48 hours in a leather cigar case?

[Webbo]

No not some kind of S&M weekend break. Would a leather 3 cigar case keep the cigars ok for 48 hours or would they need some humidification? It's a pretty tight fitting case and I will be flying with minimal carry on luggage so don't want to take the travel caddy if possible.

[Habana Mike]

Put the case inside a plastic bag (with a Boveda pack if you've got one). Should be OK.

[thebigk]

That's what i do

Put the case inside a plastic bag (with a Boveda pack if you've got one). Should be OK.

This

[Skyfall]

I've left sticks in cigar cases and in dry boxes for 7-12 days at a time. They still smoke and taste great. I usually dry box my cigars for 48 hours before I smoke them anyway. Much more enjoyable.

[stargazer14]

Do it all the time, in 2 days they are perfect.

[subport]

I've left sticks in cigar cases and in dry boxes for 7-12 days at a time. They still smoke and taste great. I usually dry box my cigars for 48 hours before I smoke them anyway. Much more enjoyable.

Off (sorry)

Skyfall, I was always wondering about this dry boxing thing. What does that really mean for ya? Do you know what RH have you got in that box? Pretty much curiosity because the air here could go down to 20% even under but most of the time it is surely around 30% rh. Wouldn't it be too much difference if I tried to do it? What do you suggest like 40-45? Just really got no clue never tried anything like that

Cheers in advance

On

[Skyfall]

Off (sorry)

Skyfall, I was always wondering about this dry boxing thing. What does that really mean for ya? Do you know what RH have you got in that box? Pretty much curiosity because the air here could go down to 20% even under but most of the time it is surely around 30% rh. Wouldn't it be too much difference if I tried to do it? What do you suggest like 40-45? Just really got no clue never tried anything like that

Cheers in advance

On

Yeah I keep my cigars at 65F and 64%rh in storage, but I've found, like many have, over the years that they smoke and taste much better if some of the moisture is extracted before combustion. I'm not saying long enough to extract oils, but merely moisture. Nothing effects the taste of a cigar more for me than improper humidification at the time of smoking. Cigars are very resilient and most people are too cautious and worried about minuscule variations and metrics. I'm that way to a point, but it's really not necessary. It takes a long time of harsh conditions to strip away the oils.

I would venture to say that most long time smokers (given the time and thought to plan ahead) prefer to be bale to dry box for a couple of days. I know Rob (El Pres) and others including myself will just throw a stick in the freezer for a bit before smoking to try and expedite the drying out process. I so this all the time when I don't plan ahead. I prefer to dry box in an empty, humidified desktop humidor. It ranges from 30% - 40% humidity, and I like to do it for at least 2 days if not more. I can deduce that the RH of the cigar is brought down to the low 50's, which smokes perfect for me!. Many draw, combustion and muted taste problems are most always due to over humidification at the time of smoking and not necessarily construction. Some cringe in that....but when you really think about it, 50% is still pretty damn wet. I mean if I had a bath towel and got 50% of it wet, that's a pretty damn wet towel right? Again, I think most of us, including myself, worry too much and focus too much on the minuscule details about cigars, and it's just not necessary. Going from an environment of 65% to 35% isn't going to damage the cigar. Hell, I've taken cigars from 65F and 64% and put them unprotected in a freezer close to 0F and 0%RH for hours, and it's just fine, and taste damn good.

Keep it simple and smoke what you like and how you like it. For me,(and I know many others) that is much drier than how I store them, so that's what I do. I'm getting the point that I just refuse to smoke one straight out of my humidor anymore unless I at least give it a nap in the freezer!.

Hope this helped.

P.S. When I go out of town for longer than 10 days is the only time I add humidification to my travel case, and what I do then is take a metal cigar tube, punch a bunch a holes in it, fill it with humidity beads, put the smallest amount of water in the beads, and put the cap on and place it in one of the slots in the case.

[PapaDisco]

Put the case inside a plastic bag (with a Boveda pack if you've got one). Should be OK.

Correct. Those cigars won't survive on an airplane without a ziplock bag around the case. I've flown with a leather siglo case in a ziplock, no boveda, but with an rH meter in the bag just for curiosity and the rH in the bag hardly budged for a 16 hour flight. Make damn sure the ziplock is sealed well though. Even a tiny opening will cause the interior rH to go to zero on even a short flight.

[subport]

Yeah I keep my cigars at 65F and 64%rh in storage, but I've found, like many have, over the years that they smoke and taste much better if some of the moisture is extracted before combustion. I'm not saying long enough to extract oils, but merely moisture. Nothing effects the taste of a cigar more for me than improper humidification at the time of smoking. Cigars are very resilient and most people are too cautious and worried about minuscule variations and metrics. I'm that way to a point, but it's really not necessary. It takes a long time of harsh conditions to strip away the oils.

