Petrified Ash?

[trader1974]

Just had a weird thing happen, a first for me actually. I have a box of Diplo. # 4's from 08 that I have been enjoying for awhile now. I've been through most of the box and they have been great. This afternoon I fired one up and about an 1/2 inch into it I sat it down to get some coffee, only a few seconds. Upon picking up the stick it acted like it was trying to go out. I took a few draws and got some smoke going again. The burn was a little off so I touched it up and kept going.

About 1/3 of the way in this happened again. I sat it down for about 20 seconds and when I picked it up it was trying to go out. So I puffed 7 or 8 times to keep it alive and then smoked another 1/2 inch or so. Then I tried to tap off the ash but it wouldn't go. The ash was kind of pointed and I had to chip it off with the tip of my pen. Very strange!

After chipping off the ash, the cigar had three small tunnel like holes in it. These disappeared after another 1/2 inch or so of smoking. Otherwise, the cigar was normal, the flavors and burn were very good. I have had cigars do strange things before, but I've never run into this. Have any of you had similar experiences? Let me know.