Who's the King

[denverdog]

In a perfect world I would prefer to have at least two environments set up. One @ 65 and one @ 60 as there are just so many different cigars that smoke better at different levels. So for me there is no right or wrong answer but in the meantime I will stick to 65% beads as it seems to be a happy medium.

 

[alexgtp]

I keep my coolers at 60-65%. My cigars seem to smoke best at this RH.

I hardly have any burn issues.

 

[theorangeman]

I have been preaching 60% for a long time now. Certainly it's not for everyone but it is for me. I never have draw or burn problems and flavors are consistent. I've never had a cigar that was too dry but I've had many that were too wet.

The longer I've smoked, it seems the lower the humidity that I keep my smokes. I've found that I like them best around 62-63%.

 

[wanlail]

this is the king. :laugh: personally, i smoke em almost any way i can get em. i perfer 63-65% however.

 

[theorangeman]

aaah hemmm... excuse me, I was too busy looking at the Queen to his right. :whistling:

 

[Shooter]

60-65 here

 

[Infinity]

I'm not a dry box advocate. I usually take my smoke of choice out of my humidor about an hour
or so before smoking, this is my dry box.

Brian

 

[SammyP]

I keep my coolers and desktop at 65%. This is too high for some, primarily some lanceros and the bigger ring Pepin stuff. So, I dry box a lot of mine before smoking. I use the box mainly just to keep things organized, otherwise I'd be setting cigars all over the place and wind up losing them.

 

[Infinity]

How funny! Lately I've been moving in the opposite direction. I keep my long term storage at 63% or less and the stuff in my smoking cooler closer to 67-68? I think cigars smoke better, are more flavorful and supple at the slightly higher humidity. In fact, if I must smoke from the storage coolers, I usually run them under filtered water to wet the wrappers. It does absolute wonders for a well-stored cigar in the lower 60's.

Wilkey

BUMP!

Wilkey, please expand on the filtered water, run them under water - how?. By filtered I assume you mean distilled?

Brian

 

[Ginseng]

Brian,

I just turn on my countertop water filter and hold the cigar at an angle underneath the stream, rotating it so all sides of the wrapper get dampened. Take special care not to let water get to the cut foot otherwise troubles with lighting will arise. If your tap water is good, then just use that. However, in my area, the chlorine is so heavy that boiled tap water is essentially undrinkable so I installed the filter.

Since I have been doing this, I have never experienced a cracked wrapper smoking outside in the cold. Plus, it makes the initial stages taste "meatier." And if you can keep a Cameroon wrapper from cracking in the winter, that's gotta be an effective strategy.

Wilkey

 

[Infinity]

Brian,

I just turn on my countertop water filter and hold the cigar at an angle underneath the stream, rotating it so all sides of the wrapper get dampened. Take special care not to let water get to the cut foot otherwise troubles with lighting will arise. If your tap water is good, then just use that. However, in my area, the chlorine is so heavy that boiled tap water is essentially undrinkable so I installed the filter.

Since I have been doing this, I have never experienced a cracked wrapper smoking outside in the cold. Plus, it makes the initial stages taste "meatier." And if you can keep a Cameroon wrapper from cracking in the winter, that's gotta be an effective strategy.

Wilkey

Interesting, thanks Wilkey.

Brian

 

[duglynukem]

I like storing my cigars at 60%RH. I keep my coolers in my finished basement. In the summer, the temperature never gets over 70 down there and the beads maintain 65%RH. During the winter, I keep the thermostat in my house set around 55 for the winter months so the basement is around that temperature as well. I notice that in the winter though, the RH in my coolers drops to 60% and stays there.

My conditions are probably out of the ordinary but back to your original question, I think 60% - 65% is the range you want to shoot for and if anything, the lower end of that range the better.

My God Bill turn the heat up!

Doug

 

[Saxjazzman]

I store at 65% RH and dry box for a couple of days prior to smoking. This is by far the best setup I have found in 16+ years. :thumbs:

Hope this helps Christian!

~Mark

I have to agree with you on the dry box. It really does the trick. I use an old Montecristo box cedar box to hold them out for a few before I smoke them. I prefer the lower end of the humidity scale, 60-65%.

 

[Infinity]

Live and learn.

First I was wandering how you keep the foot dry - duh! Run the stick under the water foot up before you cut the cap.
I pulled out a PAM Exclusivo, ran it under a stream of water and the maddy wrapper glistened. This was the best tasting
Exclusivo I have smoked. Is it coincidence, I don't think so!

Thanks Wilkey, I'm a convert.

Brian

 

[Brickhouse]

Wilkey and Brian both doing the water trick, yet I'm still scared. I'll have to see if I have any 5 Vegas around to try it on first, hehe.

 

[Dave]

Wilkey and Brian both doing the water trick, yet I'm still scared. I'll have to see if I have any 5 Vegas around to try it on first, hehe.

If you don't want to risk the tap, just slobber it up with some good old saliva. Just don't let anyone see you do this, they might get some wierd ideas. :0

And yes, I run some water sparingly over my connecticut wrappers/cammie stogies as well. Thx for the tip, Wilkey. :thumbs:

 

[JohnnyFlake]

I use 65% beads, exclusively, however, my humidors seem to stabilize at 62% and that works perfectly for me!

Johnny

 

[vortex]

For storage, I shoot for the 65 - 68% range but for smoking I usually dry box. But I have found some blends that smoke better without dry boxing them. Usually the milder cigars. Some cigars smoke better around 60-63% including most of the Cubans and Cubanesque(Pepin) smokes. Some cigars are ruined by smoking at too high RH. The flavor is totally morphed, man.

 

[Ghost]

Wilkey and Brian both doing the water trick, yet I'm still scared. I'll have to see if I have any 5 Vegas around to try it on first, hehe.

If you don't want to risk the tap, just slobber it up with some good old saliva. Just don't let anyone see you do this, they might get some wierd ideas. :0

And yes, I run some water sparingly over my connecticut wrappers/cammie stogies as well. Thx for the tip, Wilkey. :thumbs:

X2
Keep this thread going it's an excellent reference!

 

[MiamiCubano]

Generally keep all mine at 60%.