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http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620

Give that a read, should answer all your questions.

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welcome to the site. whereabouts are you from in NC?

Head over to the "inmate processing area" and hit up the sampler thread for some new smokes.

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As for cigars, I would suggest: any Don Pepin Garcia, 601 blue, Arturo Fuente 858, AVO maduros, Oliva V. Thats just a start. There are way to many to list at once. I am sure this list will grow and grow.

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mr orge, you have listed many of my faves...good people smoke alike.

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Out of curiosity just what is that band and what is the stick?Is it a good stick?

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It's a Partagas 155th Anniversary Salomones from 2000, they only came in the 155th humidors, of which only 155 were made, each containing 155 cigars of 4 different vitolas.


--
Addendum: Just looked up the numbers - there were 50 salomones per humidor, so 7750 Partagas 155th salomones released.

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in other words, send it to me.

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"Also, I need a cutter ....."
My suggestion is to buy a packet of single edged blades in plastic dispenser from Lowes or Home Depot. Very cheap and give you a perfect cut each time. Directions: just make a slit across the top of the cigar, not very deep. Test that you can suck air through the cigar and if you can, toast and light the cigar as usual. The biggest advantage for me is that I dont get any stray bits of tobacco, which I hate. I think someone has made a similiar plastic product which does the same thing as a razor blade. As an aside, I own every punch or cutter known to man and the razor blade works the best for me.
Ylo2na

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I'm in southern pines and next year i will be at NCSU.

And thanks for the suggestions

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I used these for awhile until I was given a xikar as a gift. The xikar is undoubtedly safer but the single edge blade does do a beautiful job. I've even used a double edged razor blade (I shave with a DE) in a pinch but that takes a steady hand.

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What is the reason that some cigars have cedar wrappings on them? Does this serve a purpose or is it just stylistic?

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It could be for a few reasons really.

Some like the way it looks so it could be to make it more presentable.

Another reason could be it gives the stick a little protection.

Also it could also be so that the stick can marry some of the flavor/smell of the cedar.

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Cool. Thanks. Looking forward to smoking a My Father Cedros!

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it looks pretty and gives a slight cedar taste to the smoke.

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Not many people realize that in order to get the full benefit you need to leave the cedar on while smoking.

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Please let the noobs off the hook and tell them you are joking. ;)

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same here

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thats pretty funny

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My bad you're right. This isn't an appropriate thread for a joke like that. But I couldn't help myself. Every time I look at the R&J (non CC) cedros in my humi a picture flashes through my brain of lighting one with the cedar still on it. Not because I think it's a good idea but because I have an infantile mind. :)

The original question does bring another question to mind though. I wonder if those cedar wrappers would make good spills for lighting the cigars?

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they do

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Last summer I was pretty "lit" at a friend's home on his pitch black deck herfing with a few of the boys. He handed me a cigar, I tried to light it half a dozen times before I said that I couldn't get any kind of draw, the wrapper must be bad. Handed it to him, he lit up his flashlight and sure enough, showed me it was a Romeo y Julieta.....En Cedros. :D

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Cute

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Seems logical. The reason I ask is because I haven't really tasted that before. Maybe with some age, the cigars might take on that slight taste.

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Good thing he didn't hand you a Romeo No. 2...


...or a hotdog.

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I have smoked 30/40 Hemingways by Fuente. What in his line would be next to these at a little less price?

J.W.

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Nothing is going to be a direct match for the profile of the Hemingway line, and some of them are more unique than others due to their shapes (the Work of Art for example), but the 8-5-8 has some similar flavors at a slightly lower price.

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Tat Reserva 7th
Posted via Mobile Device

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Random witty response.
Posted via Osmosis

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Oh no, the icehog bot is bugging out again--someone needs to restart it.

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If this question has been asked in here I apologize in advance. Been buying some five packs and, due to the design of my humidor combined with its current contents, I believe I'd be able to make some more room if I stood them on end rather than laying them flat like I do now. Haven't done this yet as I don't know how this would affect the cigars (if at all). Question is, would there be any harm in standing them on end or should I leave them lying flat as they are now? Thanks for all your help.

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In and of itself, standing them on end won't hurt them.
However, it might be more difficult to find things. And they might get damaged should they topple.
Posted via Mobile Device

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Barring any accidents... aside from possibly making identification difficult and running the likelihood of chipping up the feet of uncelloed cigars if you move them around much, nah, it won't hurt anything.

I don't personally care much for vertical storage of loose cigars because I find it clumsy, pull one or two out, the whole forest falls over. The exception in my case is that I do store sealed mazos (the cellophane wrapped bricks of 20-25 cigars) whichever way they fit better; on their side or on their foot, with longer cigars typically ending up on their side.

A jar humidor would allow you to store them vertically without the "forest falling over" (and possibly damaging cigars in the process) when you remove a cigar, but, all the other issues still remain.

