How to tell if your long filler cigar is cheating on you

Q. A gentleman wrote-in stating he had ordered a box of a well-known premium cigar brand that was described as “long filler.” After smoking one, he unraveled it and found what he described as, “some short pieces and some pieces that are about an inch long. You may want to look into this.”

A. We relayed his concern to the manufacturer who confirmed that the brand in question was indeed blended with long filler. They also added the following response, which I think other cigar smokers will find enlightening:

Depending on the size of the cigar, when constructing the cigars, the leaves may be longer than needed, so the bunchers will tear the excess leaves and “palm” them into the body of the bunch, thus, giving the impression that it is a short filler cigar.

Also, depending on how dry the cigar is, or was, trying to unravel a cigar will often give the impression that it was constructed with short filler.

The only way to properly unravel a cigar and check is to immerse the entire cigar in water until the inner leaves are completely saturated. Once unrolled, then one can tell if the cigar used short filler.