parabola66 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Hey guys, I was wondering.. What is the best period of time to drybox a cigar? Also, does the period of time depend on the size and shape of cigar? Lets assume all is equal with ambient temp and rH. I have proven to myself that at least 24 hours definitely improves the burn and taste, but I feel and get the idea that 24 hours is not enough time to complete the effect dryboxing has on a cigar. Every time, the first third is absolutely beautiful, then the cigar starts gradually get harsher through the second and 3rd thirds. Almost like an overwhelming toasted tobacco taste bordering on unpleasant. Thanks All!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optic101 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Depends ...... Starting value RH, Target value RH, size of cigar, dry box condition and some more. Also the process is not linear for all the factors involved. 1 day to 1 week is a good number. MHO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garbandz Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Like every other part of this hobby,(sport ?),it is subjective...size,target,lots of variables. sounds like you should do an experiment,will take you weeks of smoking cigars and evaluating them. win-win situation,enjoy........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarbreak Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I agree that sometimes one day is not enough...I think though that even if you feel that you've dryboxed a cigar for an adequate amount of time, you still need to consider the ambient rH of the environment you will be smoking in as that will play a factor in your experience as well, (the longer the cigar). For eg if I have dryboxed a double corona for a couple days but then go to smoke it in hot humid tropical type weather, an hour and a half in i notice that the stick can start to become "damp" and will require more touching up as I get to the nub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWC Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I answered 1 week. I don't think 3-5 is quite enough. but... I don't really dry box 'per se'. I have a desktop humidor that I keep loaded with an assortment of cigars for smoking. I keep them around 60%. I store my boxes around 65+rh. The cigars in the humi can be in there for weeks or even months. I haven't experienced any bad effects from storing them that dry for that long yet. I don't always know what I want to smoke and when I want to smoke it so it's nice to have a large selection to choose from that's ready to go. As a side note: I've realized the importance of the temperature component of rh. I keep the humi around 58-60rh @ ~75F in the summer and around 65rh @ 68 in the winter. The cigars seem to have the same total moisture content that way. -Dan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbelcastro Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 It depends on the RH of the humidor. I keep my ccs at 64-65. Therefore I dry box at 62 for 3-4 days. I like the gradual acclimation to the new RH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archosaur Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I generally go 2-3 days. I store at 65-67 RH and my drybox is 50-55 RH. Temp around 70. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophistic Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Store at 70%, 30 mins in the freezer work best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stogieluver Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 3-5 days. My humi used to be set at 65rh, but about a month ago I lowered it to 62rh. I have about 1300 cigars in there, so its taken until now to get the daily reading down to the 62 rh level. I haven't really noticed any difference so far, but I don't think I've given it enough time yet. I'm dry boxing a RAG at the ambient room rh of between 55%-62%, depending on how often my central air comes on during the day. I started dry boxing it last Saturday and plan on smoking it this Saturday. Curious to see how it comes out. FYI, I asked El Prez this same question about two weeks ago and he said, if I remember correctly, that it depends on the cigar, but he typically dry boxes cigars for 8-10 days at around 58rh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaDisco Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Hey guys, I was wondering.. What is the best period of time to drybox a cigar? Also, does the period of time depend on the size and shape of cigar? Lets assume all is equal with ambient temp and rH. I have proven to myself that at least 24 hours definitely improves the burn and taste, but I feel and get the idea that 24 hours is not enough time to complete the effect dryboxing has on a cigar. Every time, the first third is absolutely beautiful, then the cigar starts gradually get harsher through the second and 3rd thirds. Almost like an overwhelming toasted tobacco taste bordering on unpleasant. Thanks All!! The number of days is not an absolute value. It depends (IMHO) a little bit on the oil levels of the cigar, and mostly on the relative rH's between your humi and your ambient environments. When I take my 65%rH/65F cigars to 90%rH/90F environments, I notice that they need a full 3 days 'dry boxing' (in reality though they're acquiring moisture in this scenario) before they burn properly. Any sooner and the burn tends to get wonky with a lot of tunneling and such. In this particular case, with the filler burning faster than the binder and wrapper, the flavors will tend towards the harsher side of the equation a bit. I think your experience of a harsh final third is more due to an excessive buildup of volatile compounds as you smoke your stogie. As the flame front progresses up the cigar, tobacco is burned of course, but oils and volatile compounds in front of that burn (towards the head of the cigar) get vaporized/melted into a gas and sucked up along with the tasty smoke into the remaining part of the cigar. Some of these compounds are tasty, and some need to be burnt to get tasty, but either way they build up in the final third and as you then come to burn them, they overwhelm the cigar and taste bitter or harsh. Try purging your cigar from time to time as you smoke it. If you hold a flame just off the end (not touching) of the cigar and blow/purge it, you'll see these volatile compounds light up in an entertaining light show just off the foot of the cigar. Keep blowing and you'll notice that eventually this colorful blue/gold flame can no longer sustain itself; you've blown out all of the excess compounds. Now take a puff on your cigar and you'll notice a flavor very much like when you first lit the stick. Sticks with a reputation for requiring lots of aging (Por Larranaga for instance) produce a grand flame that I suspect represents the exceptionally oily makeup of their tobacco. My skinny PL Encantos out-torch any Churchill in my collection. