The end of a cigar: Fact or fiction?

ZAP

Is it true the end of the cigar holds the most strength?   My experience tells me yes but maybe it is the cumulative effect of the whole cigar?

I've heard this before and wondering if this is fact or fiction?

Rhamlin

I think it just depends on the blend. Some are meant to deliver a good blast at first then taper off, while others are the opposite. And still others stay pretty much the same thruout.

Gray4lines

In my opinion, it's only the "strength" of the flavor that typically increases... Just as you burn a cigar down, it tends to get maybe toastier, or deeper in flavor. I usually do not notice any change in actual strength (nicotine).

xmacro

Don't take this as fact (not entirely sure about it), but I think it's true. You're right about the cumulative effect of nicotine (some cigars it just creeps up on you, others it hits like a freight train), but there may be more to it. As you herf on a cigar over the course of an hour, it pulls the tar and nicotine back, eventually forming a kind of layer of tar; by the end of that hour, the tar and nicotine have been drawn back about as much as they can go, and every bit of smoke you draw in passes thru that increasingly thickened layer, which imparts it's own qualities to the cigar smoke.

Anyway, that's what I heard a long time ago on some cigar forum I've forgotten about; it sounds like it makes sense, but I'm not sure if it's BS or not

kuzi16

xmacro:

Don't take this as fact (not entirely sure about it), but I think it's true. You're right about the cumulative effect of nicotine (some cigars it just creeps up on you, others it hits like a freight train), but there may be more to it. As you herf on a cigar over the course of an hour, it pulls the tar and nicotine back, eventually forming a kind of layer of tar; by the end of that hour, the tar and nicotine have been drawn back about as much as they can go, and every bit of smoke you draw in passes thru that increasingly thickened layer, which imparts it's own qualities to the cigar smoke.

Anyway, that's what I heard a long time ago on some cigar forum I've forgotten about; it sounds like it makes sense, but I'm not sure if it's BS or not

i know i have said some thing similar to that when i was talking in terms of blending and taste.


if you cut a churchill down to a robusto and light it it will not taste the same at that point compared to if you would have smoked it to that point for the above reasons.

i suspect that this is true to some degree with power as well. but i am not so much sold on it when it comes to power. in the same example as above, if you cut a churchill down to the last 2 or three inches and you light it, you will not be put on you ass instantly. thats not the only spot that the power is.


im sure there is some scientific reason why many people dont feel the power of a cigar until the end of it probably having at least something to do with sensory thresholds and how much nicotine is needed for a reaction verses how fast it is delivered verses how fast it is metabolized, but frankly, im not a physiologist dealing with how humans and drugs interact.



the theory that the tar and smoke sediment sounds like a good one but i have no "real way" of proving it without testing the smoke for what chemicals it contains and what chemicals are likely to be deposited on other tobacco leaves. I just have to use logic. so if nicotine is deposited then at the end you are heading to the threshold quicker and there is more to metabolize before the next puff... its all logical to some degree, but it is still theory to some degree.
this would explain how some cigars sneak up on you and some hit you fast. as you smoke more there is more buildup. the puffs with the more build up have more nicotine that gets to you and more deposited furtherer down. its (for lack of better terms) exponential increases.
i think that makes sense.

Cigary

Not really....you could smoke the cigar by lighting it up from the other end which I've done depending on the shape of the cigar. Being able to put more strength at one end over the other is not something that manufacturers will concern themselves with but like what was said...by the time you get to the end of your cigar you will feel the over accumulation of the cigar...which btw is heaven.