Cigar Vacuum Sealing Guide For Long Term Storage

[El Presidente]

 

Louie (Monterrey) gives us the low down on Vacuum Sealing. 

 

 

 

[B44]

I knew all along the Bagman was real! There’s a lot to unpack with this one 
 

[saltedcashew]

Hell yeah, happy this topic has come up again

[Monterey]

17 hours ago, B44 said:

I knew all along the Bagman was real! There’s a lot to unpack with this one 

Hey now, low blow!

[B44]

38 minutes ago, Monterey said:

Hey now, low blow!

Lol I’m just jealous of your battle station. Solid content 🤙

[Bada_Bing_NJ]

Nice just what I was looking for!!

[Well Armed]

Great video. I’ve been sealing for decades. And through those years I have reached many of the same conclusions and results that Bagman did. One thing I wanted to add to this discussion is the equipment I have evolved to use:

1) Meater 16” vacuum sealer machine. Absolutely fantastic machine that can do 16” wide bags, has wonderful pulse control to dictate the amount of vacuum required, and a brilliant sealer that perfectly melds 5 mil bags. This is a commercial grade machine. I started back in the day with a simple Foodsaver machine, and they are fine for beginners. But if you are going the distance in numbers, you need a quality machine. You get what you pay for. 
 

2) 5 mil bags!  Normal Foodsaver, etc brand bags are 3 mil thick. They are too thin. They get micro punctures in the creases etc and can lose their seal over time. 5 mil bags are three-c thiccc, and durable af. 
 

3) 16” wide bags… in a roll. With a 16” roll, you can easily fit a cab of double coronas. And the roll allows you to make the bag as long as you need. 
 

4) Double bagging: seal in one bag, then put that into another bag and seal that one too. You now have a double safe margin of error and durability. Stack your sealed boxes, move 'em around, worry not. 
 

5) Pay attention to how the bags crease and fold at the corners of your boxes. Using the pulse function on a sealer allows you to monitor and guide these corner folds for zero crinkling and clean folds. I then tape the flaps tight to the box so they don’t move. Flapping stresses the folds and corner creases over time, enhancing chances of cracking and leaks.

5.5) Also, make sure you do not overheat the seal when completing the vacuum process. If you overheat the seal, the plastic will OVER melt, resulting in a weaker seal. Ideally the heat required on the seal will essentially melt both layers of the bag just enough to meld them, then stop. The seal will look clean and smooth and crisp. If it looks wavy, it’s wrong. If the bag layers aren’t flat against each other, it will look creased - wrong!  Flat, smooth, crisp seals for the win. Double seals are an insurance policy - but remember the sides of your bags are always single sealed. 
 

6) Put your sealed boxes in a giant gasket-lined-lid tote bin. Iris USA and Sterilite both make nice gasket-lid totes. Put in a few Boveda bags as a safeguard into your filled tote bins, and you now have a tote-ador!  The Bovedas are insurance over bag punctures, or any osmotic gas permeability of your sealed bags.

7) Ultraviolet light will degrade your bags over time. Store them in the dark if possible.  Never in direct sunlight. And remember, the importance of temperature’s affects on your stored cigars remains unchanged when they are sealed.

😎 Finally (which is actually should be #1), be absolutely certain your cigars have had adequate time to acclimate properly to the desired humidity level. If you seal a wet or dry box, it will remain wet or dry. Get it right. 
 

I recently cracked a sealed bag/box of Monte #2’s that I initially sealed in 2004.  They looked, felt, and smelled as nice as the day they were sealed. 
 

Watch the video. Understand the science, and more specifically, the physics involved in this process. You may safely disregard almost ALL the advice and warnings given online by the inexperienced community about the effects of a vacuum (whether partial or full vacuum). Bagman summarized their opinions well with his initial ChatGPT reading. 

