Quote Originally Posted by ashauler View Post
There's a guy from Billings on here, but I think he keeps his cigars in his sock drawer.
I would suspect "over" humidification rather than under. If the cigar appears to swell, the wrapper cracks and unravels, then the interior of the cigar is more moist than the wrapper, and when it heats up during smoking it expands and puts pressure on the wrapper.............and, well, there you go.

An under-humidified cigar would burn fast and hot, and unraveling would not be the problem, at least in my experience.

I try to keep my cigars between 60-65 % rh. YMMV
Hmmm, that sounds like a very plausible theory. I don't see any swelling, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. They do seem to be burning slow and cool though.

Another clue is that the only sticks I'm having an issue with are those that have been in the box for more than two or three weeks.

Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
Banded upside down, you mean. ;-)

OP: It could take two or three months for the cigars to adjust to the higher altitude, and you might want a higher RH reading at that altitude as well.
My original thought was that it was probably an altitude issue. I usually buy online and until they got to me in AR, and now here in MT, they have likely spent their entire lives at or below 400' ASL.

While waiting on the arrival of my Heartfelt beads, I'm thinking I may try taking a couple sticks out of the box a day before smoking and see how they do. I'm assuming they'll all recover once I find the right combination of RH, temp and time. Humidity and temp I can control; altitude, not so easy. If time acclimating to the altitude is the problem, I may have to invest in a small wineador to accomodate a larger stash. I've been considering doing that anyway. Sounds like good rationale to me!