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Coolers are cheap work great as humidors and are easy to hide from significant others. ;) Plus they keep the temp more consistant. :tu

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Well, it pains me to say that I have a newb question so here goes.. When you guys purge, how hard do you *ahem* blow?.. I see pictures of flames at the end of the cigar, I never get that. Just lots and lots of smoke. Once I *ahem* blew so hard that the ash fell off, but that hasn't happened since.. So how hard does one have to exhale *aha!* to purge?

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You hold a lighters flame to the end of the cigar then blow. You can't get a flame by just blowing through the cigar alone. Then, keep blowing till the flame dies.

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:bh Ohh! That makes sense now... :bh

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I've never heard of this. What is the benifit?

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Sometimes a cigar can get an off taste part of the way through. By purging or blowing back through the coal, you burn off excess tar and other contaminants.
By using a lighter you get a nice light show. "Oooh, pretty colors":D

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Don't try it on a windy day with a particularly short cigar. 'Nuff said.

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But Bob what's what you said when I purged @ Huy's house remember
http://photography.nationalgeographi...-960261-sw.jpg

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Which end do I light? :r

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The flame is an indicator of the ammount of ammonia in the cigar. I usually blow for a couple second then touch the foot with the flame for a second and it will flare up. Dont blow through more than a few seconds though, if you've really been enjoying the cigar. It tends to change the flavor a bit.:2

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That's only one component of many and it's not a very accurate indicator of quantity, but just a general indicator of it's presence, and only then if you get the proper flame kernel color for ammonia burnoff - you could be burning off one of the many other compounds present, hence why you get multicolor flames.

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I thought it was tar that made the flame light up.

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Tar is most definitely one of the components that is being burned off/causes the effect. While tar is not the only component being burned off, I would venture to guess that tar is probably the primary component though.

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really? tar being higher on the list of combustibles in the cigar than ammonia? I dunno man. I've purged cigars before and hit the torch to it and not gotten flames. and I mean this would be the first time purging a cigar halfway through or so. I usually dont purge unless the ammo 'flavor' gets too strong...

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And where exactly is all this of ammonia hiding, Chris?

It ain't liquid, it sure as hell isn't solid, so where, oh where, is this "massive quantity" of ammonia GAS you claim is in the cigar hiding?

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I didn't say it was a massive quantity, but it sure is going to travel to the foot of the cigar quicker than TAR. You and everyone knows that ammonia is present in cigars as a part of aging and fermentation. I think you need to calm down a bit Adam.

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Take it offline, fellas. This is supposed to be place to answer questions - not a display for your bickering.

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Not bickering Peter, just trying to make Chris think about part of the answer a bit for himself before I spell it out.

The ammonia is present in the leaf, as you note, I've always said it is a component, and during combustion, it comes out at a rate proportional with that of the burn rate of the cigar. But it doesn't pocket or collect as you smoke the cigar. The most that could happen is that a small amount could be re-absorbed into the leaf as you draw through the cigar, but once absorbed, you won't be able to "blow it out of the cigar". If this were the case, you could take an under fermented ammonia laden cigar and blow through it a few times and there would magically be no ammonia.

Now, tar and some of the other impurities, on the other hand, are a semi-solid sludge that comes out as the leaf is heated, prior to combustion, and it doesn't really go away but does collect just forward of the heat source (you can't really see it on a tobacco leaf without magnification, but light one end of a 2x4 and observe the area just forward of the flame and you can get an approximation of what is going on). Thing is, it's pooling on a porous surface - so as moves up the leaf, it builds up and leaves deposits - by blowing back through the cigar and the application of flame to the foot, you are forcing this sludge into the fire to be burned off.

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At the very least, take it to another thread. The question was asked and answered quite a few posts back.

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That was the kind of answer I was hoping for when I posted that. Thank you.