La Palina Rolling

[EliWaynne]

These are my 1st LAa Palina sticks. Bought a box of Red and Black Label.

Are La Palina sticks normally rolled up tighter than a nun's arse?

I've lit up 3 Black Labels so far and each one needed to have it cored to loosen it up. It was like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

The Red Labels are "slightly" better, but still need to loosen it up a bit.

Wondering if it is normal for the brand, or if I just "lucked out" and bought 2 bad boxes.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I haven't tried those, but I'm thru a box and a half of La Palina Oscuro, and they have all smoked well.
Could they have too much humidity ?

 

[Scap]

These are my 1st LAa Palina sticks. Bought a box of Red and Black Label.

Are La Palina sticks normally rolled up tighter than a nun's arse?

I've lit up 3 Black Labels so far and each one needed to have it cored to loosen it up. It was like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

The Red Labels are "slightly" better, but still need to loosen it up a bit.

Wondering if it is normal for the brand, or if I just "lucked out" and bought 2 bad boxes.

Let them rest and release some of that extra water they are likely packed with.

 

[EliWaynne]

Ok. I did get them recently so maybe humidity could be playing a part.

The humidity level is good. So, maybe I just need to let them rest a while like you suggest. Maybe I'll take a couple out and see if letting them dry up helps at all.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[kann]

Dry box.

 

[BlindedByScience]

"...the humidity level is good...". Hard to say if you don't know, for sure, how they were stored, and under what conditions.

People underestimate how long it takes for a cigar to acclimate. Lots of warehouses store their smokes pretty darn wet. A week in a dry box typically dries the wrapper properly, maybe the binder, but to really get the whole cigar to the proper level often takes quite a bit of time. Months. You hear about people with cigars 'blowing up' which means the cigar was horribly overhumidified, stored properly long enough for the wrapper to dry out, but when lit, the binder / filler will swell faster than the wrapper, and pop goes the smoke.

If it were me, I'd put a couple in my desk and smoke one in a week, the other a week after that. That would be a very good data point. If they're showing absolutely no change after that, they are going to need a few months to calm down. Unless they're really overfilled and aren't going to improve. That happens.

One man's opinion.......