Pailong

Thanks everyone for their replies! I think the wrapping in cling film helps preserve their freshness whilst travelling (and I guess the same idea applies when people wrap their cigar boxes in cling film, to slow down the aging and keep them protected). I know that when buying boxes from Netherlands, a certain shop will plastic wrap the boxes really tightly cause they know that you're travelling so it protects the cigar boxes whilst they aren't in a humidor/bag with boveda. I guess leaving them in cling film will really slow them down massively, especially since they are wrapped super tightly. Seeing as they are freshly rolled customs, I'm thinking whether I should just unwrap them to let them "air" out and breathe and allow them to properly age for a year. I might do an experiment and leave some wrapped up and the rest I'll put into an empty cigar box, put the box into a zip bag and chuck that into a tupperdore as my wineador is full (I always believe aging in wooden boxes helps as opposed to just aging them in plastic containers). I've frozen all of these custom rolls so they should be fine but yes, I think "airing" them is important (although I have seen people say that they wrapped their boxes and never touched them but when they went to smoke the cigars years later, they tasted amazing! Probably due to really slowing down the aging process and locking them in that consistent environment inside the cling film). Saying that, I recently cracked open a box of cigars that I've been aging in my wineador for exactly 2 years (box is inside sealed zip bag, no boveda, box only been opened once in 2 years to check state of cigars, zip bag opened maybe 4 or 5 times to rearrange boxes inside). The cigars smelled amazing and smoked brilliantly and have definitely "aged" and developed. All my boxes in my wineador are kept in sealed zip bags, without boveda in them (instead I scatter the boveda all around the inside of the wineador).

Hi all, Does anyone age/keep their cigars wrapped in plastic wrap/cling film/saran wrap? (whatever you want to call it!) Like you know when you buy custom rolls in Cuba and they wrap the sticks in the plastic wrap. Does anyone actually leave it like that and let it age that way or do you unwrap it? I know a lot of people wrap their actual boxes in plastic wrap and age it that way - I never really know the benefits of this? But I'm talking about wrapping the actual sticks in it (without box). Currently I have some custom rolls wrapped in plastic wrap really tightly (from a trip to Cuba) and since coming back home, have just left the sticks in the wrapping and all I did was then put them into a big resealable zip bag, threw a boveda in there too and sealed the bag up. I have this in a storage container (it's not an airtight container though but I thought it should be fine since the sticks are in a zip bag). If anyone does indeed wrap their single sticks like this, why do you do it? Thanks!

Epicure Especial is one of my favourite cigars and I prefer it over the Epicure 1 and 2. I tried an Epicure Deluxe last year and have to say, smoked really well - from what I remember it smoked stronger than the Especial but a bit more linear, whereas the Especial, to me, smokes lighter but has more complex flavours, especially an aged one.

For me, it's about keeping the boxes in a self-contained stable environment that will not get affected by the wineador cooling tempeartures (or affected at a very, very slow pace) - otherwise the humidity just goes up and down nonstop when I keep the wine cooler switched on to my desired temperature of 16C. It's all about trying to maintain a stable, consistent environment. In an ideal world, my actual room would be air conditioned to 16C and then I wouldn't have to switch my wine cooler on, then I wouldn't even keep my boxes in ziplock bags. So imagine my wine cooler is the air conditioned room and each individual ziplock bag is a miniature humidor with a cigar box inside. I would recommend humidifying the cigar box to your desired RH before putting it inside a ziplock bag in the wineador. I put all my boxes for about 2 weeks into my desktop humidors to get them acclimated to my desired RH for that box (some boxes I'm aging at 62%, others at 69%), I should probably leave it longer but oh well. I then put the boxes into ziplocks without boveda. Remember that your cigar box would have absorbed a lot of the humidity before going into the bag and therefore should still carry quite a bit of humidity once stored inside the ziplock - this is what a lot of people do before they vacuum seal their boxes too (which I'm not doing because I still want a bit of air in the bag to age it slowly). I do have a few ziplock bags with cigar boxes AND boveda inside but I will probably remove the boveda from the bag soon as I don't think it's needed inside the bag. And smoke your sticks! I just smoked one of my Hoyo de Monterrey Grand Epicure EL 2013 after having stored it at 62% in my wine cooler for years WITHOUT a ziplock bag and it's smoking beautifully. It's the only way to tell if your sticks are aging the way you want them.

