Humidor Troubleshooting

jorGeorge

A few days ago I received a shipment of 6 cigars. As I am beginner smoker, I do not have a humidor. I was forced to create a tupperdor. What I did was place the cigars in a fairly small tupperware container. When I say small I mean 4 inches tall, 8 inches in width. I also left a piece of damp paper towel taped to the lid for humidification. I kept it air tight and in a cool, dark place.

About a day and a half later I checked up on it and found them to be very moist, and starting to flake and expand. I immediately took them out and let them sit in regular humidity. I have Humi-care water pillows on order and am patiently waiting for their delivery. Is the small container my problem? Was the paper towel piece too big? Does the container size even matter? Will even one water pillow be too humid for my tupperdor? Any tips on restoring the moist cigars? And by the way, my cigars are without the cellophane wrappers. Thanks!

j0z3r

To balance out the cigars, put them in the tupperware, but without the paper towel. The problem with the paper towel, as I'm sure you noticed, is that it will keep the humidity too high, there is nothing to regulate it. The size of your container is not the issue in this case and will be just fine as long as it is kept at a proper humidity. The water pillow will be fine, though it will keep them a bit more humid than many prefer for smoking. To fix that last issue, I'd recommend using a second tupperware to store cigars you plan to smoke soon and keep it sealed without humidification, this will allow some of the moisture in the cigar to dissipate. Note that this all will not happen in a day or two, I'd suggest giving about a week to let things balance out, perhaps two.

Hope you enjoy them.

jorGeorge

Thank you for the response. Would it be okay if I left all my cigars (even the ones I am planning on smoking fairly soon) in one tupperware with the water pillow, but instead of letting them sit for weeks tucked away, I can open them up every few days and put some fresh air in just to balance out the extra humidity? Would this do more damage than good? Thanks again.

dutyje

I use two tupperdors (actually Glad or Ziploc brand disposable tupperware-type containers.. something like that). Through pseudo-scientific experimentation, I found that a perfectly sealed tupperdor with a water pillow will slowly escalate in humidity. I don't know why this is. However, if I set the lid on the tupperdor so that it is seated properly, but not sealed, it maintains perfect humidity, which the pillows needing to be re-charged about every 3-6 months. The tupperdors work better than a humidor, which I also didn't expect because humidors have the Spanish Cedar as an extra agent to supply humidity in the case of a sudden drop (as in opening), but tupperdors have no such luxury.

So, my advice is to listen to jozer. When you get your pillows, charge them with distilled water, and set up a tupperdor. Get a digital hygrometer to keep an eye on things, as you'll need to play with it a bit until you get into a nice groove.

jorGeorge

Could you please explain this further? I do not really understand what you mean:

"However, if I set the lid on the tupperdor so that it is seated properly, but not sealed."

EDIT: So you mean basically place the lid where it should be sealed, but do NOT seal it? I am assuming the point of this is to allow cracks of air to seep in and balance our the humidity?

kaspera79

George, I am sure that is what Joe was trying to explain. when I have to use zip lock bags, I do not seal them completely either. If you see moisture beads on the lids of tuperware or steam in the bag, too humid. You need a slight air exchange in the container.

j0z3r

Hmm, I had never thought of not sealing the tupperware...good thinking. As for using a water pillow and taking off the lid, well now I would recommend following Duty's advice and not seal the lid, that's sounds like it would work just right.

jorGeorge

Thanks again for the responses everybody! One other thing I was wondering is about the water pillow. Distilled water is not readily available to me, so I am forced to use bottled water (more specifically Poland Spring). Will this really affect the quality of the cigars? I am not planning on storing them for months on end. Thanks.

j0z3r

No it won't hurt the cigars or affect their quality. The main problem with using regular water instead of distilled is the minerals contained in the water, over time they can build up in your humidifier and cause it to be unable to hold as much moisture..not to mention the chlorine content in some water. I'm surprised that distilled water is not readily available to you, it can be found in any grocery store right by the drinking water.

gmill880

jorGeorge:

Thanks again for the responses everybody! One other thing I was wondering is about the water pillow. Distilled water is not readily available to me, so I am forced to use bottled water (more specifically Poland Spring). Will this really affect the quality of the cigars? I am not planning on storing them for months on end. Thanks.

Why is distilled water not available to you...I have not seen anywhere in the US that does not have it

kaspera79

jorGeorge:

Thanks again for the responses everybody! One other thing I was wondering is about the water pillow. Distilled water is not readily available to me, so I am forced to use bottled water (more specifically Poland Spring). Will this really affect the quality of the cigars? I am not planning on storing them for months on end. Thanks.

Distilled water should be available in most grocery or drug stores. It comes in the plastic " milk jug " gallons. It is often used to mix powdered baby formula, so any place that sells that, should have the water too. I have used bottled water at times with no negative results. Oh yeah, spring water not mineral water.

dutyje

Hey George, sorry I didn't follow up on this... I had other commitments yesterday, but Kas and Jozer had my back with the right responses.