Ration And Rotation

[PapaDisco]

I certainly belong to the baggie storers, so count me in the "better flavors" part of the survey ... just kidding, but there may be a grain of truth to that claim.

The plastic bag serves several purposes IMHO : slower oxydation by less exposure to oxygen, maintaining the original humidity and protection in case of beetles ( never had the problem, but I don't freeze ).

Not the last purpose is the incredible aroma when you open the bag.

I does make sense to me that, once the necessary "breathing" period (if any, the tobacco could have been thoroughly fermented before rolling) is done for a cigar, that we then store them in a fashion that controls oxidation and air/vapor exchange to some selected level that either maintains the cigar or supports its aging, depending on what you believe is going on. I haven't seen any scientific study that would give us guidance here sadly. The wine industry has studied gas transfusion across cork materials in all sorts of detail, but to my meager knowledge nothing similar is available for cigars.

Nino, before bagging and storing, do you rest your boxes in a humi to stabilize the humidity content to a desired level? Or do they go straight from the store to the bag to the locker?

[Nino]

Nino, before bagging and storing, do you rest your boxes in a humi to stabilize the humidity content to a desired level? Or do they go straight from the store to the bag to the locker?

Straight to the locker.

They get plenty of stabilisation inside the metal boxes ..

Only had 2-3 boxes that were a bit over-humidifed and had to be specially taken care of, the rest were/are perfect.

[PapaDisco]

Straight to the locker.

They get plenty of stabilisation inside the metal boxes ..

Only had 2-3 boxes that were a bit over-humidifed and had to be specially taken care of, the rest were/are perfect.

True, they will stabilize at a uniform humidity in the locker and inside the bags, AND they will do it at an exceptionally slow pace, which is good. I read somewhere that plastic slows vapor transmission down by a factor of 7X, so a locker half full of 70 rH robustos and half full of 60 rH robustos should eventually settle at 65% for everything and do it very, very slowly. Of course if the all of the sticks go in dry then they'll stay dry forever unless there's some moisture entering from somewhere.

I'm guessing that your KISS system could work very well here in San Francisco, where the average rH is 60-70% year around. Of course we get the occasional cold snap and rH dips to 45%, but cigars in baggies in a water tight locker would scarcely notice a temporary dip like that except for the temperature (which would probably be felt inside an insulated locker in within some number of hours), and if the boxes were in a cellar then even the temperature swings would be minor.