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Why NOT leave your cigars in cello?

D

Danforz

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
331
I know this debate has been going on for ever but I was hoping for some targeted clarification.

I understand that generally there is little or no difference as far as how much moisture your cigars retain, how they age, etc. in cello. But what about cigar emergencies?

Beetles: If beetles spring loose in that particular cello'd cigar, they can't infect the rest of your humi.
Mold: If by some unfortunate occurance you have a mold outbreak on that particular cigar (and yes I've had a one cigar mold problem) its stuck to just that one cigar.
Travel: Leaving sticks in cellophane will allow them a greater life out of the humi.

Any objections?
 
Sounds good to me. I leave mine on until just before time to smoke.
 
If they come in cello I leave them in it, but the cello can also cause problems. The cello is what caused the problems with the Anejos. For some reason it causes the sharks and some others to sprout mold. Not every one of them, but some. If you remove the cello on the sharks you won't have a problem with mold.

Other than that, the only problem with the cello is the aesthetics.
 
Danforz said:
I know this debate has been going on for ever but I was hoping for some targeted clarification.

I understand that generally there is little or no difference as far as how much moisture your cigars retain, how they age, etc. in cello. But what about cigar emergencies?

Beetles: If beetles spring loose in that particular cello'd cigar, they can't infect the rest of your humi.
Mold: If by some unfortunate occurance you have a mold outbreak on that particular cigar (and yes I've had a one cigar mold problem) its stuck to just that one cigar.
Travel: Leaving sticks in cellophane will allow them a greater life out of the humi.

Any objections?
Click to expand...

Aye, the argument can go either way on this one IMO. If you store cigar for a good amount of time, year +, then to my knowledge it shouldn't matter either way. As long as the conditions are right. Personally, if aging, I take them out. If it's probable to be a traveling single later on, I leave it on.

As far as the emergencies go...while I can't say you're incorrect on your points I think the Beetles and Mold have more to do with the conditions of your entire humidor than the cellophane cigars. What I mean is, if you have an outbreak of beetles on a cellophaned cigar, it wouldn't make me feel better that the cello was on. If the conditions are right for beetles or mold then cello or not, all the other cigars are at risk. The "virus" if you will (beetles), isn't necessarily just in that cigar, it's in all of them, the conditions of the storage is what hatches them. All of your cigars are susceptible to that virus, cello or not.
 
altercall said:
If they come in cello I leave them in it, but the cello can also cause problems. The cello is what caused the problems with the Anejos. For some reason it causes the sharks and some others to sprout mold. Not every one of them, but some. If you remove the cello on the sharks you won't have a problem with mold.

Other than that, the only problem with the cello is the aesthetics.
Click to expand...


I don't think it ended up being determined that the cello was the problem, but rather the humi packs that Fuente was using in the boxes. You don't see them in there with this years batch. So far so good on the mold reports as well.
 
From my experience that WAS the problem. I've had a dozen Anejos with mold. All of them were cleaned off and not put back in the cello. I've had no problems with them. My brother's sand shark got mold on it. He cleaned it off and put it back in the cello, 4 times!!! I went over there, cleaned it off, and threw away the cello. Not one problem since!
 
altercall said:
If they come in cello I leave them in it, but the cello can also cause problems. The cello is what caused the problems with the Anejos. For some reason it causes the sharks and some others to sprout mold. Not every one of them, but some. If you remove the cello on the sharks you won't have a problem with mold.

Other than that, the only problem with the cello is the aesthetics.
Click to expand...
Not exactly. As someone lost a box of sharks to mold, I can tell you that excess moisture caused the mold, not the cello. The ones I got Christmas before last were so wet that even in a 65% environment, they were completely fouled with mold by February. I suppose if I'd have noticed it, I could have removed them from their box / cello and laid them out for a while, but then you can run into wrapper problems.

To say that "If you remove the cello on (insert name of favorite cigar here) you won't have a problem with mold....." isn't really accurate. I have seen cigars with no cello turn blue and funky due to excess moisture from improper storage. Of course what the cello does is buffer the RH inside the cigar. If they are too wet to begin with, you're going to have a problem with cello or no cello.

Leave it on, store your stuff properly, and don't worry about it. It offers a tremendous amount of protection for the feet and delicate wrappers of the smokes we have.

FWIW - B.B.S.
 
I'm not saying that the cello caused the problem or that taking it off will keep you from having mold problems. I have seen plenty of naked sticks with mold, thankfully not in my humi. This is what I think happened with the Anejos:

First, they were shipped way too wet. During shipping the mold started to hatch, but not enough for anyone to notice. As they sat for a month or two you started to see the mold. This, or maybe before, is where the cello was a problem. I think the cello kept the sticks from breathing well, which may have caused them to stay wet longer than a naked cigar. Once the mold hatcher, though, it got into the cello. With the mold in the cello, and the poor moisture exchange going on, the mold had a good opportunity to spread over and over again.

FWIW, my brother lives in Amarillo and has had no problems with mold on any other cigars.
 