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I store bundles vertically. Singles are a bit tougher like everyone said, with the likelihood of damage.

It shouldn't make them any less smokable than you horizontal cigars since they are all in the same, controlled environment.

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Thanks for the responses! Just to clarify, that the cigars themselves are cellophane wrapped together in bricks of five, as well as individually wrapped inside each brick. My plan was to store the five packs together, then when the five pack was open to distribute the other four elsewhere into the humidor.

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That sounds like a grand idea. :tu

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Hey guys, got a question I'm sure has been covered before but if you would not mind answering it again for me that would be greatly appreciated.

Humador set up.

So I bought me a humador(50 count). Am in the process of setting it up by spraying the inside of it down with the distilled water. Once every 12 hours. This has been going on for 3 days now. i am noticing that the humador is hard as hell to open up now. I have to really pull on the top to get it opened up. Now I understand that this is simply the wood expanding to take in the water and that is fine. Today I woke up and went to check it to spray it down again but I did not as the humidity in there was at 75.

So here is the question.


Am I correct in doing the following:

I have not sprayed it down today due to the high humidity factor I found this morning. I am thinking maybe I leave the humador open a crack. Let the RH drop a bit and maybe give the wood a little time to breath and let the swelling go down a bit. I'm thinking keep a vigilant eye on it and when I notice the RH drop down to say 60 or 65 (hopefully the swelling has gone down) start the spray process again and bring the RH back up slowly. I think It swelled the way it did because I may have been over spraying the inside of it with water.

If the sticking is not even a problem at all that will eventually fix itself maybe this will not even be necessary, I can just leave the box closed and not add water again till I notice the RH drop to about 70 then see if it stabilizes at that for a couple of days.

I'm not trying to rush the process here I just want to do it right the first time before I go loading it up with cigars.

Thanks ahead of time guys I appreciate it.

Re: Beginner Questions (Ask Them Here!)
 

Spraying the humidor down can be dangerous as you can warp the cedar. Hopefully you are ok in this situation. If I were you, I would go ahead and load the cigars in without humidification until the rh drops into the mid to low 60's. Then add the humidification media of your choice and go from there. I have seasoned most of my humidors in 2-3 days.

The lid should loosen up when the wood drys just a bit.


:2

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How to properly season your humidor. http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620

There is also a sticky on calibrating your hygrometer. http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=619

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Thanks for that link. I read that. However I did so after already having started the process so I just kept on with what I was doing. It just seems that I may have sprayed a bit too much into it the last time i sprayed it. It's nothing to bad It's just that now the lid is a bit tough to open.

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Did you warp the wood near the lid? This might create problems down the line hen it dries back out.

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Looking it over I see no indication that the wood is warped. It just seems to have swelled a bit.

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I seem to be having burn issues with my sticks. 3 out of the last 4 burned irregular, and I'm not sure if it's my humidor or not. I have a Western Caliber III that reads 62% RH and I have 2 Boveda packs (72%) in a 25-50 count humi. The sticks seem to burn on one side and eventually put themselves out. Anyone else have this type of problem?

Help

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It sounds to me like the sticks are too wet.
Have you calibrated/salt-tested the hygrometer? In a small humidor and 2 72% Boveda packs, I would think the hygrometer is way off. I think 72% is a bit on the wet side. That could definitely cause burn problems. Try dry boxing for a couple of days before smoking and see if that helps.

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Has anyone tried the ave maria? :tu:td:sh
According to CI they are absolutely amazing, but I think the marketing guys over there would try to make you believe a dog turd was the best thing ever if they thought you'd buy it.

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According to CI, every stick they sell is amazing, limited, and a secret only known to them.

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:D

I see that I am not the only one that doesn't care for CI. Not everyone will fall for their line of BS.


Cheers,



Mike T.

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Quick question on travel Humi's. I know you are all gonnna say it isnt' gonna last, but at this point I think a 15 cigar travel humi would be plenty for me and I have a couple questions about it.

1) Since there is a "slot" for each cigar, are the capacity numbers for travel humi's usually more realistic?
2) Can I through some beads in a travel humi for relatively long term storage?

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Capacity on travel humidors are exact if you use the trays. Some of us, traveling to large herfs, remove the trays and pack the humidor with cigars in plastic bags.
You can get (or make) tubes with beads that will occupy one of the slots in one of the foam trays.

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A 15ct Cigar Caddy or Xikar will hold 15 cigars. But if they are all large ring gauge cigars it will be difficult to close the top. A small water pillow or Boveda pack will last at least a month in the caddy.

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in my experience be careful with humidity devices in travel humidors, with my 10 count I thought it would be important to use the small included humidity insert (one of the longer fits into one of the cigar slot kinds and the humidity jumped up quickly (about a day) in the air tight container. If it is going to be sealed most of the time I would think a device to get the humidity about where it should be and then remove it, before adding the cigars allowing the cigars to regulate themselves.

imo :2