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Just getting started

Alright so here goes nothing. I've always enjoyed a cigar from time to time but never really built up a collection. when i was in the mood id just head to the local smoke shop and pick one of theirs out.

Well there is a problem with that now. im in the sand box right now so obviously there is not a smoke shop anywhere around me so if i want to get back to smoking cigars im going to have to go all out. my biggest question is will my cigars survive in a humidor in these high temps? i would really hate to ruin some cigars because it is just to hot for them here. any help is appreciated guys.

Im also open to suggestions on what to buy

Comments

  • Husker44Husker44 Posts: 172
    I would think that if you can't get below 80 degrees for a period of time it would be very difficult.

    Just returned from a 10 day trip to find tobacco beetles on some of my sticks. We had the A/C set to 85 not thinking about my cigars. The rest are in the freezer trying to kill any beetles just o be safe.

    I'm relatively new so far, but I have two favorites at this point
    Rocky Patel Vintage 1999 Connecticut
    Gurkha Empire Series VI (probably favorite of the two)
  • jjxx101jjxx101 Posts: 4
    thats the biggest problem right there is i dont think that our tent gets below 85 during the day. We have a/c in there but it really doesnt do much good. are there any humidors that have a built in temp control on them and i could just keep it plugged into an electrical outlet? Im also completely new to brands and stuff lol usually when i would smoke cigars i would just pick one that smelled good and was suggested by the shop owner. I will def take a look at your suggestions now.... Someone did tell me that one of out LTs is really into cigars and they think he has a humidor so i may have to ask him today.
  • Husker44Husker44 Posts: 172
    I am certainly not an expert, hopefully some of the more experienced guys can chime in. Some people have talked of using a refrigerator, but others say it ruins the cigar because of food smell. Not sure what I would do. I'll bet your LT would know. You also probably wouldn't buy more than you could smoke in a week, IMO.

    As far as where to start. The experts say start Mild and work your way into full. I played golf one day in 100 degree temps and had a full flavor cigar. I won't be doing that again....I can tolerate full cigars now, but only in the evening when it starts to cool off
  • jjxx101jjxx101 Posts: 4
    Husker44:
    I am certainly not an expert, hopefully some of the more experienced guys can chime in. Some people have talked of using a refrigerator, but others say it ruins the cigar because of food smell. Not sure what I would do. I'll bet your LT would know. You also probably wouldn't buy more than you could smoke in a week, IMO. As far as where to start. The experts say start Mild and work your way into full. I played golf one day in 100 degree temps and had a full flavor cigar. I won't be doing that again....I can tolerate full cigars now, but only in the evening when it starts to cool off
    well thats another big problem is if i only have a weeks supply of cigars i may only be able to smoke one week out of every month. our mail system is very unreliable right now. we get mail anywhere from every 3rd day to every other week. lately theyve only been flying in mail ever 8 or 9 days and its hit or miss if your packages are going to be on that plane or not. there are guys that have been waiting for a month and a half for packages and some guys that get it in a week. ive been one of the lucky ones so far
  • Husker44Husker44 Posts: 172
    Next summer, I will probably covert a wine cooler into a humidor (wineador) to handle the summer heat. It gets pretty warm here (Texas..but nothing like there) and we can't run the A/C all day.

    Not sure what to do about the mail thing, that blows
  • TatuajeVITatuajeVI Posts: 2,378
    If you're in a tent, it's going to be very difficult to control temp, as you stated. Man that sucks... Honestly, without having a wine-fridge I'm not sure if I'd trust them. You could always just keep a small stash and just not worry about it. If you get beetles, toss em out and get more. I know that sounds insane, but when I was deployed I would have risked it - I had plenty of extra spending cash and having some decent cheap smokes would have been fantastic after a long day. Get a 50 count humidor and keep 20 cheap smokes in there and you're good to go. Nica Libre, Cu-Avana Intenso, 5 Vegas Gold/Classics can be purchased for $3 a stick or less if you call in or email in your order to Jeff Jackson here at cigar.com. He's great with our military guys!

    Oh, welcome to the forums! And thank you for your service to our country.
  • MrMokeMrMoke Posts: 321 ✭✭
    sustained temps above 80 are definately an issue, you could possibly try to drop the humidity a little to compensate, beetles like high temp and humidity, the problem is if you go too low your sticks will dry out, below 67%RH tobacco starts to lose those oils that make it so tasty to evaporation.

    Fridges, apart from the now infamous quote on these forums, that "you would not want to treat your cigars like leftover meatloaf, nor have them tasting like it too" , will also suck the moisture out of your gars unless it is a thermoelectric refrigerator designed for both temp and humidity control. Wine fridges typically work for this. If one of those is not an option, would you be able to dig a hole, and one deep enough to escape the high temps? if you could that would leave you with only humidity to worry about and just about any humidor solution on the marlk=ket will do that for you!!!

    Living in SE Texas, I normally keep the a/c set at around 78 when at home and 82 when out, my humis are in a shady cool part of the house, I have the RH controlled well to 70-72% using active humidifiers along with gel (bead) bricks and pucks depending on the size of the humi, I will get RH spikes, for example when the outer bands of Hurricane Alex dumped all that rain on the Houston area last Thursday / Friday my RH spiked to 76% and the a/c was having trouble getting the room RH below 50%, even though the outside temo was moderate due to the cloud cover!

    I regularly check my stogies and touch would, so far no sign of beetles, but I don't expect to see them due the the humidity being so low even if the temo goes up
    I also try not to worry about it too much, I started smoking cigars to relax, I didn't start buying cigars so I would have one more thing to worry about!!! :)


  • Joeyjoe21_8Joeyjoe21_8 Posts: 2,048
    yeah jeff is awesome....he is my go to man...I actualy started a collection of cigars for the troops and sent off something like 180 awesome sticks from 5 vegas to gurkhas to rockys and everything in between! Wineadors I am finding dont work...just picked one up and it holds temp around 65 degrees...but cant hold humidity yet..
  • TatuajeVITatuajeVI Posts: 2,378
    Joeyjoe21_8:
    yeah jeff is awesome....he is my go to man...I actualy started a collection of cigars for the troops and sent off something like 180 awesome sticks from 5 vegas to gurkhas to rockys and everything in between! Wineadors I am finding dont work...just picked one up and it holds temp around 65 degrees...but cant hold humidity yet..
    They work - you just got to figure out how to keep the humidity up. A combo of a whole lot of beads and maybe an active humidifier. But clearly, he's not going to be able to grab a wine fridge for a tent in Iraq. Well... at least, I sure wouldn't have kept it where I was!
  • jjxx101jjxx101 Posts: 4
    alright so just thought i would give an update and all. i talked to the LT he has a herf a dor (sp?) that he is using here and so far he hasnt had any problems all his cigars are still in good condition and no beetles. he keeps his cigars in his office which is a little bit cooler then the tents so he has a small advantage but he said that if i need to put my herf in his office i am more then welcome to. so it sounds like my problems are solved as long as i keep a small stash on hand and try not to get to excited about ordering cigars and order way to many :)
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