Swollen cigars? Storage problem?

[gandolf565]

I have purchased several cigars from the local cigar shop, of those quite a number have swollen and burst after lighting. No, not cigar loads

The cigars look good, feel firm, not mushy, draw OK etc before lighting, but once the heat is on, the fun begins. These have been different brands, purchased at different times. I took a casual look at the sensors my last trip, 73°F / 74%rh.

Any ideas? Should I store these cigars a few weeks before lighting? That takes the "instant gratification" away...

I purchase cigars in the city I work in often, (60 miles away)and have never had this problem.

Your thoughts?

 

[fetterjohn]

74% rh is way too high. Bring them home and let them sit in your humi for a couple of weeks before lighting them. Make sure your own humi is set at about 66-68% rh. They explode because the moisture inside the cigar gets hot and expands...with wrapper not being so flexible, it blows out. Happens to more BOTL's than you may think!! That'a why you have to have a good sized collection at home...so you can smoke the ones that you know are ready and leave the others to adjust to lower rh. Keep on buying!! :thumbs:

-Fetter

 

[theorangeman]

Yeah, fetterjohn is right - you need to let them sit in your humi for a while (maybe even longer than 2 weeks). If you buy a lot from this shop, you might want to ask them about why they keep the smokes at 73-74%. Perhaps they are just not monitoring it closely enough.

I hear ya on the instant gratification. Everytime I get a new shipment of cigars in, the first thing I want to do is light one up. However, I resist the temptation and wait at least a month (usually two) before doing so. By waiting, the cigar is much better than if you smoke one right away.

 

[JimK]

A lot of shops keep their humidity on the high side because of the constant traffic in and out. And a lot of shops just don't care that much, and figure the average cogar is only with them for a couple of weeks, so the conditions don't matter much.

I never smoke anything directly from the shop becaue of the above reasons.

JK

 

[BlindedByScience]

I try to keep my CoolerDor (long term storage / aging) around 70% / 68F. My smoking humi runs 62-65%, 68-70F. 73% / 74F sounds a bit on the wet side to me....

Good Luck - B.B.S.