Learning 69% RH is too high for me

[agulerer]

@Philc2001 do you use 1.13 and 1.16 for all cigars or Cubans?

 

and @PigFish I couldnt find your chart. what are your numbers?

[Philc2001]

16 minutes ago, agulerer said:

@Philc2001 do you use 1.13 and 1.16 for all cigars or Cubans?

All. In my personal PoV I just don't really understand why the hydroscopic properties of tobacco leaf grown in Cuba would be any different than the leaf grown in the Americas, Africa or any other continent. It's all tobacco leaf, and in most cases the variety of leaf is often derived from Cuban seed smuggled out of Cuba after the revolution. The only real difference is the climate and the soil it grows in, not the molecular structure is it made of.

[agulerer]

You can be correct because now I am smoking Hoyo Epi No 2 and it was @77 F and 68 rh and it is perfect and love it :))))

Now the question is Why habanos says 65-70 rh and 60-65 F is perfect smoking environment? 

[PigFish]

30 minutes ago, agulerer said:

@Philc2001 do you use 1.13 and 1.16 for all cigars or Cubans?

 

and @PigFish I couldnt find your chart. what are your numbers?

...like @Philc2001 I am very careful to preface my comments about my tastes! They are just that, my tastes, my numbers and frankly they are posted all around the forum in thousands of posts. There is no chart.

As stated previously, I use a rule-of-thumb also. That rule is a ratio of 1/3.5 to 1/4 rh/temp.

So if I look at my settings at 60rH and 70˚F (for example) and I want to change my my temperature to say 75F. Bear in mind that this is a temperature change from a baseline setting I know to be true to my taste and nothing more. 75-70=5 : 5x1/4= 1.25 or 5x1/3.5=1.42 so you would add that to your rH to compensate for the temperature change. The setting would then be 61.25 or 61.42 rH to 75F. I just like to think in the realm of 3 or 4 to one!

You will see that my numbers are not a far cry from Phil's. But it is important to note that I understand what an isotherm for tobacco looks like. And while the line is fairly straight in a small range, it is a curved line. Isothermal curves are not mathematically derived, but can be (potentially) mathematically analyzed. They are empirically derived and that is the point that both Phil and I are attempting to relate to you.

As I read your post above, I have to ask, unless rhetorically, why ask us what someone else thinks and why? They put a slip of paper in the box that claims to keep cigars at 70/70, so with that in mind, how much confidence do you have with their judgement?

My suggesting is that you experiment for yourself and trust your own judgment! With all the variations in taste, cigars and equipment, that is the only advice that I see that has real value!

Happy smoking! -Piggy

[agulerer]

You are right about your writings. So I trust yours more than 70/70 people .

Why you chose 60 rh at 70 F? Why not 65 rh at 70 f you didnt choose? How did you approach 60 rh at 70 f

[shlomo]

Personal taste man....he has said it half a dozen times....

 

[PigFish]

Personal taste man, I have said it a half a dozen times.... !!! -LOL (read with levity)

... one or two points at a time!!! 

 

-Piggy

[LeafLover]

15 hours ago, dvickery said:

This is wisdom .

derrek

Yep. 

[Fugu]

22 hours ago, PigFish said:

(ones that @Fugu is supposed to be curve matching for me, ahem)

Can't do it on that, due to fragmentary data and obscure scaling (as discussed), still awaiting your original data, Sir.... ahem...

[PigFish]

7 minutes ago, Fugu said:

Can't do it on that, due to fragmentary data and obscure scaling (as discussed), still awaiting your original data, Sir.... ahem...

Excuses excuses... -LOL Get your nose out of that 'little red book' and get to work!!! 

-R

[Fugu]

22 hours ago, PigFish said:

Excuses excuses... -LOL Get your nose out of that 'little red book' and get to work!!! 

-R

Haha, "little"?!!

[agulerer]

@Fugu or anyone who tests 70rh, 65 rh and 60 rh  what is taste difference between that? What was bad at 69-70 rh? What is very good at 60 rh?

[Hurltim]

OK. Lets say it's 70% rH. That, as determined by the experts all over the globe, is THE percent of relative humidity for every cigar ever made. 

How are you going to measure that humidity?

Every measuring device has an accuracy tolerance. My digital calipers are accurate to the thousandth of an inch. That statement alone tells me one thing for sure--it is not 100% accurate. What is the current tolerance of hygrometers typically used to measure rH in a humidor? Zikar states their hygrometers are accurate to +-2%. So, that 70% is now 68-72%. Hygrometers like the kind used to measure rH in a humidor (capacitive) are susceptible to contamination, drift, wear and tear, aging etc.

No measuring device is 100% accurate. 

"Nothing is true;

Everything is permitted.."---Vladimir Bartol

@agulerer go with 65%. Try a few smokes at that. Then raise, try a few, lower and try a few and find what you like best man. 

There is no perfect number. Are you an engineer by chance? That would explain a lot.

 

 

[cigarzfan]

On 9/4/2016 at 7:13 PM, Philc2001 said:

What temperature are they in? I find the RH is relative to the temperature. My home is usually around 77-78df so 66-68%rh is not bad. At 70df then 60-62%rh may be better. It's a relative.


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I thought it would be inverted - that 60-62%rh may be better with temperature in the higher range of 77-78df, and 66-68%rh at 70df. Any other thoughts on the recommended rh% in the 77-78df temp range?

[joeypots]

     60% RH at 70 F works for me and as the temperature falls in the fall and the house is cooler something like 55% to 60% Rh will work all winter. I keep my humidor close to an air conditioner that is set at 70F in summer. I find it more difficult to keep cigars dry than moist. So for the new guys, if you notice your cigars tasting much better after 18 months or so, it isn't age, its correct moisture content that's making those cigars taste so good. Used to be that cigars were deliberately shipped wet to protect them from drying out during shipping. I don't know if this is still true. I remember getting cigars from Europe that were so wet that it was a battle to keep them lit. And the taste was bitter and harsh.  If I was going to smoke out of a new box of say, PSD#4, I'd put a handful in my desk top humidor at 60% RH for a month. No cheating. A properly hydrated cigar will beat hands down a overly humidified cigar in taste and burn. Lastly, and once more for the new guys, if you dry out a fresh cigar until the band will slip easily enough so that you can move it a half inch or so foot to head with out damaging the wrapper that cigar is good to go. And, as usual, this is what works for me.