cigar storage

[mygar]

Hi folks new here and have been browsing the site... awesome site and i am glad to be here!

I just downgraded from a cabinet to a large desk top humi. What you say?!! Haha... i am going backwards i know.

My plan is not to store too much... i want simplicity and not worry about thousands of dollars in stock to manage.

So my plan is just to keep several hundred on hand. It does get a bit hot. Temp in my house reach 78F or so during hot months. My plan is to purchase just what i intend to smoke soon and not do long term aging. Normally i dry box a day or so before smoking and seems to work well.

I am new to CC and understand many do better with age. Is it possible to select and smoke some that do not require too much aging. How does this strategy sound in regard to cubans? Do many veteran smokers do this. It seems many have rather large inventories... but like i said i dont want this.

In addition, my tastes do change and do not want a large inventory i dont want to smoke.

Many Thanks James

[garbandz]

you need to freeze everything from Cuba before introducing them to your humi.

someone here can pull up a thread on procedure...

Most Cuban sticks are ready to smoke with minimal ageing,except a few......generally the bigger ones..........

and for me,Cohiba and Partagas..............and you need to maintain a lower RH at high temps.....

[mygar]

Yes i was thinking about that. I have read a lot of threads on that. I do understand that cuba freezes everything already. With a small stock on hand i assume i would catch a problem pretty early...but who knows. Also, wonder how common of a problem it is these days, etc.

[Ubergosupro69]

I still freeze them, the cigars could pick up beetles after their freeze in Cuba. It takes a couple days and protects the cigars, and for those without rigorous temperature control it at least gives you one less thing to worry about

[sw15825]

Agreed , at those temps 60% Rh max. is what I would aim for with Cuban cigars. I have only froze custom cigars though and never had problems up to 75 degrees F. Just my personal experience.

[mygar]

Hey sw.. why only 60% rh? I was planning on storing at 65. Then dry box a day prior to smoking. Thx

[CigarDarr111]

Can anyone explain the purpose of freezing and dry boxing is please. Newbie question... thanks.

[JohnS]

Freezing....this is done as a precaution to kill beetles that are in your cigars. The cold temperature will prevent them from laying eggs that will hatch and ruin your cigars as they love to eat tobacco.

Dry boxing...this is done when you store your cigars at the standard 70°F and 70 rh levels in your humidor. Most of us here on the forum would store our cigars closer to 65°F and 65 rh. When you take a cigar out of your humidor to smoke, if it's Cuban, you'd likely want it a little drier as they smoke better between 60 rh and 65 rh. To do this, you store it in a container (typically an old cigar box or similar) without any humidification for a day or two (maybe three even). This will dry out the cigar a little and make it more pleasurable to smoke.

[sw15825]

Hey sw.. why only 60% rh? I was planning on storing at 65. and dry box a day prior to smoking. Thx

What are your conditions like in your area? My experience Cubans will store/smoke well at 60% at low to mid 70f temps. In winter when my temps are 67F or so degrees I will aim for closer to 63 to 65%. I dont have a temp controlled humidoor. I can't really dry box well because humidity is pretty high here in summer. Depending on your conditions your plan may work well but I have found that I can just pull from my stock and smoke without the extra step and does not always work well for me.

It's probably best to try it out your way then see how it goes and then go from there. Let us know what you find.

[CigarDarr111]

Freezing....this is done as a precaution to kill beetles that are in your cigars. The cold temperature will prevent them from laying eggs that will hatch and ruin your cigars as they love to eat tobacco.

Dry boxing...this is done when you store your cigars at the standard 70°F and 70 rh levels in your humidor. Most of us here on the forum would store our cigars closer to 65°F and 65 rh. When you take a cigar out of your humidor to smoke, if it's Cuban, you'd likely want it a little drier as they smoke better between 60 rh and 65 rh. To do this, you store it in a container (typically an old cigar box or similar) without any humidification for a day or two (maybe three even). This will dry out the cigar a little and make it more pleasurable to smoke.

Thank you for clarifying that !

[mygar]

During the warm months it 20% rh orlower...so pretty dry. Right now i have temp storage of tupperdors and rh is 67... and yes i find that too wet. So i have been dry boxing a least a day.

