It's funny, I was just thinking about the 3000 maduro I was going to smoke before going out tonight. I've been through a couple of boxes of them and have never had any construction issues - certainly never noticed any stem in one. I think they are pretty damn consistent too. I'd hazard a guess that your problems with the 2nd one were humidity related. I'm no dry box expert, but if they were super wet, I doubt you'd get them to optimal smoking condition in a few hours in a dry box. Just my
