Tube Storage

[Laxman]

Here is a proposal for a reasonable middle ground.

1. Remove the cigars from the tubes and hold both in a storage system held stable at your preferred conditions. So, upon receipt, take the cigars out of the tubes and store everything in a humidor/cabinet/cooler at 60% RH. Keep them there for, oh, who knows, maybe 30 days?
   
2. Return the cigars to their tubes, cap tightly, and store as originally received in your humidor etc.
   

This approach addresses Stargazer's observations that mold and tubes go hand in hand. Moreso this is true for NCs than Habanos, but it certainly makes sense that if a cigar is packed at/with high humidity, the tubo will seal that in allowing any viable mold on the cigar to grow. This re-equilibration process also allows you to reap the slow-aging benefits of tubos. It's having your cake and eating it too.

What do you guys think?

Wilkey

I have not bought many tubos have a few handfuls that were gifted to me 9 years ago and had done the same as you suggested and they have aged nicely with zero mold issues.

[sw15825]

If I plan to smoke in next year. I take out of tube and put in humi or box.

If I plan to keep longer, crack tube open first year and close when cigar firmer.

Vintage, check cigar and keep closed in tube.

I like the keep it simple strategy, Then enjoy cigar. No mold problems unless it was a pre existing condition. I store around 62 % at 68 to 70 F

[Smallclub]

Do you guys keep a separate humi for the long term storage of rescued cigars?

Cigars that you brush to get rid of a light case of mold are NOT "rescued" cigars, since they have never been in danger.

[CurtisEss]

The two times I've found mold in tubes has been in recent R&J Churchills. Both times the mold was light and easy to remove, and appeared to have halted, sort of like the tubes had been packed hot and humid and then dried out. I brushed off the mold, re-tubed, bagged in a ziplock (box, tubes with cigars and all) and then restored to the tuperdor at 65%RH. The flaw in this of course is re-using a tube (there will be spores inside) even though it's cedar lined, and putting any old moldy back in the humi, but it's such a pain to have separate storage for the odd box or two. So long as I'm not opening the R&J's in the presence of the humi, I figure it should prevent spores getting elsewhere. And mostly keeping a low RH prevents any spores from blooming. Should I do it differently?

Do you guys keep a separate humi for the long term storage of rescued cigars?

It is my understanding that all cigars have mold spores at some concentration (at least for the relatively common and innocuous white mold). The best way to keep your cigars safe is to keep them at 'fungistatic' conditions, i.e. where mold doesn't grow at all. Fortunately, the preferred RH and temp of CC storage fits this bill. This means that when it comes to mold, you shouldn't sweat it. If it's minor and white, rub it off, put it back, and fix the storage conditions so that they are either cooler or (more likely) less humid. Check back in a week or two to make sure the mold is gone.

If the mold is blue or green, it is probably more aggressive and your stick might be ruined. In this case, it might be best to isolate the stick from the rest. I haven't dealt with this type of mold, but I've seen white mold form when I had a problem with my humidor. I rubbed it off, took steps to lower the humidity, and moved on with my life. I've also received a couple dress boxes that had minor cases of mold. In this case I just brushed it off gently. In both cases, the mold has not since returned.

[PapaDisco]

It is my understanding that all cigars have mold spores at some concentration (at least for the relatively common and innocuous white mold). The best way to keep your cigars safe is to keep them at 'fungistatic' conditions, i.e. where mold doesn't grow at all. Fortunately, the preferred RH and temp of CC storage fits this bill. This means that when it comes to mold, you shouldn't sweat it. If it's minor and white, rub it off, put it back, and fix the storage conditions so that they are either cooler or (more likely) less humid. Check back in a week or two to make sure the mold is gone.

If the mold is blue or green, it is probably more aggressive and your stick might be ruined. In this case, it might be best to isolate the stick from the rest. I haven't dealt with this type of mold, but I've seen white mold form when I had a problem with my humidor. I rubbed it off, took steps to lower the humidity, and moved on with my life. I've also received a couple dress boxes that had minor cases of mold. In this case I just brushed it off gently. In both cases, the mold has not since returned.

I don't have a lot of years experience at this, but what you say makes a lot of sense and fits with my experience of those two moldy (light and white) boxes of R&J Churchills. And since these cigars are made and packaged in a very humid environment it's easy to see how you could tube them on a particularly humid day and set the stick up for a brief mold bloom. Tubes aren't airtight, they just slow down the movement of vapor pressure and so when the box of tubed sticks get shipped to Canada, they dry right out and the mold stops.

Also, the rolling floors clearly aren't 'clean room' status and so, like Curtiss says, the likelihood is extremely high that all sticks have mold spores on them. So the strategy of keep them cool and below 70-75% RH makes a lot of sense.

I'm not adverse to LT storage and 'aging' cigars in their own tubes. I suspect that it could be interesting to experiment with aging a large block from the same production run and the same torcedor and then lay up 25 in a box versus 25 in tubes and see how they are in 5 years. There are the early 'breathing' issues to contend with in a tube, but after that period wouldn't a closed tube be preferable? I don't know, but everyone does talk about how the oils slowly vaporize and a tube would slow that to some extent. When you think about the complex chemistry that happens as wine ages, it's only possible in a (mostly) closed environment with just the tiniest bit of gas exchange through the cork. 'Age' a wine uncorked and it goes nowhere fast. Likewise, keeping a tube closed would (in theory) keep most of the volatile molecules in the cigar and let them work their chemistry on one another rather than vaporizing into the air.