Hmm are you sure your boxes have been properly humidified at the desired % before putting them in the bag? Also, try doing smaller bags, not 6 boxes but 3. It's easier to manage smaller bags with less boxes. I've got a big bag with several boxes in and NO boveda and it sits tightly at between 67-69% RH, cause the boxes were already humidified at the %. I've also got bags with boxes humidified at 62%, again no boveda packs inside them. I do have one bag with a 62% boveda inside and the reading is around 65% right now, I'm guessing because the boxes were originally humidified at a higher RH before I put them in the bag with a 62%.

I don't know what finger bags are but I'm using ziplock/resealable bags for some individual boxes and also recently bought those gigantic plastic sealable bags with the hand pump to extract the air aka vacuum seal it, though I'm not pumping all the air out, just most of it like 90-95% mainly so I can fit it into my wineador - reason I bought these giant bags is so I can store 20 boxes in one bag, rather than have one ziplock bag for one cigar box i.e. 20 bags. Though I have read that some people use those vacuum machines for sealing food and completely vacuum-seal their boxes, not sure of the pros/cons of that though. Good to hear that LordAnubis. I think I am leaning towards not putting boveda's inside the plastic bags either, just the boxes only - so far I'm reading perfect humidity levels for my liking (I'm guessing because the boxes themselves have already been humidified properly over the years). And do you mean storing single cigar sticks in a bag? I've never done that either.

I think the fact that your wineador sits inside an air conditioned room is why you have better stable humidity and temp in your wineador. If you think about it, I'm trying to replicate that but imagine the wineador is the air conditioned room and the ziplock bag is the wineador - during the winter, my wineador is off and the temperature is stable at 16-18C and the humidity is rock solid, cause the wineador is sitting in a room at that naturally passive temperature.

I would try putting the boxes into the bags but don't include the boveda's and measure the humidity inside the bag that way, see what you get. I'm getting decent results so far.

Good to hear this! Did the humidity of the cigar boxes inside the zipper bags regulate itself? Since you never put boveda inside the bags. If so, did it stay this way for all that time without the need for you to put boveda/add humidity inside the bags? I guess if the bags are inside a wineador or cabinet it will slowly absorb the humidity through the bag since it is still permeable. I've experimented so far with 2 different bags - one bag has a boveda with the boxes and the other bag is just boxes and no boveda. I've been monitoring the humidity in each bag and I think having the boveda inside is too much - from my basic guesses I think there is not enough air for the boveda to regulate and it ends up over-humidifying the boxes inside the bag (which is why some people report getting mold) - of course, this is if the boveda are fully charge (or over charged). I'm tempted to just remove all the boveda's from inside the bags and just store the boxes inside each bag without a boveda, seeing as my boxes are already well humidified.

Hi all, Just wondering, do any wineador owners store their boxes inside plastic/sealable/ziplock bags inside their wineadors? I never used to but since now I want to plug in my wine cooler and turn it on (and due to the hot weather and wanting to keep my cigars at a lower temperature) I had issues with the humidity swinging up and down nonstop when the wineador is trying to cool down. I never thought about it before but after speaking to some people and reading online, I tried placing some boxes into plastic ziplock bags along with a boveda pack inside the bag too and also put a hygrometer in to keep an eye on things and found that the humidity fluctuations are only 2-3% whilst the temperature is nice and low (I've also put some boxes into a separate bag WITHOUT a boveda pack and the humidity also stays nice and even, I'm guessing because the cigar boxes themselves are already nicely humidified and that the ziplock bags are permeable). Wondered if anyone swears by this method and what your thoughts are. I've also heard that some people are putting in boveda packs into the plastic ziplock bags with their boxes and found it over-humidifies their cigars, creating mold because the boveda's are allowed to breathe as much. Thoughts?

