Safe temp range for humidor

[Themis]

Hi all. I just had a question in regards to the min temp you can store cigars? I've heard to cold stops the aging process, or at least really slows it down. Obviously too hot is beetles hatching territory, and warm cigars are always squishy which I hate. Anyways I keep my humidors I the basement where temp ranges from 63-68F. I have no problem with that my question is in regards to a wine cooler. I'm sick of having to go to the basement all the time lol and I need more box storage, and I'd like to keep it in my room where it is roughly 75 f. Too high for my cigars. So anyways what is the best temp range for cigars storage?

[TexAg]

Mine is anywhere from 68-75. Anywhere in that range is typically safe for cigars

[Jason55555]

Hahahahahah your going to get so many answers lol here is what I've learned so far......

70F - 70%RH - My tobacconist say for large amounts of cigar this is perfect for the oils in the cigar

70F - 64-66%RH - What most people keep there Cuban cigars at for a nice even burn a little drier by 5% but makes a huge differance when smoking.

70F - 63%RH - Ajay from HavaHavana, La Casa Del Habano London, this is the temp range that he ages his cigars at and he's well known for aging cigar boxes.

I've stored cigars in my room too where the temp reaches 75F and I keep RH at 65-68% only problem that you will run into for sure at such high temps is mold more then tobac beatles. At 75F you run the risk of harboring white mold, high temp mixed with med-high RH% = mold.

Good Luck

[CaptainQuintero]

Talking to retailers around the UK general consensus is that at 70f and 75f they have had outbreaks of beetles. After going down to 65f they haven't had one outbreak since.

[jacktarnold]

Hahahahahah your going to get so many answers lol here is what I've learned so far......

70F - 70%RH - My tobacconist say for large amounts of cigar this is perfect for the oils in the cigar

70F - 64-66%RH - What most people keep there Cuban cigars at for a nice even burn a little drier by 5% but makes a huge differance when smoking.

70F - 63%RH - Ajay from HavaHavana, La Casa Del Habano London, this is the temp range that he ages his cigars at and he's well known for aging cigar boxes.

I've stored cigars in my room too where the temp reaches 75F and I keep RH at 65-68% only problem that you will run into for sure at such high temps is mold more then tobac beatles. At 75F you run the risk of harboring white mold, high temp mixed with med-high RH% = mold.

Good Luck

+1

[Themis]

Hmm ok so then 57F is definitely too cold lol. There's a wine cooler I can get for a good price but that's too cold. Well thanks for your responses boys.

[CanadianKodiak]

I'm relatively new to the hobby but everything I've read, including the inserts that come with the cigars, says store them at 16-18 degrees celsius and between 65-70%RH. mine are at 17 and 70 and they seem to be smoking perfectly.

[dvickery]

biggest problem(i can see)with questions like this...is the accuracy of the measuring devices.

if your thermometer & hygrometer have not been calibrated in the last 30 days...no matter how much you paid for it...it is not accurate.

at work(something i used to do)if a measuring device has not been calibrated in the last 30 days...it is not to be used for sales measurement.at one time 90 days was good enough...about 6 or 7 years ago this was changed to 30 days.

sooooo...when i got my humidor...it has a built in temp humidity monitoring device...then i put in the humi 3 small temp humidity monitors i already had...humi=62% rh...2 hand held monitors=64% rh and the third handheld read 67% rh.

every time i read one of these threads...this thought comes to mind.

derrek

[CaptainQuintero]

Yep, I calibrate my stuff once a year and run 4 hygrometers in my fridge so I can take an average. Has worked great so far.

[ramon_cojones]

mine is around 75 deg and 61-62%, anything over 63 tastes too wet to me

[Orion21]

If you don't freeze your cigars I would be worried to be above 65F. The fact is Cuba has not exterminated tobacco beetles and you can't depend on these stories of them freezing their stock seriously. I keep my humidor at 63F and 63% Rh to be safe and have been very happy with the results.

[PigFish]

Hygrometers and hygrometer errors are not linear. If you examine precision equipment and published errors, you typically find higher errors at the ends of their published ranges. I bring this up just to exemplify the fact that hygrometer errors are not linear. Hygrometer errors are also generally discussed at a specific temperature, what we refer to as an isotherm. If then your hygrometer reads 70/70 and has XX error. This means that it only has the XX error at 70/70, not 70/68 nor 68/70. (Numbers are for example use only!)

Smoking then determines how you should store your cigars (MHO).

High temperatures don't damage cigars, however it is arguable about the growth of bots. I am not qualified to talk on that so I won't. I have heard stories of beetles being hatched in the 60's so I cannot comment about their activities at various temps, but tend to try to keep my cigars less than 75 degrees F.

