More thoughts on the great debate!!

Lee.mcglynn

The yellow cello... People say this is cause by oils dispersing onto the wrapper over time. Is this correct? I'm not quite convince it is. In the past few years I have decided to dive into cigar aging mode I've read a lot about it. It seems almost everything contradicts it's self once read from a bunch of different threads, So here we go. I have had some sticks with over four years of age on them kept in the cello the whole time. The wrappers on these are still crystal clear! But I know the company will age them prior to hitting the market. I have had sticks that have a nice tinted cello on them but smoked like they were never aged or rested. I also started going thru some of my stuff and have noticed some with plume staring and the wrapper is clear! Why is this?! I'm starting to believe it is not the oils staining the wrappers but the gases causing a chemical effect making them yellow. It makes more sense to me at least. But I was wondering on everyone's thoughts and experiences.

Rhamlin

Yeah I know what you mean. Ive got sticks with over a year on them and no yellowing. And I've had some with no age on them and the cellos were yellowed. I think when maduros are painted eventually that stuff just starts during the cello.

blurr

I have a few up to 4 years old with pretty heavily yellowed cello. I don't leave too many on, I find they seem to age better (my opinion only) naked. But I can say I've never had a stick that was 2 to 3 years old and the cello wasn't yellowing at all. That seems odd, though it may depend on the wrapper type, amount of oils in the wrapper etc. I can say I've noticed on some sticks if you leave the cello on, you actually get some oily spots on the cello almost like a tiny bit of oil from the wrapper is sticking.

I'm curious about the sticks you say have had cello on for 4 yrs and no yellowing, that doesn't seem right. ANd you won't see much yellowing on 12 months of age, I notice it more around 2 years and it just gets darker every year after that. Obviously every blend is different so every cigar will affect the cello wrapper in different ways.

jthanatos

Per this cellophane turns yellow naturally with age, no matter what it contains. Exposure to sunlight (so probably other UV producing lights) can speed this process. So, yellow cello is perhaps only a good indicator of how old the cello is (and how much sun it got)?

allsmokedup

I've had the cellophane on sticks from the same box turn yellow at different rates. The kicker is that I stored some in a coolerdor and some in a regular humi. Somehow, the humidor makes the cellophane turn yellow faster. The coolerdor stored sticks were only slightly yellow, mostly noticeable only when the cigars were out of the cello.

jthanatos

allsmokedup:

I've had the cellophane on sticks from the same box turn yellow at different rates. The kicker is that I stored some in a coolerdor and some in a regular humi. Somehow, the humidor makes the cellophane turn yellow faster. The coolerdor stored sticks were only slightly yellow, mostly noticeable only when the cigars were out of the cello.

Do you get into the humidor more often than the cooler?

allsmokedup

No, I open them up more-or-less at the same rate.

Lee.mcglynn

blurr:

I have a few up to 4 years old with pretty heavily yellowed cello. I don't leave too many on, I find they seem to age better (my opinion only) naked. But I can say I've never had a stick that was 2 to 3 years old and the cello wasn't yellowing at all. That seems odd, though it may depend on the wrapper type, amount of oils in the wrapper etc. I can say I've noticed on some sticks if you leave the cello on, you actually get some oily spots on the cello almost like a tiny bit of oil from the wrapper is sticking.

I'm curious about the sticks you say have had cello on for 4 yrs and no yellowing, that doesn't seem right. ANd you won't see much yellowing on 12 months of age, I notice it more around 2 years and it just gets darker every year after that. Obviously every blend is different so every cigar will affect the cello wrapper in different ways.

Some of the ones that are crystal clear are the aurora 2003 puro's they were only released in 2008 so that's four years right there. Some of the ones that had the yellow cello were padrons and they were definately not aged and smoked very young. I have some mb3's that have plume developing on them and the cello is crystal clear as well....here's another thing....why does the foot turn yellow? There is no contact with the cigar,can the oil really travel that far?? And on the naked sticks I haven't moved for a very long time why does the cedar not darken????

kuzi16

cellophane yellows with age, not cigar oils. a yellowed cellophane indicates that the cellophane has been around for a while.

i never put much though on it beyond that but i assume that there are factors beyond time that play into the yellowing.

temperature, moisture, thickness, composition of the cello itself, exposure to light, exposure to moving air, etc, may all play a roll in the process.

so the real thought here is this:
under 70/70 conditions, how long does it take cellophane to yellow?