Hoyo de Monterrey - Monterrey. From the 2004 LCDH humidor.

I haven't actually smoked any of it yet! This wineador is purely for long term aging but obviously I will be smoking a stick here and there to see how they progress. So I have one compartment that is running at 16c temperature and is staying stable at around 60-62% rH. This is perfect for what I want. The other compartment I have running at 12c temperature and I am trying to keep it at 60-62% rH as well but because the fan in this compartment kicks on more frequently to keep it down at 12c temperature, it is sucking out the moisture constantly so my hygrometer is reading 40-55% rH most of the time, which is worrying. At first I wasn't that worried because I have 70% beads in there plus some boveda packs but now I am seeing that the cold temperature is drying out the boveda packs fast and making them hard. This compartment used to be more stable around 60% rH but ever since I filled this section up to the brim with boxes it's been blocking some airways I think so difficult for the air to get around therefore the reading might be slightly off. I'll have to put mostly 70% rH beads in there to balance out the humidity being sucked out all the time with the lower temperature. It all takes trial and error and you'll have to mess around with your own wineador to see what works for you. Life would be easier if I would just make both compartments 16c temperature but I am curious to age at 12c as I have smoked cigars that have been aged at 12c and noticed that they smoke amazingly well and have aged brilliantly. Also I'm curious to compare both my compartments in a year's time.

Just to give an update - I put the hygrometer in a cigar box and left it in the wineador for over 24 hours. The minimum and maximum reading of humidity throughout the 24hours (during which the wineador fan was turning on and off) was between 65-69% humidity, so I guess that confirms that I have nothing to worry about with regards to humidity fluctuating when the fan kicks on, as the boxes protect the cigars.

Yes you're right, they get sold at LCDH around the world, in violation of the LCDH regulation, but Habanos knows this and doesn't do anything anyway. Also, I won't drop names, but the best retailer of the year isn't the one with the most boxes, it's someone else in Europe. Shouldn't single out one person, as every LCDH and not just them but all cuban cigar shops around the world sell stuff they aren't meant to. Habanos won't do a thing and lets it slide - it makes up a big market for consumers and also allows every day consumers to try different cigars when they normally wouldn't get the chance because they can't travel to other countries. But also, relations do come out of $$$. Not retailers, but individual buyers who have the relationship with the shops in Havana because they spend a lot of money - these people get access to the hidden stocks of Excelencia. If you spend a lot of money, you're going to get looked after (in any industry). But at the same time, I know people who aren't "big spenders" and have good relations because they are friends with the local shops and have been going to Cuba for quite some time. I knew someone in Havana this time who works in the cuban cigar industry and they went searching for the Excelencia but could not find one. Why? Because no one knew who they were (even though they worked in the industry). Sucks but this is the way it is right now. Some people get lucky and find boxes on the shelves. That's just my experience. Yes the retailers buy and then sell them for a huge markup. But if I am paying £20 for a standard Montecristo no.2, why not pay £22 for a Diplomaticos Excelencia? Yes they are 86cuc a box of 10 in Cuba, but Monte 2 are dirt cheap in Cuba too but we still have to pay the higher price in our countries. Anyway, good luck to anyone travelling to Cuba looking for them. They are indeed available.

I was in Cuba during the festival. The Diplomaticos Excelencias are available, you just need to know where to find them and also, if you're connected then you will get them (there are hundreds of boxes and they are still slowly releasing them, 7000 boxes being produced). It sucks for normal every day customers who walk in and get told no but like I said, if you're connected, you can get as many boxes as you want.