I would venture to say that most long time smokers (given the time and thought to plan ahead) prefer to be bale to dry box for a couple of days. I know Rob (El Pres) and others including myself will just throw a stick in the freezer for a bit before smoking to try and expedite the drying out process. I so this all the time when I don't plan ahead. I prefer to dry box in an empty, humidified desktop humidor. It ranges from 30% - 40% humidity, and I like to do it for at least 2 days if not more. I can deduce that the RH of the cigar is brought down to the low 50's, which smokes perfect for me!. Many draw, combustion and muted taste problems are most always due to over humidification at the time of smoking and not necessarily construction. Some cringe in that....but when you really think about it, 50% is still pretty damn wet. I mean if I had a bath towel and got 50% of it wet, that's a pretty damn wet towel right? Again, I think most of us, including myself, worry too much and focus too much on the minuscule details about cigars, and it's just not necessary. Going from an environment of 65% to 35% isn't going to damage the cigar. Hell, I've taken cigars from 65F and 64% and put them unprotected in a freezer close to 0F and 0%RH for hours, and it's just fine, and taste damn good.

Keep it simple and smoke what you like and how you like it. For me,(and I know many others) that is much drier than how I store them, so that's what I do. I'm getting the point that I just refuse to smoke one straight out of my humidor anymore unless I at least give it a nap in the freezer!.

Hope this helped.

P.S. When I go out of town for longer than 10 days is the only time I add humidification to my travel case, and what I do then is take a metal cigar tube, punch a bunch a holes in it, fill it with humidity beads, put the smallest amount of water in the beads, and put the cap on and place it in one of the slots in the case.

All right I see. As many of us I started 70/70 and went down to 64,65. That is where I keep them and take it out and smoke.

Hell you are just damn right with this experiment and try out session. I am just gonna do it myself to find out what happens and where is the point when the sticks are way too dry and getting bitter and harsh and useless.

Really thanks a lot for your detailed input. Appreciated man.

[Skyfall]

All right I see. As many of us I started 70/70 and went down to 64,65. That is where I keep them and take it out and smoke.

Hell you are just damn right with this experiment and try out session. I am just gonna do it myself to find out what happens and where is the point when the sticks are way too dry and getting bitter and harsh and useless.

Really thanks a lot for your detailed input. Appreciated man.

Cigars will get bitter and harsh once they loose their oils, which really takes months in improper conditions to achieve. I've had a box of cigars take 8 months one time to show up, just sitting in a warehouse somewhere with poor temps and humidity......they smoked just fine upon arrival. As I said, cigars are no where close to as delicate as many make them out to be.

[Skyfall]

in fact, just yesterday, I smoked a glorious 2009 HQ Party P2! It was fantastic, best cigar of May so far. I originally was going to smoked it on Friday, and never got around too it and forgot about it in the dry box. I had initially put it in the dry box on Wednesday in preparation for Friday, so by the time I smoked it, it was in dry box for the better part of 5 days. It had a beautiful draw, and a very even burn even in the wind, and the flavor was a 93-94 point cigar!

[subport]

Nice, great infos I got. Thanks again.

I just drybox a PC size stg and will smoke another out of 64,65 and compare. Then keep on trying

[subport]

in fact, just yesterday, I smoked a glorious 2009 HQ Party P2! It was fantastic, best cigar of May so far. I originally was going to smoked it on Friday, and never got around too it and forgot about it in the dry box. I had initially put it in the dry box on Wednesday in preparation for Friday, so by the time I smoked it, it was in dry box for the better part of 5 days. It had a beautiful draw, and a very even burn even in the wind, and the flavor was a 93-94 point cigar!

Wow, nice. Time to fill up that old unused humi for the weekend

[PapaDisco]

I concur on too much humidity messing up the flavor. Sticks that smoke fine at home can taste acidic and terrible once I get them to SE Asia. That's not long term high rH, but just short exposure to high rH, sort of the reverse of dry boxing Keeping them in the air conditioned hotel room doesn't help much either, as just 20-30 minutes outside at 90% rH will get the wrapper absorbing lots of moisture while the filler lags and the result is a messy burn.

Trivia point: rH percentages aren't the same as saturation percentages. It's relative to dew point.

[cigarbreak]

@skyfall thanks for the info! I have been storing recently at high 50's low 60's and my burning and flavour issues are out the window for the most part, as my cigars are all pretty much young. Its good to hear there's more value in the effort to have cigars sit at the lower range of rH as opposed to 68-72 rH. As for the Op, id agree with the boveda in a bag with the case for sure as ive had a couple bad experiences using a leather case (probably though cause it was a hella cheap one and i was using it during the winter lol)

[CaptainQuintero]

I've never seen negative impact on flavours drying cigars, in fact the lowest I went was 52% and they they were still smoking fine, wrappers were however becoming fragile so didn't go lower.