[mygar]

I agree i need to bring down rH. I ordered 65 rh beads as i thought 60 would be a bit too low for me. Let you know. Thanks for everyones input.

[JohnS]

Thank you for clarifying that !

My pleasure...anytime!

[bugg4672]

Speaking of Beetles, A friend of mine bought a few boxes of CC a few years back for a place in Canada. The boxes came in the day before him and his family left to go on vacation to Disney World, so he put them in his humidor. Well when he got home his 1/2 full 3000 stick humi had little visitors. I also have a friend that has been buying, smoking, storing and aging cigars for over 50 years and he has never ever had one little bug. I'm one of those that says why take a chance especially if you have a lot of sticks.

[Smallclub]

The boxes came in the day before him and his family left to go on vacation to Disney World, so he put them in his humidor. Well when he got home his 1/2 full 3000 stick humi had little visitors.

How does he know that the beetles came in the CC boxes? These beetles could as well be already there, waiting for their time…

Lesson learned: never tell your cigars that you're going on vacation…

[mygar]

I hope you arent jinxing me as i leave for 2 wks vacay in june. Just after i receive 3 boxes lol

[bugg4672]

@smallclub Ill ask him the next time I see him, I bet they were hiding out just waiting for him to leave on vacation, shot if I knew him back then I would have sneaked in and took them, leaving your cigars at home all alone should be a sin.

[bugg4672]

@mygar just post your address and we will come and cigar sit your stash for you, they will be in GOOD HANDS

[mygar]

Haha you guys are too much.

But im always willing to share for sure! If you are near Nor Cal we could meet up!!

[jimsta10]

Hello,

Anyone from Melbourne would like to share there temp and rh for CCs? my are kept at 17.5'c and RH around 65%..would love your thoughts. plan is to age these babes for at least 2-5 years. I understand that its more about personal taste, however this newbie loves asking questions

in relation to freezing..some swear by it, and other dont (from what i have read). but I'm trying this out with some cigars just to test the process and taste. Does anyone know how long i need to rest in the humidor for until smoking?

thank you in advance.

[Mycroft]

Hi folks new here and have been browsing the site... awesome site and i am glad to be here!

I just downgraded from a cabinet to a large desk top humi. What you say?!! Haha... i am going backwards i know.

My plan is not to store too much... i want simplicity and not worry about thousands of dollars in stock to manage.

So my plan is just to keep several hundred on hand. It does get a bit hot. Temp in my house reach 78F or so during hot months. My plan is to purchase just what i intend to smoke soon and not do long term aging. Normally i dry box a day or so before smoking and seems to work well.

I am new to CC and understand many do better with age. Is it possible to select and smoke some that do not require too much aging. How does this strategy sound in regard to cubans? Do many veteran smokers do this. It seems many have rather large inventories... but like i said i dont want this.

In addition, my tastes do change and do not want a large inventory i dont want to smoke.

Many Thanks James

I don´t think you have to worry about age at all. Sure some 8 or 10 year old cigars have a balance and sophistication to them that the fresh new versions don´t, but the fresh ones have an edginess and character that for me is just as good but different. I've heard it said that the Cubans are aging there tobacco longer now. In any case, more or less following El Presidente and Ken's recommendations, I have found plenty of 2014 made cigars that taste excellent (to me) straight out of the box. Consistency and construction issues have been a big issue with Cuban cigars in the past, but it seems to me that they have lifted their game a lot recently and I don't think I have had a single plugged 2014 cigar. So I don't bother buying previous years now unless I find something special over 8 years old. And then I am ready to stick a wooden barbecue skewer through it if it is plugged (which actually is a very useful trick to know and often works very well).

Watch the FOH reviews on Youtube where El Presidente and Ken are usually testing recent production, young cigars. The 2014 MUO coded Cohiba Robustos and Esplendidos have been remarkable IMHO, and it is hard for me to imagine how they could improve with age (although no doubt they would change in interesting ways). Mine aren't likely to get a chance anyway . The Partagas 898 from last October that I hand picked and smoked last night was very, very good straight out of the cigar shop humidor. And the Bolivar Petit Corona this morning, also from 2014, wasn't too bad either.