Humidity changes
My cigars are all stored at 65% humidity, me and the wife are going out tonight and will be sitting outside smoking, it’s an extremely rainy humid day in Georgia, should I let them acclimate to the humidity outside of the humidor before smoking or just let it rip? I’ve heard stories of cigars going crazy with big outside humidity changes, unraveling and such
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Comments
Yes
let them acclimate
Just the one(s) you'll be smoking tonight.
I know, You're a big dog and I'm on the list.
Let's eat, GrandMa. / Let's eat GrandMa. -- Punctuation saves lives
It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.
Either way...
How long should I let them sit? It’s been a struggle lately, they’ve all been cracking or unraveling, they’re stored at 65 and it’s 80% outside here
If your outside humidity is always high, would move your humidity up to 69.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
How confident are you that your pace of smoking is correct? If you're smoking too fast the stick will heat up more which can lead to wrapper problems.
@peter4jc pretty confident, some crack in the humidor as well even though I know it’s at 65, is it normal for some cigars to not handle that low of humidity?
Nope.
Hopefully the humidity is fine, hydrometer says 65 and seal is good on humidor, using 65% Boveda packs, most have no cracks, could just damaged from handling
@MrPossum If you're not overheating by smoking at a pace that is too fast, as @peter4jc suggested, It's still possible you could be drastically overheating your stick during your light-up technique. Lots of new guys fall for the cool pyrotechnics visual of the "Inject jet flame + puff puff puff = fireball technique".
@MrPossum Are you removing the cellophane from your sticks in storage? This leads to extra damage sometimes, (small cracks that blow up while smoking).
Well I do have a **** lighting technique currently due to needing a quality torch lighter, using a bic atm
And I keep the cellophane on them
Are you facing north/south or east/west while you're smoking them?
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
North East while leaning back to the south west at about 4 feet from the ground at a 135 degree angle
Well there's your problem. You need to face south while leaning back at a 75 degree angle. How high up you are is irrelevant though.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
I'm in Arizona where we have a big humidity swing the other way usually, store at 65, sometimes set them out other times not, doesn't seem to be a reason a cigar blows up...unless it's a Ghurka
Make sure they’re not cracked before you light them. Sometimes damage done during shipping is hard to notice. Check them good. Then get back to us.
Process of elimination.
If they are damaged in the humi, what’s my best option for repair? A lot of videos give a quick rundown on repair, but I haven’t found any that cover how long to let them sit and where to sit them while glue dries, or what to do with a cigar who’s wrapper has already chipped off in a spot
I’ve never glued a cigar. If it’s that bad toss it. Smoking a cigar should be an enjoyable experience, not something that you constantly worry over or seems like work.
A small chip in a wrapper? Put your finger over it and smoke it.
El Ligador dries quickly, good for gluing wrappers back down. Chap Stick works too. You can use a cigar for a donor wrapper in a pinch. @Bob_Luken, correct me if I'm wrong.
What cigar? Davidoff? Gurkha? Fighting C o c k? More importantly, what wrapper?
I run into the same kind of trouble sometimes here in Tennessee, if I'm smoking outside and the humidity is high. Which, in Tennessee, is often the case.
An example, I won't hardly ever smoke a New World Cameroon outside. I sometimes have trouble with other Cameroon wrapper cigars as well, the Cameroon is just too fragile to handle going from 65% in the humidor to 90% outdoors. Something with a San Andres or Connecticut Broadleaf tends to hold up better.
Oh, and if it's a Gurkha, well, that's what they do. Throw them away and buy a better cigar.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Thinking a little more about this, as it's a problem for me, too. Umbagog. There's your answer. Made for the rigors of widely varying conditions, holds up like a champ. If you haven't tried them, do so.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Can't agree more....I've smoked them in fog in an opened topped truck driving over rocks with zero issues.
My dad smokes his at 72 and never has any issues, so I wonder if maybe I can just toss the ones that have trouble in humidity that I plan to smoke for the week in a container with 72 packs and letting them come up beforehand
or give them to your dad
You smoking what your Dad smokes?
Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.
Not really
Why is pops not having the same problems you're having?
Listen... this will sound cold or snarky...it's not meant to be... but a lot of the things you wonder about and ask for answers on, you're just gonna have to figure it out for yourself with that thing between your own ears. There are always guidelines and schools of thought but your situation is your situation, and as much as we'd all like to help, sometimes it can't be done remotely because your world is your world. Pay attention to the variable you're dealing with, make adjustments, take notes, and learn.
This sounds like good advice.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.