What is your preferred rh to smoke a CC?

[DBNInc]

50 minutes ago, La_Tigre said:

Set it and forget it is a great philosophy. This. 
 

I have mine in coolidors with intact boxes in cracked ziploc freezer bags. Coolidors are loaded with 62 boveda and butlers in each one. I’ve been running rock solid 66 to 65 down a year. I find the cigars we buy come in wetter than I prefer and the bovedas are slowly dropping them over a long time. The first one we finally sorted, catalogued and filled has had the same boxes in it for 6 months and is slowly coming down to 64 with fluctuation for temp range of 62-67. At this point we’re feeling really good about the data from the butlers.

My smoking stock is in a half size coolidor with half baked 62 bovedas. We really like having the regular rotation of partial boxes away from the intact boxes. I take a few out of it and put them in the rotation in a 20 year old CoLa box on the book shelf. It also has a half baked 62 boveda in it. Any thing that clips with a poor draw stays in there for a week or more. We had a MDO4 in there for a month that was stiff as a board. Recently fired it up after the draw opened and it was as good (almost) as any of the others I’ve had.

To the question, 60-62. 

Why the ziplocs inside the coolers?

[La_Tigre]

11 minutes ago, DBNInc said:

Why the ziplocs inside the coolers?

My own limited version of the vacuum pack method and also to keep them separate in the case of a cigar zombie outbreak.

I did recently buy a vacuum sealer and bags. We do not relish the idea of sealing all of these up. Letting them stabilize to 64/65 over time is what I’m telling myself to put that project off...?

[Pag]

My hygrometer battery died a long time ago and I haven't bothered to replace it. I keep my stock in an 'iris' brand 72qt airtight tupperware (and a couple of pelican/otterbox type traveldors). Rh never fluctuated more than +-1%. I don't worry about it. I just crack open a new boveda if I see that any of the existing ones are dry. .
I'm a big fan of the ron popiel philosophy - 'set it and forget it'. The only time I want to think about my cigars is when I'm smoking them. After 20+ years, I've already done all the hyper analysis stuff. I don't enjoy it anymore. I find it a lot easier to just use airtight storage, and not think about all that stuff.

I was really against the tupperware idea as not propper to our beloved hobby.
Once I tried it I never looked back. No seasoning no fuss and no B.S. Tupperware, cigars, Boveda packs and a piece of cedar if you choose and done.
Excellent way to store in a coolador also.
Now I do Tupperware and cigar parties every Friday. I used to think Tupperware parties were for woman only. Not any more, out of the way Betty there's a new Sheriff in Town.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[DBNInc]

1 hour ago, La_Tigre said:

My own limited version of the vacuum pack method and also to keep them separate in the case of a cigar zombie outbreak.

I did recently buy a vacuum sealer and bags. We do not relish the idea of sealing all of these up. Letting them stabilize to 64/65 over time is what I’m telling myself to put that project off...?

Vacuum pack method?  Is that for aging?

[Tstew75]

Anywhere in the 61-65 range. 66 & higher tend to mar the smoking experience for me-

Agree with above poster...I have a handful of Bovedas in each of my Tuppidors, I don't worry about fluctuation b/c the containers are bomb-proof.

[JY0]

60 Rh for me. I’ve got an Aristocrat cabinet with cooling  

[cfc1016]

4 hours ago, Pag said:

I was really against the tupperware idea as not propper to our beloved hobby.
Once I tried it I never looked back. No seasoning no fuss and no B.S. Tupperware, cigars, Boveda packs and a piece of cedar if you choose and done.
Excellent way to store in a coolador also.
Now I do Tupperware and cigar parties every Friday. I used to think Tupperware parties were for woman only. Not any more, out of the way Betty there's a new Sheriff in Town.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk
 

Yup. "Proper" is superfluous. If it works, it works. I don't smoke cigars for status signaling. (I don't have any status TO signal! ?). I smoke them for ME. Appearances are just a waste of money and time, which could be better spent buying and smoking cigars (and doing all the other stuff I love).

If someone feels the need to judge my 'cigar credentials', I probably don't want to hang out with that person anyway. Cigars should be an everyman hobby. I don't like the idea of gatekeeping. I'd rather smoke a reloba with a peasant who sees me as their equal, than an aged davidoff with some bourgeoisie/aristocrats who feel a need to judge my 'worthiness'. I'll leave some aged 898s as a parting gift for the peasant. Let the bougies believe they're 'better than me'. I'll save them each a guantanamera, just to make sure they don't call me again ?

