Quick Question

[pbibby]

Hi guys.

I'm sorry if this has been addressed before. But I am just looking for a quick fix.

If the ambient room humidity is higher than it is in my humidor, how can I dry box a cigar? My humi sits at 65% but the humidity where I live is about 80% right now. I usually just sit sticks out on the counter for about 24 hours to dry box. Obviously I can't do that right now and I'm wondering what the alternative is?

Thanks for the help and again I'm sorry if this has already been addressed. I'm just wondering because I'm smoking my only La Escepcion tomorrow!

-Paul

[Habana Mike]

I use an unhumidified desktop.

It usually holds a fair bit drier than ambient regardless....

[Rye]

In that case, I'd just pull from the humi to smoke. Cigars kept at 65% smoke very well for me. If you want to create a drybox for future use, I'd suggest getting some 60%rh beads and don't add any moisture to them at all.

[stogieluver]

Is your home air conditioned? If so, especially if with a central system, I'm willing to bet the humidity level inside your home is running around 55%.

[Stogieninja]

In that case, I'd just pull from the humi to smoke. Cigars kept at 65% smoke very well for me. If you want to create a drybox for future use, I'd suggest getting some 60%rh beads and don't add any moisture to them at all.

This, or dry KL will do the trick.

[PigFish]

I have a novel idea

Why not store cigars in the condition that you wish to smoke them?

Cheers! -Piggy

[pbibby]

I have a novel idea

Why not store cigars in the condition that you wish to smoke them?

Cheers! -Piggy

Well I do. But opening the humi to rearrange Sent the humidity up for a few days. It's coming down, but slower than I wanted.

[pbibby]

Thanks guys. I'll try the dry desk top. Thanks. Sorry for clogging up the feed....

[jdo2110]

Isn't there something about putting them in the fridge for an hour... Or something like tjay

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oliverdst]

I have a novel idea

Why not store cigars in the condition that you wish to smoke them?

Cheers! -Piggy

50-55% humidity for years?

I mean, the intention is to quickly dry the cigar, isn't it?

[pbibby]

Is your home air conditioned? If so, especially if with a central system, I'm willing to bet the humidity level inside your home is running around 55%.

Haha well its about the perfect storm. It's been humid and rainy, but cool, so the air is off... Windows open. Otherwise you're right.

[SurpriseMVP]

Throw it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

Mike

[LeafLover]

Refrigerator in the morning. Good to smoke in the afternoon or night.

[PigFish]

50-55% humidity for years?

I mean, the intention is to quickly dry the cigar, isn't it?

According to my data, the percent moisture content of tobacco differential between 50 ErH tobacco and 65 ErH tobacco is about 30% at 20˚C.

I would like to see what data anyone has to support the rate and therefore the time it takes at which a rolled cigar loses 30% of its water based on a constant temperature (any temperature) and a 10 or 15 rH differential.

I am the last one to argue the value of the taste of dryer Cuban tobacco. I store my cigars at 70˚F and 60rH (if anyone cares). They are stored this way all the time. Am I damaging my cigars!!! Yes, it is a rhetorical question… but I would love to hear some answers!

With all the theories out there, I am just curious if there is a placebo effect to those that dry box?

It is a fair question!!! There are many, many unsubstantiated practices that people swear by when it comes to cigars.

The only way to know is to weigh a cigar with some precision and assume that all losses and gains are attributed to water under controlled conditions.

I have done this several times by the way, but my methods were rather sloppy so I never really bothered to analyze the data.

My findings were (roughly) that it took days, not hours to substantially reduce the weight of a cigar due to water loss. It also took substantial rH differentials to pull it off. Small differentials for hours did essentially nothing!

What people practice is none of my business. But I do like to challenge people who have theories for the sake of my curiosity and for the sake of interesting conversation. I am not attacking anyone, just pressing those that have rituals to put some thought into what they are doing in the hopes that I can uncover some new compelling data that I can learn or at least have some good conversation about.