There are also sorption isotherms for tobacco. This means that tobacco experiences its individual hysteresis separate from your beads, your wood and your boxes in your humidor. This should be intuitive.

My experience is that hysteresis for tobacco is greater at lower temperatures. Meaning, in the real world, lower temperature tobacco requires dryer conditions for my smoking preference. Water activity equipment is expensive and I cannot rationalize the expense for my cigar hobby, so I cannot prove the claim. I may be totally wrong, but the empirical evidence leads me to this conclusion and therefore I act on it.

Temperature and humidity, and ultimately the water activity, or the actual water in the cigar change with both a change in humidity and temperature. Remember, a RH number at a given temperature is only an equilibrium guide to conditioning cigars. This in and of itself does not tell you the water in your cigars. It only leads you to a point that you believe the cigar will smoke to your taste.

Lastly I say... is it 65 DF in Cuba? Nope! Do they refrigerate their cigars when they store them? Nope! Does the cigar care if it is refrigerated? Nope! Does it much matter, when talking tobacco and not bots? Nope!

To conclude, when one studies the storage of packaged food items, it is the control of water that it important to control decay, mold and spoilage. Of course they use preservatives, but the preservatives are not in the form of pesticides. They often control the water content of the finished product. Your packaged food may be in the mini-mart store for months before you buy it. And when the attendent goes home and turns the AC off the package may get rather warm and it does not spoil. There is no direct correlation, because these are products made often in aseptic equipment, but the correlation to preservation and water content is real and as you know, a lot of dry food items need no refrigeration.

Cheers. -Piggy

[Themis]

biggest problem(i can see)with questions like this...is the accuracy of the measuring devices.

if your thermometer & hygrometer have not been calibrated in the last 30 days...no matter how much you paid for it...it is not accurate.

at work(something i used to do)if a measuring device has not been calibrated in the last 30 days...it is not to be used for sales measurement.at one time 90 days was good enough...about 6 or 7 years ago this was changed to 30 days.

sooooo...when i got my humidor...it has a built in temp humidity monitoring device...then i put in the humi 3 small temp humidity monitors i already had...humi=62% rh...2 hand held monitors=64% rh and the third handheld read 67% rh.

every time i read one of these threads...this thought comes to mind.

derrek

My question has nothing to do with my instruments. It's a simple question of what a good temperature to keep humidors at. I want to purchase a wine cooler and convert it, a lot of wine coolers only go up to 57 F. So all I want to know is the lowest temp you can go? I do appreciate your concern with accuracy of instruments though. I always read librate my hygrometers every 2 months or so. But most importantly I go. Y how my cigars feel. Even sometimes my hygrometers read 63 percent and I feel them and they are to soft when pinched. If that's the case I'll dry box the cigars before I smoke them. But anyways that's just a matter of preference. Like I said my question has nothing to do with preference but fact. What is the min temperature you should store cigars at?

[Themis]

Hygrometers and hygrometer errors are not linear. If you examine precision equipment and published errors, you typically find higher errors at the ends of their published ranges. I bring this up just to exemplify the fact that hygrometer errors are not linear. Hygrometer errors are also generally discussed at a specific temperature, what we refer to as an isotherm. If then your hygrometer reads 70/70 and has XX error. This means that it only has the XX error at 70/70, not 70/68 nor 68/70. (Numbers are for example use only!)

Smoking then determines how you should store your cigars (MHO).

High temperatures don't damage cigars, however it is arguable about the growth of bots. I am not qualified to talk on that so I won't. I have heard stories of beetles being hatched in the 60's so I cannot comment about their activities at various temps, but tend to try to keep my cigars less than 75 degrees F.

There are also sorption isotherms for tobacco. This means that tobacco experiences its individual hysteresis separate from your beads, your wood and your boxes in your humidor. This should be intuitive.

My experience is that hysteresis for tobacco is greater at lower temperatures. Meaning, in the real world, lower temperature tobacco requires dryer conditions for my smoking preference. Water activity equipment is expensive and I cannot rationalize the expense for my cigar hobby, so I cannot prove the claim. I may be totally wrong, but the empirical evidence leads me to this conclusion and therefore I act on it.

Temperature and humidity, and ultimately the water activity, or the actual water in the cigar change with both a change in humidity and temperature. Remember, a RH number at a given temperature is only an equilibrium guide to conditioning cigars. This in and of itself does not tell you the water in your cigars. It only leads you to a point that you believe the cigar will smoke to your taste.

Lastly I say... is it 65 DF in Cuba? Nope! Do they refrigerate their cigars when they store them? Nope! Does the cigar care if it is refrigerated? Nope! Does it much matter, when talking tobacco and not bots? Nope!