It's just smoking.

[DeskSmkr]

19 hours ago, DBNInc said:

Testing how?

A sealed container with multiple vitolas/marcas held at 65rh/67F for months. Then recently replaced 65rh with 55rh humidity pack.

Now I pull something out and smoke it as days go, sometimes multiple per day, while monitoring rh/temp with wireless sensor with history graph.

When smoking, judge ability to stay lit, burn even, and still taste good

Goal is to keep everything at one rh/temp ready to smoke and not hastle

65rh@67F was too wet sometimes spongy halfway through and won’t stay lit

[zjory]

Whatever they come out of the humidor at 

[DBNInc]

15 hours ago, DeskSmkr said:

A sealed container with multiple vitolas/marcas held at 65rh/67F for months. Then recently replaced 65rh with 55rh humidity pack.

Now I pull something out and smoke it as days go, sometimes multiple per day, while monitoring rh/temp with wireless sensor with history graph.

When smoking, judge ability to stay lit, burn even, and still taste good

Goal is to keep everything at one rh/temp ready to smoke and not hastle

65rh@67F was too wet sometimes spongy halfway through and won’t stay lit

Great idea!  So you’re down to 58, has that been best so far?

[DeskSmkr]

1 hour ago, DBNInc said:

Great idea!  So you’re down to 58, has that been best so far?

High 50s to low 60s seems best. My method isn’t suited to answering your question directly because of lack of precision.

What rh are you shooting for now and whats your assesment after taking in each person’s advice?

[Rhinoww]

I’m going to see what I can do to get to a controlled rh in low 60’s. Ordered a 62 rh boveda for the dry box. A $7 experiment. Will report back if the changes are noticeable. 

[BurnNSmoke]

63-64% @ 68-70F perfect for me.

[DBNInc]

On 9/4/2020 at 2:49 PM, DeskSmkr said:

High 50s to low 60s seems best. My method isn’t suited to answering your question directly because of lack of precision.

What rh are you shooting for now and whats your assesment after taking in each person’s advice?

There’re a couple of things I wanted to try.  I’m going to attempt to dry box in the fridge and freezer for one.  I think the RH of the place where you smoke has a big effect on the smoking experience (something I’d really never considered), so I’ve ordered some different RH Bovedas to experiment with in Tupperware containers, so I can smoke cigars from different containers on the same day.  Until that experimenting is done, I’m going to keep the Cubans at 65 and the NC at 69.  I’ve also seen a “Humidi-meter,” which appears to be a tool that is used to measure humidity in lumber, but modified to work for cigars.  Might get that to do actual numbers testing.

[Partmonte]

Humidor 62 (single) Cooler 65 (boxes). If i know i'll eventually dip into a box, i'll take a few cigars out and put them in the humidor. 

I can absolutely for sure tell i prefer something under 65. I have a family member who has about 1000 high end cigars with many of them being aged Cohibas. He is extremely generous and supplies me with one to smoke at his place and one to take home. Most of what we smoke together tastes bitter and just burns like crap. He stores it at 70RH/72F. That same smoke he gave me i let rest in my humidor for min 30 days. Ends up smoking perfectly and flavours are much more pronounced with no bitterness. 

[DeskSmkr]

5 hours ago, DBNInc said:

There’re a couple of things I wanted to try.  I’m going to attempt to dry box in the fridge and freezer for one.  I think the RH of the place where you smoke has a big effect on the smoking experience (something I’d really never considered), so I’ve ordered some different RH Bovedas to experiment with in Tupperware containers, so I can smoke cigars from different containers on the same day.  Until that experimenting is done, I’m going to keep the Cubans at 65 and the NC at 69.  I’ve also seen a “Humidi-meter,” which appears to be a tool that is used to measure humidity in lumber, but modified to work for cigars.  Might get that to do actual numbers testing.

Beautiful! And I see the point about ambient conditions being considered. From this method, I can see you finding the optimal storage for your conditions! Perfect!

A loose band is also generally a positive indicator for me and something I like to see, after drying the cigar out a bit.