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I have a hard time choosing the best as the first smoke of the day, I feel like everything after will be a bit of a let down. I don't know if the same principles would apply but when sampling wines they usually give you some sort of bland crackers and maybe some chocolate to help cleans the palate between samples.
Maybe worth a try :sh

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For a morning cigar, I normally choose a milder one, á la "la fontana".
it´s not even that good (but certainly not bad) so the rest would absolutely not be a "letdown".
While i´m at it, I might just ask my first question here:
do I still need a humidor, if the room, where I store my cigars has about 65% humidity and 18-21°C ?

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Not Necessarily. Large Tupperware Containers With Beads Or "1" 65 RH Boveda Pack Work Very Well. 65 RH & 65 Temp. Seem To Work Well For Me.:tu I Don't Think I Would Trust The House You're In To Maintain A Constant RH.

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The same principles apply.

Every factory I visited in Nicaragua had crackers, chocolate, tea and water available for palate cleansing when blending and testing cigars alongside the sodas, gatorade, coffee, wine and beer.

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It seems like the two lighters I use do not work nearly as well in cold weather. Anybody else have that problem or is it just a coincidence?

My JetLites do that. I just hold the lighter in my palm for a minute or so and it fires up fine.
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Always keep my torches in my pocket in the winter because butane "doesn't like" the cold.

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Thanks for the advice guys :tu

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It's a standing joke among my fellow Stumptown herfers that I always have problems with my lighters in the cold weather. My lighters are a little larger and have large butane tanks and they are impacted by the cold... If I remember to put them in my pocket early enough then they light fine, but otherwise it takes a little work :)

They worked great on my vacation in the Bahamas :D

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Hey guys I have two more questions if you fellas could help me out that would be great.

1. I just got a new herf-a-dor 15 count traveldor. I was wondering if I can store cigars in there like I would a normal humidor? My plan is to keep 10 or so cigars in there that I will be smoking that week and then just take the whole traveldor with me outside to smoke. It has a small humidification device in the top so should I just put a few drops of distilled water in that every so often or should I use this humi-care pack that I have?

Also, I have never owned one of these before so I was wondering if you leave two layers of the foam on the bottom or is one enough?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46...4/DSC_0011.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46...4/DSC_0010.jpg


2. I am about to ship a pipe to brother from a different forum and I wanted to include some cigars. I was wondering if they will be okay in a padded envelope? I separated the stem and bowl of the pipe and individually wrapped each in bubble wrap so they won't move around in the padded envelope. Everything fits in nicely I just didn't know if the post is hard on cigars in padded envelopes and they might snap?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46...4/DSC_0008.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46...4/DSC_0007.jpg

I hope I am not asking too many questions.

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1. I do exactly that all the time and often for much longer. I would of course use a water pillow or something other than crappy florists foam puck humidifier in the lid.

2. It will work but I would add a piece of cardboard for stiffness on either side of the cigars. I have had cigars shipped to me like that several times without problems.

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In my opinion, if you intend on storing cigars in a travel humidor for an extended period of time, you should use a brr humidification device than the one that came with it.

I would not shop the cigars on a passed envelope. if you must, cut some corrugated cardboard from a box and slip it on above and below them for extra protection.

I hope this helps.

Mark

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Thanks for the quick responses guys.

With the traveldor, is a water pillow like this Humi-Care one? And if so then where do I put it in the traveldor or does it not matter if it touches the cigars?

With the envelope, my only reasoning behind shipping them in an envelope is because I don't have another box on hand besides really oversized ones. I guess I will try the cardboard trick.

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If your cigars are properly humidified before being placed in the traveldor, under most conditions, they will be fine for weeks, if not months without adding any humidification to the box. If you must use a humidifier in a traveldor like that, keep in mind that the box does not breathe and is airtight, so ideally you want something that can both absorb and release moisture to avoid potential problems, using that credo is begging for mold or over humidification. 2-way Boveda packs or Heartfelt humidity sheets are ideal as they are flat and can slide in vertically or be placed above cigars and not reduce your capacity. Heartfelt and HCM beads would also work, although they might take up some space that could have been used to hold cigars.

As for the padded envelope, I wouldn't. Too much risk of damage. By the time you add in the cost of a DC number for 1st class mail, and taking the extra weight of the pipe into account, you can probably ship it in a priority mail small flat rate box for only a small amount more.

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Tyler, you can get free Priority boxes (Video sized) delivered to your house for free, from USPS.com....I use them for the majority of cigars I send.

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You can also get small Flat Rate($4.95) boxes at the Post Office for free.

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I was thinking of doing that but when I reuse boxes and ship them they almost always end up costing less than $4.95. I guess because I have only been sending out 5 cigars in the newbie trades though so they have been light?

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If you are shipping a first class parcel, yes, it will be less expensive if you use the USPS Ship Manager software to print a label with a reduced cost DC # (0.19 vs 0.75), but you are limited to 13 oz, which, in my experience, when you include the weight of the box, equals a maximum of about 8 cigars give or take.

If you ship priority mail, the minimum variable rate is $5.10 (IIRC) which makes the flat rate boxes a great option, and if you print the label from the USPS website, you get a discount on the price and free DC number.

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Are you sending them Priority, or merely first class?

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Just first class so for three packages today it was $8 total.