My hygrometer says 72% but my cigars are bone dry!

Darkside

Hello all! First post and I have a dry cigar problem!

I live in Arizona. I have the Napoleon II Humidor (http://img.cigarsinternational.com/p/200/m/v/m-vg05.jpg) and and a digital hygrometer. The hygrometer reads 72% & 72* and my cigars are dry. The caps flake when I cut them. I don't even keep most of my cigars in there anymore because they are better when kept in the boxes.

For humidification I use the block that came with it and distilled water. I have been hesitant to take it above 72% for fear of mold.

Any ideas why they may be freakishly dry at 72%? I can certainly recalibrate the hygrometer but I can't imagne it being off enough to make them this dry.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

kuzi16

is the only symptom of dryness the cap flaking off?

if so what brands do you tend to smoke. there are a few that i have had consistent issues with cap flakage. one way to help keep the cap from cracking, flaking, or comming off is to make sure it is fairly moist before clipping it. I use a punch to cut most of my rounded end cigars and i make sure that its pretty much wet before i cut it. this also applies if you use a double guillotine cutter on the parejo shapes.
torpedoes i do the same thing only i use a double guillotine cutter.

i would still recommend re-salt-testing your hygrometer (couldnt hurt could it? )

cabinetmaker

I always lick the cap before punching for 2 reasons. 1) to get a taste and fell of the cigar, and 2) it seems to punch easier. Same with a torp before cutting (read Kuzi's post on developing your palette). I agree to re-test your hygrometer. I have 2 digital hygros that can sit right next to each other and give readings with different readings by 1-2%, but they both salt-test at different %'s too. One is dead on at 75%, the other is 74% and cannot be adjusted. I just add 1% to it's reading.

All that being said, I still have some cigars that "pop a cap" when I punch them even though I know that they are at the right humidity.

jihiggs

make sure your hygrometer is working. if you take it out does the humidity drop? put it outside, summer in phx I would imagine wouldnt be higher than 15% humidity. if it still says 72, you got a problem lol.

Darkside

Thanks for the tips fellas! I am outside right now testing it and so far it's only dropped to 40%. Online it says it is 19% so we'll see how much further it drops.

To answer your other questions, the whole wrapper on most of the cigars are dry, not just the cap.

In the humi I have a mix of the following:

5 Vegas Classic
Montecristo Platinum
Erin Go Bragh
Oliveros Classic
Padilla Obsidian
Punch
Graycliff 1666
Zelo De Cuba (yeah... I know... but they make a decent golf cigar)

I cut them with a 3 week old Xikar XI2



EDIT: It never got below 40%, so it seems to be off by at least 15% (based on current humidity). Time to recalibrate! Thanks again!

kuzi16

Darkside:

To answer your other questions, the whole wrapper on most of the cigars are dry, not just the cap.

thats not what my question was. its not possible in a practical sense for only the cap to be dry.

the question was about how you could tell that the cigars were dry. the cap cracking is a symptom of cigars being dry. but there are others. if that was the ONLY symptom and you had a hygrometer that was reading 72% RH then it was probably not a moisture issue. it would have been a cutting issue, or a pre-light ritual issue.