Nerdy cigar humidity experiments
VegasFrank
Posts: 16,678 ✭✭✭✭✭
Since I'm stuck in lockdown for the next few days, I thought I'd come up with some dorky stuff to do. I recently bought this cigar medics humidimeter from Amazon because I saw it on some YouTube videos and there wasn't anything that I wanted to buy on the DD that day for 30 bucks.
You have to stick both prongs into the cigar to get a reading. I think it's probably not a great idea to stick them into the side of the cigar, but as long as you have a 50 RG or bigger, you can stick them into the foot or the head without damaging the cigar. I noticed that if you stick the prongs halfway in, the reading bounces a lot, but if you get them all the way in it stabilizes.
I measured the RH of a bunch of my smokes both from the wineador and the tower through the foot. They were all right at 64%. Cool.
I had the bright idea of sticking the prongs on my tongue. Unfortunately, Sherm, it did not zap me. However, it gave me a reading of 99%. We could call that a lazy man's control reading. Lol.
So after **** with it for several days, I'm going to set up a couple of half-assed experiments involving rest, dry boxing, refrigerators, and smoking.
I thought it would be interesting to see what my half smoked cigar from last night was reading. It was a padron corona.
Way higher than I thought, considering the ambient RH is about 25% this morning. I set it down about 8 hours before I took this reading. So then I took a really old knob that was way shorter, and it was reading 33%. This really got me to wondering. Does RH stay in a nub that long? The Padron was way bigger than I usually leave them. The wrapper on the outside was all dried and cracked like you would expect. The cigar itself was actually a little spongy still though. Interesting.
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Great fun!
I decided to play around with the blind man's bluff that I smoked this morning. I've had it for about 9 months in my tower (imagine that!). It's been sitting in my 20 count herfador with A pair of 8 g 69% bovedas since last night.
No dry boxing. I smoked it right from the container.
Prelight: foot 64%, head 72%
Initial light: head 75%
Smoked half down: head 78%, Right after a draw, 85%
1.5 inches left: 89%, after a draw, 93%
Pretty interesting. I figured the RH would build a little bit, but not go up 30% throughout the life of the smoke. Clearly the smoke from the draw is very humid. That makes me wonder how much dry boxing really affects a cigar once you light it up. Also makes me wonder how long you need to dry box it to really make a difference,.
Makes sense, whatever the rh is in the cigar, combined with the air rh, turns to steam as you smoke. Neat experiment.
How much of that rh could have been transferred from your mouth, which was at 99rh?
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
@ShawnOL said:
I didn't actually think of that. I wonder how we can isolate that one? I do tend to blow through the cigars a lot, especially when I'm smoking fast, as to prevent to tar build up. I suppose that I could eliminate blowing through and then see what happens. If nothing changes, I'm at a loss.
Thanks for putting up with the hardships of this important research; after all, this means smoking many, many cigars. We appreciate you, Frank!
I do what I do for the people, you know?
The Lewinski Experiment...
Add pre-cutting the head to the dry box experiment. I know the foot rh drops pretty fast if you leave one in the car\sun.
Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.
Too much tar build up
I would imagine the head would always have a higher rh while smoking. The humidity at the foot would be turned to steam as it burns and is drawn through the cigar. As for it being higher before lighting...
Okay I just am messing around with this AJ Fernandez time flies. I did 4 measurements at each increment.
Dry boxed in the cellophane for 1 hour.
8:00 foot 64%, head 71%
9:00 foot 60%, head 68%
Initial light, 70%
First third 75.5%
Halfway point 83.5%
End of 2nd third 85.5%
At the nub, percentages ranged from 92 to 99%
I was careful to not blow through the entire time. Took extra caution with the puffs as well, and took all measurements right before taking a try not right after.
I'm guessing that as the tobacco combusts, the moisture locked into the leaves is released and it stays inside the cigar.
Also of note, the dry boxing and reduced humidity of the smoke did not seem to affect the post light numbers. It leads me to question what we are doing when we are dry boxing cigars. Clearly the majority of RH still stays inside and once you light, RH is released up to similar levels anyways. Does dryboxing just help the wrapper combust better? understanding I'd need a crap load more samples before making any kind of conclusion, it's still pretty interesting.
https://out.reddit.com/t3_ix1zvj?url=https://gfycat.com/whiteenragedbrahmancow&token=AQAAIw5pX8oBAhglOdQh2ebOi2BlVisRwm4hKQj3X9V6_l5X6nP7&app_name=mweb2x
How I feel after reading this thread.
I could watch that for hours....
^ says a lot about sports
Really cool Frank, thanks for doing and sharing this!
Wonder how much things change if you were to dry box for 4, 8, 24 hours
I have one dryboxing right now. Been 5 hours so far. Will post results tomorrow.
I'd join in and help, but my grain moisture meter only goes up to 30% and the probes are huge.
Puffin! Appropriate mascot bird for this group.
I’ll volunteer!
Wait..... what?
Wow Pete, I'm impressed. I thought that was more Nick's speed....
What do you guys always say? 20 bucks is 20 bucks
Interesting that the dry boxing did not have a big effect. But maybe expected for just an hr?5% prelight is more of a difference that I might have thought.
Also neat to see the rh as you smoke. I guess that is consistent with a hot cigar becoming squishy. Has to be mostly from the tobacco right? Sure puffing into the cigar to expel air would add some moisture, but if a cigar is stored correctly it should have moisture in the leaves (duh).
I never really thought about what happens when a cigar combusts. I guess you are burning the tobacco and vaporizing any moisture?
Does cigar size matter? Do fat cigars generate a higher rh while smoking than skinny? What about time for a dry box to make a difference? I assume skinny cigars could be dryboxed for shorter and have the same impact?
Interesting point about dryboxing having a larger effect on wrapper. Makes sense. I always heard to drybox cigars that have a thick or oily wrapper to help the burn. Would make sense if the wrapper dried out more than the rest of the cigar, just enough to help the wrapper burn better. Or it's a placebo and no one knows anything!
@VegasFrank is this the meter you got?
What meter...? oh I mean yeah That's the one. Couldn't see it behind those gallon juggs
Oh, the pain of it all. Reading all the way through this amazing treatise, having to refrain from comparing my huge probe to @Yakster’s, and then the juggs... those lovely juggs....
It’s just too much. I can’t stand any more..... 😝😝🙄🤣
Think I’ll go for a walk....
I contacted CigarMedics and asked if this would work for pipe tobacco too... they said just cigars. Some of their other products were tempting, good thing I'm on a buying freeze.
I spotted a moisture meter in use in this pipe tobacco video.