How cold is too cold for cigars?

[primus67]

my humidor's humidity is a lot more stable in my basement but at this time of year it gets cold down there. on average it's 63 degrees and the humidity stays around 68%. is that ok?

[Paddy]

Some members here may beg to differ, but in my eyes you’re A-OK. The humidity is far more important that a few degrees on the cool side. I would be worried if your temp was over 72. I store a lot of boxes for aging in a Vinotemp wine refrigerator that I have converted into a humidor that stays at a constant 65-66 F. I have never had an issue at that temperature. I don’t think yours at 2-3 degrees cooler will make much of a difference in the cigars, especially if your intention is not long term aging.

[badwhale]

Warm temps spawn tobacco beetles if they are present.

Was the search feature disabled again?

Will

[prophetic_joe]

Too cool is far less bothersome than too hot. The warmer and more humid the more likely you will have problems with beetles. As long as you're not keeping them at freezing temperatures and your humidity stays at a good level you should be fine. Humidity and temp are actually pretty close together in what are good levels. I like to keep both between 60 and 70.

[mrtr33]

There was a huge debate on this board a few years ago about this very topic. I'm pretty sure SpiffyKyle was involved.

If I remember the gist of his argument, he stated that humidity is directly affected by temperature. So, in other words, the lower the temperature, the harder it is to achieve optimal humidity. Is 63 degrees too cold? Probably not, but 53 might be. I don't know. At any rate, I'd make sure my hygrometers were properly calibrated and check them often.

[buzz]

FOGs might want to correct me on this one...

The desired humidity is 65-70% - this is a relative humidity and is meant to be at a temperature of around 70-75 degrees. When you have the cigars at a lower temperature, if you want to have the same amount of water in the air (absolute humidity), you would need to raise your relative humidity up. Looking at a psych chart (at sea level) yields this:

75 = 62%
70 = 70%
68 = 75%
65 = 83%
63 = 88%
60 = 100%

So, if the intent is to have the same amount of water vapor in the air (I think this is the case) - then when you have them stored at 63 degrees you would ideally want to have the RH up to 88%.

-Buzz

[buzz]

Or... I might be an idiot.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cigars-21...e-humidity.htm <-that's a link

-Buzz