[Fuzz]

On my last trip to Malaysia a few weeks ago, I took some Trinis with me. Had them in my leather case, inside a ziplock bag. Smoked perfectly fine after 5 days. I keep my case in my coolidor (not my desktop) so that the leather doesn't leach any extra moisture off my cigars. Not sure if it really does anything, but I've never had a problem with dried out cigars, even if they have been inside the case/ziplock combo for over 1 week.

[subport]

@Skyfall!

Just wanted to let you know I went down this road and tried all your suggestions. Well nothing else I could say than a big thanks bro. Absolutely loving the results in many ways. From burning issues to flavours through smoke output. Since this happened I've been dryboxing pretty much everything I smoke.

When I had no plan ahead did put it into the freezer for 1-1.5hrs with great result.

+1 now who's dryboxing and spread the word on this. Once again thank you.

[Skyfall]

@Skyfall!

Just wanted to let you know I went down this road and tried all your suggestions. Well nothing else I could say than a big thanks bro. Absolutely loving the results in many ways. From burning issues to flavours through smoke output. Since this happened I've been dryboxing pretty much everything I smoke.

When I had no plan ahead did put it into the freezer for 1-1.5hrs with great result.

+1 now who's dryboxing and spread the word on this. Once again thank you.

I'm glad I could help.

[Guybrush]

Yeah I keep my cigars at 65F and 64%rh in storage, but I've found, like many have, over the years that they smoke and taste much better if some of the moisture is extracted before combustion. I'm not saying long enough to extract oils, but merely moisture. Nothing effects the taste of a cigar more for me than improper humidification at the time of smoking. Cigars are very resilient and most people are too cautious and worried about minuscule variations and metrics. I'm that way to a point, but it's really not necessary. It takes a long time of harsh conditions to strip away the oils.

I would venture to say that most long time smokers (given the time and thought to plan ahead) prefer to be bale to dry box for a couple of days. I know Rob (El Pres) and others including myself will just throw a stick in the freezer for a bit before smoking to try and expedite the drying out process. I so this all the time when I don't plan ahead. I prefer to dry box in an empty, humidified desktop humidor. It ranges from 30% - 40% humidity, and I like to do it for at least 2 days if not more. I can deduce that the RH of the cigar is brought down to the low 50's, which smokes perfect for me!.

I store a couple of cabinets in an airtight container. From time to time I open the container and over the last months the humidity dropped to 65%. The cigars are now way to try for my taste. If you pinch the cigar you here a cracking noise and the smoke is dry and harsh. I will return to 70-72% which is the perfect range for me.

Tastes differ, for sure!

[Skyfall]

I store a couple of cabinets in an airtight container. From time to time I open the container and over the last months the humidity dropped to 65%. The cigars are now way to try for my taste. If you pinch the cigar you here a cracking noise and the smoke is dry and harsh. I will return to 70-72% which is the perfect range for me.

Tastes differ, for sure!

I think there is something else at play here, maybe even in error. In all of my years of smoking cigars, I have never seen a cigar at TRUE 65% feel dry, cracked, or splitting. 65% is still VERY wet as relative humidity goes. Every cigar I have ever pulled out at TRUE 65% is still very moist and spongy and wet. Think about it, 65% RH is still very wet, there is no reason why an accurate and true 65% should be dry, cracking and tasteless.

[SaintLuis]

Do it all the time, in 2 days they are perfect.

I had one cigar left from this weekend in my leather case that I never put back in the humidor. I put them in there on Friday, and it smoked perfectly yesterday. Wrapper was in great shape, no chips or cracks from drying.

They're typically good in there for a number of days, particularly if it's full of cigars. My larger travel case, even when I stuff it pretty godo for a longer trip, really does need humidification as it has a cedar liner.

[Guybrush]

I think there is something else at play here, maybe even in error. In all of my years of smoking cigars, I have never seen a cigar at TRUE 65% feel dry, cracked, or splitting. 65% is still VERY wet as relative humidity goes. Every cigar I have ever pulled out at TRUE 65% is still very moist and spongy and wet. Think about it, 65% RH is still very wet, there is no reason why an accurate and true 65% should be dry, cracking and tasteless.

The wrappers are not cracked but you hear a cracking sound if you pinch the cigar. The smoke is dry and harsh. For my taste.

I use Adorini Hygrometers. They used to be reliable.

65% humidity doesn't mean there is 65% water in the cigar.

[Skyfall]

The wrappers are not cracked but you hear a cracking sound if you pinch the cigar. The smoke is dry and harsh. For my taste.

I use Adorini Hygrometers. They used to be reliable.

65% humidity doesn't mean there is 65% water in the cigar.

I aware of that, but if the ambient RH is 65%, the cigar should still be spongy when you pinch it.

[Guybrush]

Spongy with cracking sound.

Edit: There is no other way. We have to smoke a cigar together.