Problems! Help me diagnose Please

[bigwhiteash]

It may sound strange, but try running a cigar under a faucet for about a second, foot down, then blot off the excess water with a paper towel..

It sounds like your wrappers are drying out almost immediately in the low ambient Rh.

[DeeDubya]

It may sound strange, but try running a cigar under a faucet for about a second, foot down, then blot off the excess water with a paper towel..

It sounds like your wrappers are drying out almost immediately in the low ambient Rh.

Yep, folks used to lick a cigar to wet the wrapper before lighting.

[DeeDubya]

Before BWA jumps on this one... JMO it's OK for girls to lick their cigars to wet them. Dudes should run tap water over theirs for a second or two.

[drew_goring]

70% is definitely too high, especially in a dry environment. In the winter when the humidity is nil, I sometimes have wrapper cracking issues.

[mrtr33]

70% is definitely too high, especially in a dry environment. In the winter when the humidity is nil, I sometimes have wrapper cracking issues.

What about for a wet environment? Any other southerners who experience high levels of humidity find that they have to store their cigars a bit differently? It's not too bad now, but I know as the summer gets closer, we get some very humid days. Effectively, the humidor will be less humid than it is outside. How will my cigars smoke then?

[DeeDubya]

What about for a wet environment? Any other southerners who experience high levels of humidity find that they have to store their cigars a bit differently? It's not too bad now, but I know as the summer gets closer, we get some very humid days. Effectively, the humidor will be less humid than it is outside. How will my cigars smoke then?

Cuba has an average RH of 78%. You can walk around with a cigar in your shirt pocket all day and it will smoke just fine.

It's only when a low RH dries the wrapper quicker than the filler, making it brittle and unable to expand when things get steamy in the boiler room.

[drew_goring]

What about for a wet environment? Any other southerners who experience high levels of humidity find that they have to store their cigars a bit differently? It's not too bad now, but I know as the summer gets closer, we get some very humid days. Effectively, the humidor will be less humid than it is outside. How will my cigars smoke then?

I personally think that 70% is too high and store mine around 65. I think that it is the RH differential that splits cigars, hence me having that issue occasionally in the winter when the ambient humidity is very low. I don't make any changes, I just deal with it the time or 2 that it happens in the winter. The temperature I am guessing also plays a factor in this.

The big thing for people who live in places that experience very high humidity is to ensure that you have a way of taking the humidity out if it gets to be excessive. This is commonly done with beads which both release and absorb moisture.

When I was in Cuba and the RH was extremely high I had no issues with my cigars.

[bigwhiteash]

Mark, I'll quit moistening my beads around june, last year they did a nice job of removing excess moisture.

I do keep the A/C running pretty much round the clock during the summer, so indoor ambient stay's lower than outside. Cigars smoked perfectly last summer.

[mrtr33]

Thanks everyone for the input. It's been strange, moving from one of the driest climates in the nation to one of the most humid. It's just one more thing I have to consider. Appreciate the input.

[Shelby07]

It's been my experience that the biggest thing that causes cracking or unraveling is the differential between the humidity inside and outside the humidor. If you live in a fairly humid climate it shouldn't make much of a difference whether you store them at 65 or 70%. But in a very dry and hot climate the wrapper can split in a matter of a few minutes. Here in Denver the strong sun seems to aggravate the situation.

I remember reading a paper by the guy who invented the cigar oasis. He determined that once a cigar gets over 65% humidity the wrapper becomes much less porous and at about 67-68% no moisture can pass through the wrapper. I reasoned from his article that a dryer cigar (65% or less) can adapt quicker to a dry environment since it seems to make sense that a more porous wrapper would allow the cigar to breathe and equalize quicker. I equate it to not making slits in the top of a microwaveable pouch. If the steam can't escape the pouch will expand and eventually pop. My own experience seems to bear this out. When I went from 70% to 63-65% (smoking RH) I experienced much fewer problems.

Temperature swings are extremely important as a couple degrees difference can change the RH inside your humidor and your devices usually can't keep up. This is probably why temperature controlled humidors are so popular among serious collectors. A 3 degree F drop can increase the RH about 7% if moisture is not pulled out of the air. Beads are probably the best way to control RH in a non temperature controlled environment, but I have my doubts as to whether they can actually keep up.

I have also read that cuban cigars smoke and taste much better at about 65% where non cubans seem to taste better at a higher humidity. Dry boxing can help, but the inside of the box should be about 50% and the cigar stored at 70% should be given at least 3 days to equalize. I have found that this seems to be true.

As for long term aging conventional wisdom says to store at 70/70 but bring them down to your preferred smoking humidity (usually by dry boxing) before smoking them.

I am no expert, but the above seems to make sense and has worked well for me.