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthson Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 It all depends on the smoke and its age. I'm not copping out - I drybox different lengths of time depending on the cigar. For example, I just put a PLMC (MAY 13) into the drybox yesterday and won't touch it for over a week. The PL Picadores, on the other hand, was placed in there today and I'll be diving into it by Friday (just wanting to check in and see how they're doing). If it's a smoke that doesn't typically need more than a couple years (to my taste), I'll put it in for a day or two to get rid of extraneous moisture and then fire away! I don't dry box most cigars unless there's been a humidity spike over the preceding week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphie48 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I have a little Tupperware with a 62 boveda and a silica gel pack(that I recharge from time to time) it hangs around 58 to 60 rh I put a weeks worth in there and start smoking them after a few days. Not sure if it's the right way but it works for me! I usually cut cigars before putting in as well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GavLew79 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Excellent description of purging and why the need to. I see people saying that the cigar got harsh so they tossed it, but without purging first. Sometimes in the last third I will purge several times as every other puff results in too much build-up. But you're right, you can very often recover that first third flavour, or even first puff. The number of days is not an absolute value. It depends (IMHO) a little bit on the oil levels of the cigar, and mostly on the relative rH's between your humi and your ambient environments. When I take my 65%rH/65F cigars to 90%rH/90F environments, I notice that they need a full 3 days 'dry boxing' (in reality though they're acquiring moisture in this scenario) before they burn properly. Any sooner and the burn tends to get wonky with a lot of tunneling and such. In this particular case, with the filler burning faster than the binder and wrapper, the flavors will tend towards the harsher side of the equation a bit. I think your experience of a harsh final third is more due to an excessive buildup of volatile compounds as you smoke your stogie. As the flame front progresses up the cigar, tobacco is burned of course, but oils and volatile compounds in front of that burn (towards the head of the cigar) get vaporized/melted into a gas and sucked up along with the tasty smoke into the remaining part of the cigar. Some of these compounds are tasty, and some need to be burnt to get tasty, but either way they build up in the final third and as you then come to burn them, they overwhelm the cigar and taste bitter or harsh. Try purging your cigar from time to time as you smoke it. If you hold a flame just off the end (not touching) of the cigar and blow/purge it, you'll see these volatile compounds light up in an entertaining light show just off the foot of the cigar. Keep blowing and you'll notice that eventually this colorful blue/gold flame can no longer sustain itself; you've blown out all of the excess compounds. Now take a puff on your cigar and you'll notice a flavor very much like when you first lit the stick. Sticks with a reputation for requiring lots of aging (Por Larranaga for instance) produce a grand flame that I suspect represents the exceptionally oily makeup of their tobacco. My skinny PL Encantos out-torch any Churchill in my collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallclub Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Unless you live in the Sahara or in the rain forest 24h won't change anything… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubergosupro69 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 If the cigar is consistently getting harsher and less pleasant as it progresses, I would guess that it's not from insufficient dry boxing. Probably being smoked to fast and hot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxcjs0101 Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 What works best for me is i'll just leave my sticks openly on my desktop and i'll just grab any when i want to smoke them. There was once i feel that the cigar was a little dry but boy, was it delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayepatz Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Moveable feast. Depends where you are and what your weather is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefBoyRG54 Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I've recently changed the cabinets from 65 to 63 (61-63) and have started dry boxing, even if only for a day. Noticeable difference in burn quality, by a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SipIt Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Man, am I the only one around here who stores all my cigars at an rh between 60-63 and burn them right from there? I don't think I could handle always picking out my cigars ahead of time. I don't necessarily know when I'm going to smoke them, let alone what I'm going to have a craving for at that time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGipper Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Converted all my long term storage many years ago to 62%. And since then, have never needed to drybox at all. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabes Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Converted all my long term storage many years ago to 62%. And since then, have never needed to drybox at all. This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeskow Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I store my boxes at the RH I smoke at which is between 59-61rh.. no need to dry box unless the cigar is extremely oily then maybe a day or 2 tops.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejack11 Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 i think there is no wrong answer, but i've tried all the above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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