[Monterey]

10 hours ago, Well Armed said:

1) Meater 16” vacuum sealer machine. Absolutely fantastic machine that can do 16” wide bags, has wonderful pulse control to dictate the amount of vacuum required, and a brilliant sealer that perfectly melds 5 mil bags. This is a commercial grade machine. I started back in the day with a simple Foodsaver machine, and they are fine for beginners. But if you are going the distance in numbers, you need a quality machine. You get what you pay for. 

I agree with on most items except the machine I recommend. I recommend foodsaver (the machine, not the bags as you noted) as it a weaker machine. In this case, that is a good thing. You do not need (or want) the power that stronger machines provide. Foodsaver itself can crush a box. A machine like you mention will just crush it more. Foodsaver has a 5 year warranty so if you destroy it like I did, you just a get a new and better one as a replacement. While 16 inch is great, how often do you buy 50 cabs? Especially now. The foodsaver turkey bag (the only foodsaver bags I use) works fine for the handful of 50 cabs I have. As long as you are careful, a stronger machine is fine, but for newbies, it may do more harm then good. Every single box I've done is with foodsaver and it has never let me down.

I use 4mil bags and have never had a problem. Unless they are in an area getting smacked around, you should be fine. % of nylon used for the bag is what is the key.  You need a combo of both thickness and high use of nylon.

I do mention in the video about heat stress. I've never seen that come up in my many chats, so I thought it was important to discuss. And yes, acclimatization is key as I note in the video. It is why I recommend anywhere from 30 to a year of humidor time before sealing up. Doing that plus a cheap humidor will maximize long term success.

[Well Armed]

Good points on the machine. The MEATER simply has a wider capacity for bigger bags, a sealing strip that gives an exceptionally even and smooth seal on 5+ mil bags (which you can also adjust the sealing heat time), and also allows for a tremendously fine touch with the pulse control. 

I used a foodsaver for a long time before replacing it with a more capable unit. I use it for a lot of food as well. My frustration with the foodsaver timing out of the seal strip gets too hot drove me bananas. 

[kyee]

I've been vacuum sealing my boxes for many years, and like Monterey, I use a Foodsaver machine with good results. For the extra large cabs and specialty sized boxes, I get those extra large bags too, and do a double seal just to be on the safe side.  

[Chitmo]

This sounds like a lot of work, I think I’m just gonna smoke mine. 😉 

[kyee]

10 hours ago, Chitmo said:

This sounds like a lot of work, I think I’m just gonna smoke mine. 😉 

And that's fine too. I smoke lots of freshies - QdO 50's and PSD 5 & 6 I'm finding I like them really fresh. But like a finely aged wine, aging cigars can bring out more complex flavors when done right. Not always, but more often than not, for me at least.  your mileage may vary.

[BrightonCorgi]

I am a proponent of vacuum sealing cigars. I also like to vacuum seal prosciutto, jamon, and whole blocks of cheese. A more commercial style unit I have is my favorite kitchen device.

Weston® Pro-2600 Vacuum Sealer

[Corylax18]

On 10/4/2024 at 8:28 AM, Well Armed said:

3) 16” wide bags… in a roll. With a 16” roll, you can easily fit a cab of double coronas. And the roll allows you to make the bag as long as you need. 

What brand of 16" bags do you use? I have had really good luck with "Out of Air" bags, but the widest bags the make are 12". I have some larger cabs that just dont fit in the 12" wide bags. 

[Well Armed]

1 hour ago, Corylax18 said:

What brand of 16" bags do you use?

Sezons Diamond Bags, and Stash Proof - both available on Amazon. Tank tough. Get the rolls. 

[wjs]

On 10/16/2024 at 10:25 AM, BrightonCorgi said:

I am a proponent of vacuum sealing cigars. I also like to vacuum seal prosciutto, jamon, and whole blocks of cheese. A more commercial style unit I have is my favorite kitchen device.

Weston® Pro-2600 Vacuum Sealer

I bought/rec'd this very same unit for Fathers Day. Love it. Just ordered a Stash Proof roll and will be sealing a few things shortly.