To conclude, when one studies the storage of packaged food items, it is the control of water that it important to control decay, mold and spoilage. Of course they use preservatives, but the preservatives are not in the form of pesticides. They often control the water content of the finished product. Your packaged food may be in the mini-mart store for months before you buy it. And when the attendent goes home and turns the AC off the package may get rather warm and it does not spoil. There is no direct correlation, because these are products made often in aseptic equipment, but the correlation to preservation and water content is real and as you know, a lot of dry food items need no refrigeration.

Cheers. -Piggy

Piggy I love your answers. My question toto you now is, what temperature do you store your cigars at? And at too low a temperature is it possible to stop the "aging" so to speak.

[PigFish]

My question has nothing to do with my instruments. It's a simple question of what a good temperature to keep humidors at. I want to purchase a wine cooler and convert it, a lot of wine coolers only go up to 57 F. So all I want to know is the lowest temp you can go? I do appreciate your concern with accuracy of instruments though. I always read librate my hygrometers every 2 months or so. But most importantly I go. Y how my cigars feel. Even sometimes my hygrometers read 63 percent and I feel them and they are to soft when pinched. If that's the case I'll dry box the cigars before I smoke them. But anyways that's just a matter of preference. Like I said my question has nothing to do with preference but fact. What is the min temperature you should store cigars at?

First mate... while it might not be important to you, the answer is very relevant! I am not saying that I agree with it, but I am saying that we are all having a conversation. In order that we have that conversation we need to speak a language that we all understand. We can use the dictionary to determine what the words mean. The dictionary then, is an instrument used to calibrate conversation.

I believe that the poster is on to something and you should listen here even if what is said is not exactly clear.

If my instrument says 65 and it is correct, and your instrument says 70 where mine would report 65 then we are not exactly talking the same language. That, I think is what the poster was meaning to say.

To answer you directly I don't believe in refrigerating cigars. Yet, I do refrigerate them! Why? Because I live in an area where it could be 100 in the day and 55 at night. I cannot afford the energy to keep my home at 70 DF, day in and day out!

As I said temperature and humidity control the actual water content in your cigars. Therefore any change in either changes the water content. That is what is important to me, consistent water content.

I set my temperature controlled humidors at 70 DF. If my home is really hot and the humidors run all the time, I raise the temperature so that they are not always drying the air inside. Everything depends on the ambient and a compromise of energy use to contrast the ambient.

Sorry, had to edit. I said 70 RH above and the it should be 70 DF.

Best, Piggy

Edited June 27, 2012 by PigFish

[rfenst]

How does one calibrate a thermometer?

[sw15825]

How does one calibrate a thermometer?

Do you mean to calibrate a Hydrometer?

[sw15825]

I used to be more concerned with lower temps/ humidity, but have two seachest coolers as my main storage methods. I live in area that is cold in winter and fairly hot summer. I vary between 65F and 65% in winter and up to 75F and 67% summer. I have no problems at all. If it smokes well to your liking It should not matter. I think the lower temp/humidity is maybe more ideal for longer term aging, from what I have read. I smoke my cigars in 3 to 10 year old range, mostly and this has worked great for me.

[rfenst]

Do you mean to calibrate a Hydrometer?

No, a thermometer...

[dvickery]

How does one calibrate a thermometer?

put it a mixture of ice and water...move the scale so it reads 0 degrees.

put it in boiling water...move the scale so it reads 100 degrees.

now that you have a calibrated thermometer...set your handheld thermometer/hygrometer to match.

derrek.

[nikesupremedunk]

what worries me is that my wineador fan is on consistently in the summer because my room gets very hot. when the fan is on the RH drops to about 52-55% but when it's not on then goes back up to about 64% which is what I want. should i be worried about this at all? maybe i should get a tupperware and store that in the wine cooler to keep a more consistent RH.

[brazoseagle]

what worries me is that my wineador fan is on consistently in the summer because my room gets very hot. when the fan is on the RH drops to about 52-55% but when it's not on then goes back up to about 64% which is what I want. should i be worried about this at all? maybe i should get a tupperware and store that in the wine cooler to keep a more consistent RH.

That is one of the MANY reasons why I use compressor units instead of thermo electric units.

[CaptainQuintero]

That is one of the MANY reasons why I use compressor units instead of thermo electric units.

What turned out to be the cause of the pools of water in them a few weeks back?

[brazoseagle]

clogged up drain due to all of the new work I was doing on it, all is fixed and improved now. That unit is sitting in my garage. I built a new one. 21 square feet full size unit.

[mk05]

if you smoke your purchases within a week of receiving, you dont have to worry about pesky storage.

70/70 for long term storage, then move to drybox at room temp/55rh for a month or so.