FWIW, I have had Sharks both Cello on and off develop mold in different humis/boxes from last year. Like I said, so far so good on this years boxes of Sharks without the humi packs. If I'm wrong, I'll have no problem coming back to this thread and eating crow.


Edit to add: I'm with BBS on why I like to keep the cello on. I have far fewer wrapper issues with my cigars that I keep the Cello on. Can't beat the protection they give.
 
I know a few of the sharks from my shop had mold. In fact, I bought 2 that had it on it when I bought them. Very minor since it was bought so early, but wiped it off and removed the cello. No problems now.
 
altercall said:
I'm not saying that the cello caused the problem or that taking it off will keep you from having mold problems. I have seen plenty of naked sticks with mold, thankfully not in my humi. This is what I think happened with the Anejos:

First, they were shipped way too wet. During shipping the mold started to hatch, but not enough for anyone to notice. As they sat for a month or two you started to see the mold. This, or maybe before, is where the cello was a problem. I think the cello kept the sticks from breathing well, which may have caused them to stay wet longer than a naked cigar. Once the mold hatcher, though, it got into the cello. With the mold in the cello, and the poor moisture exchange going on, the mold had a good opportunity to spread over and over again.

FWIW, my brother lives in Amarillo and has had no problems with mold on any other cigars.
Click to expand...
We're saying the same thing. The cello buffers the RH, preventing the "shipped too wet" Sharks from drying out properly. Minor point; I don't think the mold gets into the cello, though, but rather on the cello. On or in, the effect is as you describe; you take a smoke that starts to mold, pull it out and clean it. If you put it back, you put it into a spore rich environment where it has limited ability to lose moisture. More mold is bound to happen.

Jfields named another big contributing factor - the humipacks. Shipping aside, what happened there is some folks stored the smokes with the humi packs still in with the cigars, and that REALLY caused problems.

Some guys say to "brush 'em off and smoke 'em" but I just can't. If the cigar shows mold on the wrapper and especially the foot, it is usually pretty well permeated with mold. Tastes like smoking old gym socks to me. Eeecchh......can't go there.

Lastly, it seems maduro / anejo wrappers are more prone to mold than lighter wrappers. Not sure why, but do some searching and you'll find anecdotal evidence that will prove my point.

Cheers, guys - B.B.S.
 
Could it be because of the oils in the cigar? Natural wrappers have less oils and would seem to dry out quicker, while maduros would seem to retain more moisture with their oils.
 
altercall said:
Could it be because of the oils in the cigar? Natural wrappers have less oils and would seem to dry out quicker, while maduros would seem to retain more moisture with their oils.
Click to expand...
Dunno....look at the oily wrappers on some of the Litto Gomez smokes.....and, they don't seem to have nearly the issues that Anejos do.

Now that I think about it, the only smokes I've had mold issues with were Anejos...... :whistling:

And I still buy 'em.....go figure..... :laugh:
 
I just looked at some Sharks I was sent this week. They've sprouted!!! That's 5 of 10 I've got from this year!!!

I've got a full box that my brother is storing for me. I think I'm going to take all the cello off and dry box it for a day when I get to Amarillo next week.
 
BTW I really do think the beetles can and will chew through the cello...
 
Ya'll are also missing something else important... beetles will tear through cello if they want to. It will NOT stop them.
Chris
 
Brickhouse said:
Danforz said:
I know this debate has been going on for ever but I was hoping for some targeted clarification.

I understand that generally there is little or no difference as far as how much moisture your cigars retain, how they age, etc. in cello. But what about cigar emergencies?

Beetles: If beetles spring loose in that particular cello'd cigar, they can't infect the rest of your humi.
Mold: If by some unfortunate occurance you have a mold outbreak on that particular cigar (and yes I've had a one cigar mold problem) its stuck to just that one cigar.
Travel: Leaving sticks in cellophane will allow them a greater life out of the humi.

Any objections?
Click to expand...

Aye, the argument can go either way on this one IMO. If you store cigar for a good amount of time, year +, then to my knowledge it shouldn't matter either way. As long as the conditions are right. Personally, if aging, I take them out. If it's probable to be a traveling single later on, I leave it on.

As far as the emergencies go...while I can't say you're incorrect on your points I think the Beetles and Mold have more to do with the conditions of your entire humidor than the cellophane cigars. What I mean is, if you have an outbreak of beetles on a cellophaned cigar, it wouldn't make me feel better that the cello was on. If the conditions are right for beetles or mold then cello or not, all the other cigars are at risk. The "virus" if you will (beetles), isn't necessarily just in that cigar, it's in all of them, the conditions of the storage is what hatches them. All of your cigars are susceptible to that virus, cello or not.
Click to expand...

So your saying that a beetle waddling around within the cellophane is the equivalent to finding a beetle roaming freely through out your humi???

Look, back conditions are a null factor in making the decision. If you got mold with or without cello, you should be worried. So its a given under both circumstances. That being said, I'd rather have the visible mold under control in cello then rubbing up against other cigars.
 
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