Question on lower RH

[gomeitsmybday]

Good morning fellow inmates!!

Okay so around 6 months ago, I was still keeping my cigars at about 65% and was still generally having the occasional burn issue and even harshness in my cigars.

Since then, I created a new system that has been working really well. In my large coolidors, I've been keeping my NCs at about 68% and CCs at 66-67% for the longer term aging. For cigars I'm currently smoking, I have smaller plastic air tight tubs that I keep the cigars in and use 48% bovedas. I know 48% sounds really low, but I've found with using a hygrometer, the 48% bags actually bring the humidity in these tubs up to about 55-58%. Since doing this, my results have been nothing short of *spectacular*. NCs and CCs alike, taste wonderful every time and never a burn issue unless due to the cigar's fault themselves.

My question is, at what point would cigara begin to lose their oils/flavor and how long would it take for this to happen? Most of the cigars in these lower Rh tubs get smoked pretty soon, but I just want to make sure the ones that may spend a few months (if not occasionally more) will not begin to deteriorate/lose their oils.

Many thanks in advance for any input!

[AdamJoshua]

I've always found 62 to be my sweet spot. Lately I've noticed the sticks on my "awesome" cabinet have been burning a bit off, occasional relights, and they tend to get tannic toward the end (that bigger shitty taste), I bought a couple of the Goove bluetooth sensors and turns out my cabinet electronics were off by a full 10% so my cigars were actually at about 70%, besides pissing me off it answered the question of my cigars, I've taken the water out of the canisters and on very dry days in FL you know once a month, I leave the door to the cabinet open so things dry out.

It's a losing battle at this point because the entire cabinet is seasoned to 70%, I might have to get a **** load of beads or something to put in there to suck up a bunch of the humidity and get the actual cabinet wood dried out a bit.

[Buckeye Jack]

I have the Govee's as well.....it's good information to kind of keep in the back of my mind. I'll check it on my phone right before I open the door and grab a stick....I'll check it when I sit down (1-2 minutes later) to see what it dropped to and then I'll check periodically while I'm enjoying the cigar just see how fast it recovers.

On full recovery, I'm sitting at about 62%. It doesn't take too long to recover either...1-2 hours.....

Can't really speak on the RH that they start losing flavor....I can say that I have definitely tried dried out cigars and they were not good (to me). Couldn't tell you what RH that actually is.....but if I were to guess I would say they were stored for awhile in the 40's.....but thats really a guess.

[markem]

What you are doing, Michael, is called "dry boxing" where you put your cigars into a lower RH container to reduce the RH before smoking.

Lower RH will not affect the oils or flavor. I age a lot of my very rare sticks at 58-60% and know people who have aged cigars at 50% for decades without an issue.

I have some sticks that seem wet to me, so I put them into an empty cab before smoking. I've also forgotten them in there and found them weeks later with no ill effect.

The key, as always, is getting them to be at a stable RH for storage and then have a way to get them to the RH that works best for you for smoking. You could try a higher RH for longer period of time (maybe 55%) so that the cigars don't dry too fast and crack, but if that isn't happening, and you like the results, I'd leave it alone for now.

[icehog3]

You've got some good advice above, Michael. I'm like Adam and keep my cabinet around 61-62%. My cigars age well, and they smoke well so I really don't need to drybox anything.

[Havanaaddict]

This

Originally Posted by icehog3

You've got some good advice above, Michael. I'm like Adam and keep my cabinet around 61-62%. My cigars age well, and they smoke well so I really don't need to drybox anything.

[The camaro show]

Originally Posted by icehog3

You've got some good advice above, Michael. I'm like Adam and keep my cabinet around 61-62%. My cigars age well, and they smoke well so I really don't need to drybox anything.

I’d love to see a pic of your cabinet Tom That sucker has to be massive lol

[Weelok]

Originally Posted by The camaro show

I’d love to see a pic of your cabinet Tom That sucker has to be massive lol

That’s what she said.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by The camaro show

I’d love to see a pic of your cabinet Tom That sucker has to be massive lol

Originally Posted by Weelok

That’s what she said.

She also said "we need to empty that thing..."

[markem]

Originally Posted by icehog3

She also said "we need to empty that thing..."

and you said, "it may take a while".

[gomeitsmybday]

Yeah Tom I totally agree, thanks everyone for each of your input, if it wasn't for the advice of some of you longer term inmates, I'd hate to think what state my cigars would be in today!

@ Adam and Jack I already use SensorPush brand remote hygrometers in the coolidors but I'll have to check out the Govee as well!

@ markem thanks for clearing that up, yeah at the moment I'm totally happy with my results...I have read that lower Rh slows the aging process but I'm also kind of eager to get some decent age on some of my cigars so I think I'll be happy with 65-68 rh in the coolidors for now

[icehog3]

Just ordered the Govee based on the recommendations here and elsewhere.

[Weelok]

In my experience bad flavor is often related to too hot on the burn and this is both for dry or wet cigars. Too wet and you have to draw hard to get smoke which super heats the cigar. Too dry and the cigars flames on too easily.

As for aging, I generally think temperature is the larger issue so cold will pseudo refrigerate the cigar and stop aging. Heat is similar to a curing barn so your aging the cigar. I used to store everything at 62 degrees and they didn’t age. My refrigeration unit broke so now they are around 72 degrees and you can smell more out gassing and ammonia.

My experience anyway.

[stearns]