Blog & Cigar News | Mardo Cigars

Hi, and welcome to another episode of Mondays with Mardo's. I'm Gerard. In today's episode, we're going to talk about have you ever wondered how to test the draw of a cigar? Well, today, we're going to demonstrate just that. But before we begin, I need you to click on that subscribe button. Click on the bell to be notified every single week of Mondays with Mardo's.

All right. So we're going to do a quick demonstration of how a cigar draw is tested. This right here is a machine called a Draw Master. Now we're not going to get into the specifics of it, but basically it is a tool that we utilize in a factory. And today, you are in luck as well as we are, being in the Dominican Republic at a small factory. They make cigars, and they use this tool called the draw master to test the draw of a cigar.

So what we're going to simply do is demonstrate. Again, I'm going to turn on the machine over here. It has a little compressor, and, as you can hear, that machine go, you know that it's started. It has some gauges, knowing that it's on. And right here, you can see that there is a tube. Now this tube right here is where you will insert the cigar. And we're going to want this gauge to reach 40 PSI, identifying that the cigar is good to draw. Now, if anything falls below 40, that means the cigar is a loose draw, and we'll have to discard it. Anything above a 60 PSI, that means the cigar is too hard to draw, and it definitely has to be discarded.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you the state that the cigar has to be for it to be tested. This is a cigar mold that just came out of the press. As you can see, the cigars are not fully completed. This is in the binder state. So there's three parts of a cigar. There is the filler, the binder, comes to a press. It gets it form. And then, once we test the draw, we will go ahead and complete the cigar with a wrapper.

So, as of right now, I'll take this out. As you can see, the cigars are molded in a circular shape, and this is going to be still in their raw form. This cigar right here, as well as this, is the same exact cigar. So we're going to go ahead and test one. Insert it inside the tube. And what I want to do is I want to make sure this machine is calibrated, which it has been, due to the video. For the sake of the video, we already did that. And I can adjust how far the cigar can go in or how far we want to stick it out. We want to make sure there's only about a half inch of the cigar exposed after it's inserted inside the tube. So I'm going to go ahead and adjust the tube.

And if Neil could show you guys, once I press the pedal... It's called the foot pedal. Right here is an elastic. This is going to squeeze a cigar. It's going to test the draw. So here we go. As you can see, this is measuring at 30 PSI. That means that the draw is a little too loose. So just we'll go ahead and discard this cigar. I'll place this right here. And I'll keep going down the mold and test every single cigar.

So what we want to get to, again, is 40 PSI. I'll go ahead and insert this cigar right here, making sure, again, there's about a half-inch. Now, all of this will be hatched off. It's a little bit too spongy right here. So what I'll do is I'll adjust it again. So this is where the cigar will get cut off. And go ahead and I'll test this, and I'll pressure. And as you can see, this one reached 40 PSI, which means it's a good draw, so we can go ahead and keep it inside the mold, right there.

And like so, I will repeat the process over and over, finding anything that is not at 40 PSI. I will discard it. And then, after that, we close the molds, put the wrapper on the cigar. Then they let them age in the aging room, letting all the ammonia dissipate as best as it can. And then, once they're finally finished with the wrapper, again, they're going to age the cigar, put it in packaging, and that's how the cigars are tested through a draw master.

Thank you for watching this week's video. Again, let us know in the comments what you thought of this video and remember to always follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook, and remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and I'll see you next week.