A guy at a cigar store in Long Grove, IL today showed me a pretty amazing trick. Have any of you heard of off-gassing? Apparently when cigars age (especially when they're full bodied) they give off ammonia gas. Ammonia tastes bitter when ignited and can ruin cigars. Here's what he had me do.

1. Light the cigar as normal
2. Smoke about 1/4 inch
3. Round off the ash in the ashtray.
4. Place the cigar in your mouth at a 45 degree angle above perpendicular to the floor.
5. As you blow very hard through the cigar, hold a soft flame at the end of the cigar.

The flame ignited the ammonia, and after the flame was removed (as I continued to blow through the cigar) there was a blue flame like the end of the cigar was a torch lighter! It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. I repeated after rotated the cigar, then waited about 30 seconds. The flavor profile was improved like 5 times! All bitterness was gone. I'm assuming I'm not the only one who's heard of this!?:-)
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I have heard of purging, but not lighting the purge.
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Yeah people call it fire purging or flame purging or something like that.
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Basically all you did was a purge with lighting the purged gases a flame. Thats how I do it, just because I think it looks cool. :P
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I think pnoon knows something about this gassing...:-)
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I will try it next time I smoke.

Glad I only see him over the comp:-)
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I was under the impression that a purge was a quick blow through the cigar. Didn't realize that it took a good ten seconds to get all the ammonia out (proven be the fact that the flame was there for that long) I mean it REALLY changed the way the smoke tasted.

I'll bet he doesn't light them:-)
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I want to apologize in advance to Peter, it was a "rude and unattractive" thing for me to say about him:-):-):-)
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I'm sure he isn't the only one here who knows about gassing.

Right MJ? :-)
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I'm at that shop all the time. We'll have to meet for a smoke.
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Flame purging (as I call it) can be done anytime in the smoking of a cigar. If it get bitter, blow through the lit cigar for a complete breath, 30-90 seconds.

Then, using a flame (preferably a soft flame - that's a yellow flame -vs- a torch, blue flame) held up to the foot, blow through the cigar. This will "purge" the amonia and other things causing bitterness, burning the off is the purge process.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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This is super cool. The things you learn...
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I had no idea about any of this "nonsense".

I mean I purge every so often when I smoke by blowing for about 10 seconds or or so, but I had no idea that it took 6 to 9 times that to get it out.

Question: Is holding a flame to the purge merely for theatrical purposes?

Carrying two lighters with me (torch and soft flame) while standing in a river while my other hand holds a fly rod might be a little difficult...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZi2ZlHbMGs :-)

Sorry for the thread jack, back on topic:-)
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I hate to be the only one who is like wow thats freggin amazing but WOW THATS FREGGIN AMAZING. Here I have been waiting for the celo to yellow out before I smoked a cigar to get the ammonia out of it. The taste is crazy better!
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I do the flame purge, and continue until the flame cannot be sustained; then I know all of the unburned, nastiness is out of the cigar.---Usually about twice in a toro sized cigar.
I do this when the taste of the cigar gets off, or bitter. Also maduro's tend to need this more. and helps to correct burn issues as well.
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If a cigar is smoked at a proper pace, very rarely will it ever need to be purged. Doing is just cause it "looks cool" shows your immaturity in cigars.
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glad I could bring this to the light of day for you!

that's the exact question I asked the guy at the shop. he said that the flame does draw out the ammonia. either way it looks cool :-)
literally my thoughts exactly. I was amazed at how much the flavor changed.
haters gotta hate
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Awesome, I just learned my new thing of the day. I knew there was a reason I was spending so much time around here.

I apologize up front if my immaturity is offensive to anyone, but :-) :-) :-)
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Parlour trick or not, I'm trying it. Not necessarily the lighting part but if I can purge to help the taste then why not?
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