B&M Humidification

bionicjeff

I live in a pretty small town and usually have to drive to Dallas to visit any B&M's. A discount cigarette shop just opened up and, lo and behold, they have a walk-in humidifier. I was getting some nice cigars until I got an absolutely rancid Punch. The next morning, I was there when the owner came in and turned the humidifier back on. He said he turns it off at night before he goes home. Could this have caused the rancid taste in the Punch? Am I making too big of a deal about this? It doesn't seem like a very upstanding way to run a commercial humidor.

catfishbluezz

Yup...happens all the time, precisely why I don't smoke them until they've been in my humi for a week or so at least. Ever seen "plume" at a B&M? Mold....I see it all the time, and got burned once but the guys here saved my rear. I can't tell you how many times I have seen it since, and owners pay no mind...even when I have pointed it out. So far, I can only say I've met one B&M owner I trust... Specifically in your instance, it's a cigarette shop and owner probably has no clue what he is doing.

Lee.mcglynn

I've never heard of anyone doing that but it should cause more issues then anything especially for the uncelloed ones. I just wouldn't go back there to be honest consider yourself burned and move on. Sorry to hear that though that is kind of weird

FNA

"I was getting some nice cigars until I got an absolutely rancid Punch"

So all the cigars were just fine, then you got one bad cigar. If it was turning off the humidor at night that caused the Punch to be "rancid", why were the other cigars okay?

I doubt this was the reason - it was just a bad cigar. A "rancid" cigar is pretty bad.

You can test this at home. take a cigar from your humidor and leave it on the dining room table over night. Smoke it the next day. Rancid? I bet not. (No mater what 'cigar advisors' say, I do this inadvertantly (or through laziness) frequently. Just like you and I, a cigar is not harmed by a night out.

I can't see how you got "burned" as commenters have said.

I'm also not so sure how much of a problem this creates. Certainly the sealed walk-in is not going to lose all its humid atmosphere overnight, nor are the cigars going to dry out to what we would think of as a dried out cigar. Just like propylene glycol and other humidifying substances, cigar tobacco is hygroscopic - it absorbs and holds moisture.

Has anyone here ever run a walk-in humidor room to say that humidification system must run 24 hours a day? I haven't, but I really don't see why it would be necesasry. Could be wrong, but your purchases other than the Punch seem to indicate not.

Lee.mcglynn

Just a question... If a cigar absorbs and holds moister then what's the point of a humi? It absorbs moister and holds it to its surrounding rh. And yes leaving a cigar out a night like dry boxing it will not hurt but do you take them out every night then put them back in everyday? To me that might cause some issues. As far as it looks yeah it might have been a bad stick but there are other things that lead to it. I might be wrong and it wouldn't be the first or last time

crzydimnd68

I have to agree with FNA.I don't see how cigars stored in a walk in humidor could loose enough humidity over 10-12 hours to be effected by this.It seems that everybody freaks out a bit when humidity fluctuates.Same goes for your humidor.Opening the lid lets the humidity out for sure.But it will recover before any of your sticks dry out.I have accidentally left the lid open all night on a 100 ct desktop that was in no way effected.I charged my beads.Closed the lid and never thought twice about it.

Lee.mcglynn

crzydimnd68:

I have to agree with FNA.I don't see how cigars stored in a walk in humidor could loose enough humidity over 10-12 hours to be effected by this.It seems that everybody freaks out a bit when humidity fluctuates.Same goes for your humidor.Opening the lid lets the humidity out for sure.But it will recover before any of your sticks dry out.I have accidentally left the lid open all night on a 100 ct desktop that was in no way effected.I charged my beads.Closed the lid and never thought twice about it.

But would you leave it open every night? Small fluctuations happen but major ones are just not good especially if repeated daily

bandyt09

My question is what do you mean by rancid? Did it taste like ammonia? If so it was proudly real young and was still breaking down, as in furthering the fermentation process. If that is the case, it really isn't a cause/effect of the humidification being turned on/off nightly, more so it has to do with quality control from Punch. A far as the humidification issue, I will abstain from that discussion.

catfishbluezz

As someone whom ran a humidified room full of cedar for 7 years....I can tell you that not filling your humi overnight or turning it off can lead to a very large fluctuation in rh.... my two cents....a cigar left out overnight, no problem...I dry box all the time. A cigar subjected to severe humidity fluctuation every night...I'm going to guess is a problem. Yes you could have bought a bum stick, could be there fault, might not. The guy is still a moron and I wouldn't buy there....

bionicjeff

I'm not going to buy from them again. As far as what I meant by rancid, the stick tasted sour and not at all like a cigar. I was just curious if the taste could have been caused by variance in humidity levels. There is AC going all night, so I'm assuming that would dehumidify the room a bit. I bought a few cigars there when they first opened and I bought the Punch about three weeks later.

catfishbluezz

bionicjeff:

I'm not going to buy from them again. As far as what I meant by rancid, the stick tasted sour and not at all like a cigar. I was just curious if the taste could have been caused by variance in humidity levels. There is AC going all night, so I'm assuming that would dehumidify the room a bit. I bought a few cigars there when they first opened and I bought the Punch about three weeks later.

No telling really... Todd had an excellent point in regard to fermentation, I have experienced that in the past myself....waited a few months and no problem. Again....I always put sticks I buy in my humi fr a few weeks and bring sticks to the b&m

Streater

rancid ['r

bionicjeff

Thank you, Streater.

Streater

No Problem. :-)

0patience

FNA:

Has anyone here ever run a walk-in humidor room to say that humidification system must run 24 hours a day? I haven't, but I really don't see why it would be necesasry. Could be wrong, but your purchases other than the Punch seem to indicate not.

If the humidification system is an auto system (and I can't see why anyone would have a constant one), then it should be a non-issue. The unit should turn itself on and off as needed. Mine does.