Also keep in mind that when you talk about humidity with cigars, you're always talking about "relative humidity" or "RH." Relative to what? Relative to temperature.
The short version is, as the temperature changes in your zip-lock bag, the RH also changes, and if it gets cool enough, water can actually condense out of the air in the bag in little droplets on your cigar, just like morning dew on the lawn. No good.
The long version goes something like, air has a different ability to "hold"* water at different temperatures and pressures. The warmer it is, the more water the air can hold. So when you hear "70% relative humidity" what that means is that the air is at 70% saturation AT A GIVEN TEMPERATURE. If it gets a little warmer, the moisture capacity of the air increases, and the RH drops (for a given moisture content, or absolute humidity). If it cools, the moisture capacity DECREASES, and the RH rises until it hits the limit for that temperature, and the water vapor condenses into liquid water.
It's not very likely that this would happen in a zip lock bag (considering, as noted before, they are air-permeable), but it's a possibility if, for example, you were to transition from a hot outdoor bus stop to a cold air conditioned bus.
*Technically, air doesn't "hold" water. Water vapor is simply a constituent part of air, just like nitrogen, oxygen, and other gases.
Last edited by CigarSasquatch; 08-02-2010 at 01:09 AM.
Love what you smoke, and smoke what you love. ~~~:-`)
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