Age old question, but would like opinions

[Thomasdenaro]

i like to keep my desktop with singles at 20 degrees Celsius and 65% RH but for my wineador with my boxes i keep it at 16 degrees Celsius and 62% RH

[stunod]

68 is what I like for smoking .  My aging humidor is around 65. It's not a perfect science and it's all personal preference. 

[CaptainQuintero]

13 hours ago, itstricky said:

 

Freezing is something that has been generally agreed upon as harmless but to the beetles/larvae?
I've read about it, but am new enough to worry that I'm damaging sticks...could you explore this for me?


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I simply double bag a box in ziplock bags, sucking most of the air out with a straw then 4 days into the freezer then 3 days in the refrigerator then unwrap and back into the humidor.

Some say it isn't necessary any more because Cuba freezes their stock. But Cuba also supposedly checks all their cigars for quality of construction and draw. So i freeze simply for piece of mind and so I don't really have to bother about temp with my storage.

[itstricky]

I simply double bag a box in ziplock bags, sucking most of the air out with a straw then 4 days into the freezer then 3 days in the refrigerator then unwrap and back into the humidor.

Some say it isn't necessary any more because Cuba freezes their stock. But Cuba also supposedly checks all their cigars for quality of construction and draw. So i freeze simply for piece of mind and so I don't really have to bother about temp with my storage.

Great, thanks...so after all this time I learn why we care about temperature, it's only because of possible beetle issues, that's it??

Thx for the feedback and suggestions everyone! Great folks here on FOH.

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[CaptainQuintero]

Yes and no (Prepare yourself for my bar-level amateur science) temperature and humidity go hand in hand so they are inextricably linked. Roughly speaking the temperature of the air determines how much water content can be held by it. 

r/h is relative humidity= how much water vapour is in the air relative to the temperature

That being said, if your humidor is airtight and as long as you don't live in the desert/Arctic/rain forest I'd say you can reasonably discount temperature worries (Don't hit me piggy!) But it depends on your set up and how you want to run things.

I generally see things as extreme temperature (+70°f) means possible beetles and extreme humidity (+70%) means possible mould. So freezing removes the problem of potential beetles now you just need to control humidity so you don't get mould. After that any changes are down to how you like your cigars to taste (how low you want to go with humidity)

You can micromanage everything; temperature and humidity with an active system that adds or removes both temperature and humidity (This isn't just turning on your wine cooler, these add water to your system so you need to add another system to remove this).

Or you can (like I prefer) take a more passive approach. Freeze your stock and control humidity with beads in something air tight. Then forget. (Once sealed and set up/equilibrium reached with the contents), there is only a certain amount of water vapour inside the humidor, if temp drops or raises, water vapour can't escape or get in and the contents+beads are a buffer for when you open it to get your cigars.

Or something in between, it's however you prefer to do things.

Unless you are spending 3 digit figures on lab-quality data loggers and hygrometers etc then any off the shelf hygrometers has a range of error from about 3-5% so really you don't actually know what your humidor conditions are.

I'm fine with the relaxed approach because the only other logical option in my eyes is to have a humidor that can add and remove temperature and humidity automatically, and have the instruments to actually measure these factors. I personally don't find that option meets with my price/time/energy/stress commitments so I do it how I do it and it works for me; my cigars smoke well/have no burn issues and seem to be stored at around 62/66 %rh 

You just need to figure out what you're prepared to put into your storage (time/money/energy) and find what works for you

See, no easy answers here! People will see things completely different to me and everyone has their own way of doing things.

There is a hell of a lot of science behind it and there are people here with far, far more knowledge on the subject in detail. They will be along to add/correct stuff soon

But yes for me, temp = beetles and humidity = mould. Going into greater detail, temperature directly effects humidity it's just up to you how much detail you want go into and how much small fluctuations bother you

[JohnS]

On 05/04/2017 at 1:27 AM, Fuzz said:

Whatever RH and temp @JohnS keeps his humi at!

What can I say? My set-up at home is so simple but yeah...it works!