Cedar sleeves on cigars

[Smokestack Jack]

This is kind of like the cello on or off threads. Personally I do not like the cedar sleeves that come on cigars. I have had cigars that are moldy under that sleeve. Also, I wonder what the manufacturer is hiding under there, poor quality wrapper? Yesterday I was looking forward to smoking a cigar for the first time in 4 days. I pulled out a GH Vintage, pulled the cedar sleeve off, and was in dismay of how poor the wrapper was. The cigar was very good, but it got me wondering if manufacturers cover their cigars for this reason. One time I purchased a Fonseca with the cedar wrap. When I pulled the cedar off, the cigar was moldy. This could have been due to over humidification by the dealer. I don't know, but I try to stay away from cedar wrapped cigars. Unless it's a good deal like it was with the GH's. Another recent purchase was an Obsidian White Noise which is sleeved with paper. What a waste. They should have just made a plain band instead of the sleeve.

[grtrx]

Well, I hear what you're saying, it is like tubos, why use tubes when you can save money and just box them? And tubos do often have varition in wrappers from what I can remember. But I like the cedar sleeve, maybe because I like a bit of that cedar smell/taste. And it offers extra protection if you're carrying a cigar. But that's all my opinion, worth little for sure.

Paper, well I remember JR had some low end boxes way back that came tissue rapped and a lot of them were also covered in cedar tar from 'weeping' boxes. I think the tissue wrapping is more a throw back thing from the days before cello but again that is opinion, not fact.

[fvfanmc]

What I always wondered about is bundled cigars. The bundle comes a cell package. Why bother to cello each cigar? Then bundle in cello.

[grtrx]

I imagine for a couple of reasons... cigars rattling around in a bundle are subject wear and tear such as broken or cracked wrappers. The cello on each cigar protects against that. It also may be easier to handle teh cello wrapped cigars as they are bundled.

A bundle saves the cost of the box, obviously.

Another reason they do it could be because it is teh way they always did it

[Briandg]

mike, cello protects the individual cigars, and the bundle holds them together. You might as well ask, since the individual cello is necessary to protect the cigar, why not just tie them with a string or tape, rather than wasting cello to wrap the bundle?

Jack, yes, cedar tends to absorb and cause spot mold on cigars. Tubes, mostly aluminum, also tends to cause spot mold.

There is no doubt, none at all, that tubos at the bottom end of the retail spectrum are ugly cigars. For example, I bought aluminum don diegos once, and they were ugly as hammered crap. Tubed primo del rey were ugly. tubed upmanns, and even tubed romeos fell far behind the celloed equivalents iin appearance. Yes, there is no doubt that when a line of tubes is being rolled, wrappers that were graded out of regular production for appearance flaws are put on the tables, and no, you don't set your best rollers there, putting together cigars that won't be seen until they are smoked.

You can bet that in certain situations, the same goes with cedar wrap. I don't believe that the wrap is added just to hide the flaws, but conversely, when a line meant for cedar is being run, again, wrappers that were culled for ugly spots or wrinkles, bad veins, or so forth, they will go on wrapped sticks.

Lew remarked that tissue wrapped sticks were most commonly done in order to avoid lots of wasted time grading by color. If you think, haven't many of the tissue wrapped sticks been shade? Wrapping with tissue doesn't cost much more than cello, but by wrapping it with tissue, you can use up a bale of visually inferior stuff making a run of tissue wrapped or tubed cigars without compromising the visual appeal of the cello wrapped boxes/singles.

So yes, cedar, aluminum and tissue all create an opportunity to dump lower grade wrapper, as well as allow lesser experiienced workers to produce, but no, they aren't used just for the purpose.

Regarding mold, think about shipping. This stuff leaves central/south america by ship, in metal shipping containers, travelling at varying temps. If a box of sticks is exposed to high heat for a while, moisture will be driven out of the leaf, and when it cools, that moisture will be trapped against the wrapper by the tube. it can cause mold spots when that happens.

Years ago, davidoff sent out platinum tubos. Many of us got them, and we all got moldy ones. The ones who wrote in bitching about the mold got new ones, and gee, they were moldy too. Not just a spot or two of white fluff, mine had patches of gross blue gunk. REAL MOLD.

tubes cause mold. Cedar can cause mold, too. Anything that doesn't breathe well will. That is why genuine breathable cellophane is used, instead of poly wrap.

Yes, any cigar at the lower end of production values will be almost certainly made to a lower standard of appearance if there will be packaging that hides the wrapper, such as tissue, tube, or cedar. It would be stupid to spend money on any of those enhanced packaging styles without trying to recover at least some of the costs by cutting corners on production, and seriously, most people who spend $3 on a cigar aren't going to notice or even care that the robusto under the cedar is just a hair less pretty than the one that came without it.

BTW, lew referred to cedar several times as "drying sleeves," fwiw, I don't know what he meant by it.

[grtrx]

of course, there were those perdome wheels of 50 cigars. no cello. no cedar. just a cloth ribbon.

I've never seen mold under the cedar of a Fuente. FWIW.

I ain't saying, all I'm saying, is what I'm saying.

[dz130]

Those wheels were good.

[grtrx]

Originally Posted by dz130

Those wheels were good.

as long as they lasted they were!

[Smokestack Jack]

Originally Posted by grtrx

I ain't saying, all I'm saying, is what I'm saying.

What ARE you trying to say?