Uneven burn issues in San Francisco

[montecristo#2]

Interesting, I do not recall having any issues myself unless I tried to smoke at Ocean Beach. I used to live on 28th and Judah. While the humidity is high outside, I never seemed to have an issue keeping my humidor in the 65-68% range.

I do know that I hardly ever recharged my beads. lol

What is the humidity in your humidor? Are you using a calibrated digital hygrometer or an analog one? Would be interesting to see the humidity inside your humidor.

Have you tried dry boxing your cigars for a day or two before smoking? I would try a dry box or cab to see if that helps.

I am also a pretty fast smoker and do not mind touching up my cigars, so maybe I just never noticed it.

Head over to the New Inmate Processing Area and post up an introduction. That way people can get to know you a little better. There are 10-20 guys all over the Bay Area that get together quite frequently.

Good luck!

[4theLoveofCedar]

Montecristo #2 - thanks for the info. If you're not having any issues, it must be something I'm doing, and likely has to do with the humidor, as I have reason to believe my cigars were overhumidified (some of them seemed a little too spongy). Hopefully drying out the beads will help - I don't think I will have to do this regularly but I was keeping them more than 2/3 clear and in some cases, almost all clear, and needed to dry them out a bit initially to remove some of that humidity (hair dryer works perfectly for this, BTW). Time will tell. I'm hoping in a couple more weeks the cigars will have stabilized at the lower humidity. I'm only guessing that this was the problem as I never bought a hygrometer. I do have one on the way from Amazon now, so it'll be interesting to see what it reads.

It could also just be the puffing rate, as I tend to smoke slowly.

I just posted an intro in the New Members area and am looking forward to meeting some of you. Good to know there's a local crew.

[montecristo#2]

Originally Posted by 4theLoveofCedar

Montecristo #2 - thanks for the info. If you're not having any issues, it must be something I'm doing, and likely has to do with the humidor, as I have reason to believe my cigars were overhumidified (some of them seemed a little too spongy). Hopefully drying out the beads will help - I don't think I will have to do this regularly but I was keeping them more than 2/3 clear and in some cases, almost all clear, and needed to dry them out a bit initially to remove some of that humidity (hair dryer works perfectly for this, BTW). Time will tell. I'm hoping in a couple more weeks the cigars will have stabilized at the lower humidity. I'm only guessing that this was the problem as I never bought a hygrometer. I do have one on the way from Amazon now, so it'll be interesting to see what it reads.

It could also just be the puffing rate, as I tend to smoke slowly.

I just posted an intro in the New Members area and am looking forward to meeting some of you. Good to know there's a local crew.

It has been a couple of years since I lived in the city, so my memory could be playing tricks on me.

I would do a couple of things.

1. Make sure you calibrate your hygrometer once it arrives. If you bought an analog, return it and buy a digital.

2. Check the humidity inside your humidor and in your room.

3. If the room is in the 50's and you think your cigars are over humidified (humidor is reading too high), just remove the beads from your humidor for a couple of days and see what the humidity reads.

4. If it reads in range, wait a couple of days and try a cigar to see if that improves the burn.

When I lived in the city, I almost never added water to my beads. They were 80% dry. I am now in the East Bay, pretty close to the water. My house is around 45% and I store my cigars at 63-65%. I literally have not added water to my beads in over a year (it has probably been two years).

[4theLoveofCedar]

Good to know. I suspect I will not be adding any water to mine for a long time either. And I'm going to try to keep them around 80% dry as you do. I think that should help.

The hygrometer is got is digital. Will be interesting to see what the humidor/room readings are like. The hygrometer has a max/min function so I'll find out the range of humidity in my place.