How cold is too cold for cigars?

[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