Had a few sticks as of late that after toasting and about an inch in the draw gets very hard and the tip of the cigar just past the burn line gets hard as a rock. I cut off about 1.5 inches up from in and the filler is softer but not sure if its from it being heated up too quickly from fast draws to keep lit or what.

The cigars themselves upon pre-cut & toast inspection don't feel overly spongy these just happened to be in a Xikar travel 15 count humi that had a 65RH Boveda pack in in for about 2 weeks. Pretty sure I answered / know my own answer but thought I would throw it out for confirmation. Dry boxing them now.
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How old are they?
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Ahh I would say 3-6 months roughly...

And for what it is worth its most
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Do you have a calibrated hygrometer you can check the humidity with?
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Yes. I put it in there and its only been in about 2 hours so not sure how accurate the reading would be in that short time but maybe it is due to small space but its at 72%.

I should retort, when I posted I was 99% sure they were simply over humidified, not ruined, but needed to be dry boxed for 2-3 days which I have done before with success on smaller RG's. I smoked two of them and they tasted fine but I was more or less curious if the reason behind the hardening of the lit end was due to the filler and binder being a bit to moist and the draw through the cigar was causing a back up so to speak thus hardening the lit end.

On both sticks, a Undercrown Corona Viva and an Olvia G Maduro Torp, I snipped the stick with my Xikar scissors about 1.5 inches up from where the lit end was rock hard and let it cool & rest about 20 - 25 mins and re-toasted with a soft flame and it was not perfect, but it also was not ruined to the point of being unsmokeable. Had I not had my humi destruction while moving I would have tossed it but beggars cannot be choosers right now lol.

I also cut another Undercrown CV right down the middle with a razor blade for curiosity and the middle third of the stick was more moist than the front and rear third but I don't know if that was strictly from being over humidified or from puffing faster to keep it lit and the center heating up or a combination of the two.

Sorry I hope that is a little clearer than mud. I should have written that better the first time. Its that time of day, body needs water and protein, brain food.
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Did someone say Sushi???
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I wish. Body is still playing catch up moving last week and everything else plus funeral today. Dinner is half gallon of distilled water with a lil lemon and a 50 gram protein EAS Myoplex vanilla shake with a banana and 1/4 cup of peanut butter.
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In my experience, an over humidified stick tends to be softer and sponger than a dry or normal cigar. Strange symptoms with soft center and hard ends. Almost seems like the humidification pack is resting on the cigars or is primarily humidifying the center. An over humidified cigar will usually have a hard draw- kinda like sucking a pea through a straw. Hate to go to a cigar place and get one from their humidor, only to find the cigars are too wet!
RR
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