Vacuume sealing cigars for shipment or storage?

[Kid Montana]

I've been sick for two days and my fevered brain has been producing some random activity, the most recent of which is the idea to vacuum seal boxes of cigars for shipping, long term aging or storage. Would this work? Are there any problems with this idea? I mean, throw a boveda humipack in the box, vacuum seal it and keep it temperature controlled and they should last just about forever, right?

 

[Not A Nice Person]

I can't speak from personal experience, but some guys over on StogieChat tried that a few years back, and it turned the cigars into very, very expensive pipe tobacco---the sticks just sort of "came undone."

Don't try it with the good ones first, is all I'd advise.

~Boar

 

[Scap]

Use the heavy vacuum bags, but don't vacuum them out. Just toss the appropriate amount of boveda packs and the use the heat strip to seal the bag. That's how I've been seeing sonr single cigars done in cello packs lately, like the Acid Kuba Kuba. Guess it's geared to the gift givers that don't know if the recipient has a humi.

 

[MoeCizlak]

You're aging Acid Kuba Kubas?

 

[thefatguy]

I've received some sticks packaged like this when I've ordered from over seas. They arrived in good condition, but I didn't store then this way.

 

[louich]

Well I shipped vacuum sealed cigars before.

Results:

-arrived okay when shipped in april.

-arrived badly baked when shipped in summer.


It really depends on what type of temperatures your shipping from or to IMO.

 

[fjldo]

The one problem I see with this method is maintaining proper RH after vacuum sealing. The Boveda packs only last 2-3 months.

 

[MadMonk]

I tried this years ago as an experiment. I placed a fiver of inexpensive El Rey Del Mundo (Honduran) into a foodsaver brand bag, along with a small boveda. I did not pull a full vacuum before sealing. The cigars were fine after six months, and the Boveda was almost like new. The plastic used is not as good as, let's say, a pipe tobacco bag used by Esoterica, which is several layers performing different functions. I don't think this is an ideal situation for aging, but rather a good option for shipping. Misdirected mail, Overseas customs delays, etc. I also tend to think that I had a certain degree of luck, as cigars do like to breath. As I mentioned, the cigars were fine, and tasted much more bench fresh than their counterparts in my humidor. This was more of a preservation than aging. Air Exchange is crucial to proper aging. I have had Boveda packs last years inside a sealed container. I store overflow cigars in lock and lock food containers, opening them up for a few minutes every month to allow some air exchange. I have found that the sealed container with Boveda packs is the best way to preserve a cigars fresh profile.

 

[fjldo]

Monk, that's an interesting perspective. Didn't realize the Boveda packs could last that long in a sealed environment. I may have to try my own experiments.