Aging in lower humidity?
MonteWhite
Posts: 200
in Cigar 101
It seems to me that many people age their cigars at a lower humidity. Why is that? I would imagine that keeping your aging cigars with the others, at a higher humidity, such as 65-70%, wouldn't impede the cigars' abilities to age.
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Comments
Given that, I'll give your question a shot.
First off, I don't think people intentionally age cigars at a lower humidity then they prefer for their smoking stock. If anything it would be the reverse. Some people do prefer to have a lower humidity (65%) for both their aging and their smoking humidors, while some people prefer to have a higher humidity (70%) for both their aging and their smoking humidors. this is just personal preference.
I could be wrong but to get technical, storing cigars at a lower humidity slows the aging process down SLIGHTLY but some people prefer the better burn they get while smoking, while storing at a higher humidity accelerates the aging process SLIGHTLY, but can lead to burn issues. That being said, the higher the humidity, over ~72%, increases your chances for mold and beetles especially if the temp is up too, so trying to maximize your humidity to increase the speed at which your aging cigars is NOT a good idea. Its such a slight change in the aging process that you won't ever notice it, and its way to big of a risk. Plus with this hobby . . . . have patience. you can't rush the hands of time, so there's no way to cheat the aging process.
So the debate of 65% vs 70% just comes back to personal preference. The only combination people might do is to have their aging humi at 68% - 70% while their smoking humi is set at 62%-65%. That way they get the benefits of the higherhumidity to age while their smoking stock is set to the humidity they prefer to burn.
I don't think that much about it and shoot for 70% on everything, but thats just me because I prefer the heavier chewier smoke, so think about how you want to play it and mess around with it. Thats the cool part of the hobby. A while back DSwarmack said something about, read a bunch, learn a bunch, then "make your own normal." Couldn't have summed it up better myself.
Sorry I get long winded sometimes. couldn't have done it without your help on the conclusion though brother. That make your own normal line was priceless. I've been using that.