Single box aging

[Philprop]

I recently purchased my first box, from here actually, a box of RA Superiores from march 2013 I believe. So seeing how they are pretty young, I was thinking about letting them sit a while, but not before I take one out and see how it is of course seeing how I've read that a lot of what is coming out now is smoking pretty well ROTT.

So my question is, what is the best way to age these a little? Can I take them out of their box and let them sit in my humi with my other cigars? Should I set up a coolidor for this one box? Could I use a large ziplock bag and throw in a humidification device like a boveda pack along with the cigars in their box? What do you think would be the best option. Thanks in advance for your help.

[jimbo1]

I would put in the humidor for now, when your collection grows then you can store boxes in a coolidor. Of course if you plan on buying several boxes in the near future, you might as well start setting up the coolidor.......really depends on you future buying plans.

[Fuzz]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how addictive is your personality? If it is a 9 or 10, buy as many coolers as you can and tell the kids they will have to go to medical school in Ludhiana, as you will be blowing their college found on cigars.

Seriously, though. If you don't plan on buying a lot of boxes, just get yourself a tight sealing cooler. In the mean time, throw the RAs in one of those large tupperware tubs with some beads or kitty litter.

[Skyfall]

I have 2 large temp and RH controlled humidors. I use one for 1-5 years smoking and I use the other for long term storage deep sleep. In the one for deep sleep I keep the temp cooler, around 57F-58F and the RH a little lower, 61%-62%. In addition, in the long term storage humidor I keep my prized possessions hell bent for the longest storage times loosely vacuum sealed and in the very bottom of the unit, which is the coldest. I have some boxes I'm holding designed for 18+ years.

[Philprop]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how addictive is your personality? If it is a 9 or 10, buy as many coolers as you can and tell the kids they will have to go to medical school in Ludhiana, as you will be blowing their college found on cigars.

Seriously, though. If you don't plan on buying a lot of boxes, just get yourself a tight sealing cooler. In the mean time, throw the RAs in one of those large tupperware tubs with some beads or kitty litter.

One example I forgot was the tupperdore actually. And seeing how I got bombed yesterday and have no room in my humi, I think I'll go with that until my new humi gets in and then I'll grown them in that for a little aging.

Thanks guys!

[Philprop]

If I chose to go the Tupperdor route, can I just throw the box in a container with a boveda pack and let it sit?should I put the box in a ziplock bag and then put in it? Should I keep the box open in the container? Do I wash the container with distiller water or would soap and tap water washing be ok?

[stogieluver]

Philprop, check out my post (Plastic smell...) about four posts down from yours.

I recently set up a tupperdor and that string of posts pretty well lays out what has to be done. My tupperdor has been settled in at a steady 65% rh at 70 degrees for several weeks now, but I had to do quite a bit of cleaning/deodorizing to eliminate the plastic smell. Working beautifully now, though. I have a few boxes in it, and each box's lid is slightly open. I placed a six inch long tube of 65% heartfelt beads in it and had to spend a few days getting that tube spritzed with just the right amount of distilled water for it to stabilize. After that, put the boxes in and it is working great.

If you have enough room in your present humidor, just put them in there and let them rest for whatever period of time you think necessary. I have three desk top humi's, which are good for storing/aging singles, but I needed a larger container for aging boxes and cab's and didn't want to spend several hundred $ for a nice cabinet right now. The plastic box with a sealable lid works just fine for now. It's clear so I can keep an eye on my hygrometer to monitor the humidity level, but it never fluctuates more than 1%, staying constantly at 64%-65%.

[Philprop]

Thanks Stogie! I actually already have a container that would work great and where it's a bit older ad has been used and washed many times there's no plastic smell in it at all. But I noticed when I got the box in the mail and still notice it a bit now, is that it smells kind of fishy. I was hoping to crack it open and smell the sweet tobacco and woody smell you would expect from a box of cigars but instead is was a little weird. Even ow there's not much of a cedar smell off the empty box but that weird fish/plastic smell. I have no idea why it would smell that way.

And as of right now they fit in my humi, albeit barely, but they fit. I've been looking around for a bigger desktop to get but I just figured if I'm going t buy a box or two in the futur then I may as well just set up a Tupperdor for now like yourself.