, I continued buying them because the good outweighed the bad. Just recently I discovered that the problem was with how I opened them up. I found out early that cutting the tip usually resulted in a split cap or wrapper so I then just started pinching off the pigtail and smoking through the small ragged hole that it made. As I stated before this was fine for about 90% of them, and I have been using this method ever since until recently. The solution I found came a week or so ago. By doing some research on the forum I realized what was happening was tar build up, due probably to such a small opening in the cap. So I tried using a small punch directly over the pigtail to open it up a bit more and I haven’t had a repeat of the problem. I was even able to fix one that I had pinched that turned sour by punching out the tar soaked section and blowing through it. Maybe everyone else already knows this but I wanted to post it just in case there is someone out there that may have had a bad experience and not gone back to try one again.

i have this same problem when i used my punch cutter once, it tarred up on me. So I went back to my Cuban Crafters and never had a problem. Glad u figured it out!

bigharpoon

God I hate tar. It's awful in every manner possible. Glad you found a way to avoid it. 8 boxes so far? Holy crap!

granneja

bigharpoon:

God I hate tar. It's awful in every manner possible. Glad you found a way to avoid it. 8 boxes so far? Holy crap!

+ 1 thats a lot of MOW PAs!

BigT06

Very interesting, indeed. I usually cut the whole tip (lately with the cusano cutter from last month's cotm club... which is a badass cutter), but with the Puro Authenticos, I have actually been leaning towards the v cut. Don't know why I even tried it, but I love the control on the draw. Don't like to v cut bigger ring cigars, but with coronas, I am loving it lately.

djbeenie

I have had this problem too, its usually 1 out of 10 where it would turn sour and un-smokable. I have tried different variations of the cut from small to more open, but the more open the more draw was too much smoke which made it more bitter in my opinion. It's a hit or miss, but they are still one of my favorite smokes.

jj20030

bigharpoon:

God I hate tar. It's awful in every manner possible. Glad you found a way to avoid it. 8 boxes so far? Holy crap!

and more on the way, lol