Well . . . enough speculation. Seems I need to get me a living room sized humidor!

[Smallclub]

This is my method, and it really works well: I don't purchase cigars in tubos. Problem solved.

[mk05]

until they stabilized for 5 days at the rh I wanted (63%) and finally, put them back into the tubes and vacuum sealed the boxes up. I found that some of the cigars were at/above 70% rh when I first took them out of the tubes, which is way too high imo for long term aging, which is what these boxes were meant for.

Disagree but as you say, it's what works for you.

[PapaDisco]

I just had to adjust the rh of 10 boxes of tubos for aging in the past few months. Here's what I did: I opened them up, took the cigars and the cedar from inside the tubes out, lowered the rh, then stuck em in a humi until they stabilized for 5 days at the rh I wanted (63%) and finally, put them back into the tubes and vacuum sealed the boxes up. I found that some of the cigars were at/above 70% rh when I first took them out of the tubes, which is way too high imo for long term aging, which is what these boxes were meant for. Obviously, the cigars that came out at 66% rh took much less time to reach 63%, while the ones at 71% took much longer.

I used a mix of empty boxes (basically dry boxing), boveda packs that were dried out, damprid, and also dri it packs to absorb rh from the cigars that were too humid bc I wasn't sure what the best way to drop rh was at first. I left 2 hygros in with them to keep an eye on rh, then moved them to an empty humi to make sure they had really stabilized at 63%. A huge pain in the ass to do it, takes a good amount of time because you don't want to suck out too much rh too quickly, so going from 70% to 63% you need to make sure it's done slowly. Also, if you only do it for the cigars, and not the cedar in the tubes, the rh might go back up when you put the cigars back into the tubes.

Full disclaimer:

This is just a method that worked FOR ME, so I am NOT suggesting to anyone this is the only way to store or deal with storing tubos for aging or to prevent mold. I'm also NOT advocating for anyone to vacuum seal, use dried bovedas to absorb rh, damp rid, dri it, or anything else. I do NOT work for any of the companies whose brands I mentioned. Contrary to the opinions of some, I am NOT trying to harm anyone here, NOR harm their cigars by telling you what/how to do anything.

O.K., that was a funny disclaimer!

Why do you think the tubos tend to run a higher humidity? I realize you'll get that at the beginning if you put an 80 Rh cigar in a tube and clue it, but it will equalize to local RH eventually, no? Yello, have you tried this method for long enough to be able to report on the results or is this a new experiment?

[Cigar Surgeon]

Not a fan of leaving cigars in tubes. Mirroring what has already been said, I've witnessed far too many incidents of moldy tube cigars. At a minimum I'll take the cap off, but the last year or so I've started removing them from the tubes entirely.

[Puros Y Vino]

I have tubos from the 60's. No mold, no issues. Lots of aroma.

[Orion21]

Some cigars will grow mold and some won't. I had a box RyJ Short Churchills arrive from here with white mold on the heads of 4 cigars on the bottom row of the box - no mold on any others. I wiped and replaced. A week later, in my storage of low 60's F/rh it grew back on the same cigars. A couple of weeks after that it was gone. PigFish has said it over and over and over again that it takes far longer than a few days to change the internal moisture content of a whole cigar. If a box of cigars has been over humidified it could take months for them to get to your humidors state of equilibrium.

If you are worried about mold because you find it on your cigars on a regular basis you need to re-evaluate your storage. Also, a single story of some tubed cigars having mold when they arrived does not mean tubed cigars have a higher probability of mold. I think it's most likely the opposite.

[ramon_cojones]

I've never smoked a cigar from a tubo I liked. For me they're always muted and flavors don't really bloom like their boxed counterparts. I've only purchased a few as a transport vessel for my favorite vitolas that's about it.

[Smallclub]

I've never smoked a cigar from a tubo I liked.

That's because you never had a Punch Monarcas or a Bolivar Churchill A/T, or the SLR corona in its tubed version…

[PapaDisco]

That's because you never had a Punch Monarcas or a Bolivar Churchill A/T, or the SLR corona in its tubed version…

Right on. A buddy and I just killed a 10 box of '09 Punch Punch tubos. Man those were good!

[ramon_cojones]

That's because you never had a Punch Monarcas or a Bolivar Churchill A/T, or the SLR corona in its tubed version…

I will be the judge, you have them ready for when I come to france.

[Orion21]

That's because you never had a Punch Monarcas or a Bolivar Churchill A/T, or the SLR corona in its tubed version…

Or this one

[bugman78629]

Here is a proposal for a reasonable middle ground.

1. Remove the cigars from the tubes and hold both in a storage system held stable at your preferred conditions. So, upon receipt, take the cigars out of the tubes and store everything in a humidor/cabinet/cooler at 60% RH. Keep them there for, oh, who knows, maybe 30 days?
   
2. Return the cigars to their tubes, cap tightly, and store as originally received in your humidor etc.
   

This approach addresses Stargazer's observations that mold and tubes go hand in hand. Moreso this is true for NCs than Habanos, but it certainly makes sense that if a cigar is packed at/with high humidity, the tubo will seal that in allowing any viable mold on the cigar to grow. This re-equilibration process also allows you to reap the slow-aging benefits of tubos. It's having your cake and eating it too.

What do you guys think?

Wilkey