[Monterey]

On 10/15/2024 at 4:05 PM, kyee said:

I've been vacuum sealing my boxes for many years, and like Monterey, I use a Foodsaver machine with good results. For the extra large cabs and specialty sized boxes, I get those extra large bags too, and do a double seal just to be on the safe side.  

Kyee, you were ahead of me in this game and I followed your posts in the past. You are for sure a credit to the vacuum sealing community, along with the gipper. Large bag for sure for the rare 50 cab. Buying an expensive machine to accommodate a small amount of sealing you do is crazy to me, it does more harm then good. To each their own.

On 10/16/2024 at 7:23 AM, Chitmo said:

This sounds like a lot of work, I think I’m just gonna smoke mine. 😉 

I get it. 10 minutes per bag. The skill to put a box in a bag and hit 2 buttons to massively extend the life of your cigars and extend your investment and enjoyment. Tough stuff. Not a skill that all can master!

[Gubbins]

Noob Question, but what is the theory behind vacuum sealing, and how important is it? I assume it's to stop the oils/aromas being lost over time, and keep maximum flavour for the long term.

At what point does this become worth doing time wise? I assume that if you are only aging cigars for 5-10 years or so then its not as necessary?

Thanks.

[Monterey]

13 hours ago, Gubbins said:

Noob Question, but what is the theory behind vacuum sealing, and how important is it? I assume it's to stop the oils/aromas being lost over time, and keep maximum flavour for the long term.

At what point does this become worth doing time wise? I assume that if you are only aging cigars for 5-10 years or so then its not as necessary?

Thanks.

In layman terms, it is to stop oxygen from ruining your cigars. Oxygen is very corrosive. Your assumption is correct.

As for timing, personal tastes. Anything you plan to not get to over 5 years I vacuum seal. Anything under, there is no point. A vacuumed 7 year box vs a 7 year old box just in the humidor will taste quite different. In my experience, it will be less flavorful then the vacuum box.

Years ago there was a person who thought vacuum sealing was stupid and we went back and forth. Then he did a 180 and vacuumed sealed a huge amount of boxes for 5 years. He got a large group of people to join in on his experiment. He left some boxes open to compare against. Farkham (or something like that) is his name here. He hasn't logged in in years the last time I checked. Anyhow, he is doing some large scale comparison with these people. They are going to note the flavor change of sealing vs non-sealing. If you search, you can find his posts and what boxes he sealed up. He did quite the write up. I am interested in what his team comes up with, though I wish he did a longer period then 5 years. I think it has been 3 years, so hopefully he returns in 2 years with his results.

 

[vinnyvega]

Do you guys vacuum seal partial boxes? 

I have thought about it but only vacuum seal intact boxes. Not sure why though lol.

[Monterey]

8 hours ago, vinnyvega said:

Do you guys vacuum seal partial boxes? 

I have thought about it but only vacuum seal intact boxes. Not sure why though lol.

You can. I would find something to fill the empty space to reduce the amount of oxygen in the bag, maybe a few cigars from other boxes. You have to be careful though, it will likely be easier to crush the box if you aren't careful. 

[kyee]

On 10/20/2024 at 10:39 PM, vinnyvega said:

Do you guys vacuum seal partial boxes? 

Sometimes I'll open a sealed bag/box to sample a cigar to see how the box is doing.  Then I'll seal it back up.

[Well Armed]

Something I like to do is seal individual tubes and keep them on hand as singles to smoke. Just saw a 2004 Siglo VI in my key drawer and thought, "hey little fella, I forgot about you!"

[wjs]

If removing the oxygen before sealing is the goal, would there be any reason not to sparge the box & bag with an inert gas (argon, nitrogen) before sealing? We do this with head space in tanks before bottling (wine) to prevent oxidation, seems like it could be another step in this process. Apologies if this is covered in the video, I haven't been able to finish it.

[Domsday]

 Very interesting, thanks for putting this together @Monterey