Cheers! -Piggy

[subport]

I would go with the freezer in this case. Out of humi, ziplock bag, and 2-3 hrs in the freezer. Ready to smoke

[bradbrennan]

According to my data, the percent moisture content of tobacco differential between 50 ErH tobacco and 65 ErH tobacco is about 30% at 20˚C.

I would like to see what data anyone has to support the rate and therefore the time it takes at which a rolled cigar loses 30% of its water based on a constant temperature (any temperature) and a 10 or 15 rH differential.

I am the last one to argue the value of the taste of dryer Cuban tobacco. I store my cigars at 70˚F and 60rH (if anyone cares). They are stored this way all the time. Am I damaging my cigars!!! Yes, it is a rhetorical question… but I would love to hear some answers!

With all the theories out there, I am just curious if there is a placebo effect to those that dry box?

It is a fair question!!! There are many, many unsubstantiated practices that people swear by when it comes to cigars.

The only way to know is to weigh a cigar with some precision and assume that all losses and gains are attributed to water under controlled conditions.

I have done this several times by the way, but my methods were rather sloppy so I never really bothered to analyze the data.

My findings were (roughly) that it took days, not hours to substantially reduce the weight of a cigar due to water loss. It also took substantial rH differentials to pull it off. Small differentials for hours did essentially nothing!

What people practice is none of my business. But I do like to challenge people who have theories for the sake of my curiosity and for the sake of interesting conversation. I am not attacking anyone, just pressing those that have rituals to put some thought into what they are doing in the hopes that I can uncover some new compelling data that I can learn or at least have some good conversation about.

Cheers! -Piggy

I'd like to hear some more about this. I assumed people dry boxed in order to dry the wrapper only as surely the filler is not going to change in a matter of a few hours? And dry the wrapper so it burns slightly ahead of the filler as the wrapper has the majority of the aroma at least? But more of the flavor comes from the filler?

[pbibby]

Throw it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

Mike

Seriously???

[rbelcastro]

My NC cigars, in my larger humidor, are kept at 70% 65 degrees. My small humi where I keep my CCs(oh how I wish that was reversed!) is kept at 62%. I noticed that my CCs tended to have a tough draw. So, two days before I wanted to smoke them I put them in a small humi with some 60% beads, where it holds perfect. That 2% made all the difference in the world, and they smoke much better. May be in my head, but as long as it works......

I did put them in the fridge for a couple of hours prior to smoking and it was hit and miss.

[sw15825]

Haha well its abo. the perfect storm. It's been humid and rainy, but cool, so the air is off... Windows open. Otherwise you're right.

Here too. It sucks with all the weather swings in humidity outside and in. If its crazy wet out after rains I dont bother to smoke cause you will waste a good cigar. The only thing is to try to keep the humidity 60% or below in your home or box a bunch of cigars with 60% beads for at least 3 days. If its very high humiditys nothing really works unless someone knows how to beat it let us know! Thanks.

[SurpriseMVP]

Seriously???

Yes. 20-30 minutes in freezer will lower the RH.

Mike

[pbibby]

Yeah the swings in temp and humidity have been crazy. I'm going to try the freezer.

[PigFish]

Here is my point to posting on this thread…

We have one member that believes that dry boxing will reduce the water content in his cigars by 30%, using a small, uncontrolled differential, quickly!

We have another member that believes that his cigars are better by putting them in the freezer for 20 minutes. The claim here is, “it will lower the rH.” Whatever that means! I assume it means the process will remove water from the cigar and reduce the percentage moisture content. rH refers to water vapor in space by the way and has nothing to do with cigars. Cigars can attain or lose water vapor via diffusion as a part of a process known as equilibrium relative humidity. The water gained and lost represents true water content that is referred to as percent moisture content.

Much of this information is based on a body of work now referred to as water activity (if you are at all interested). Water activity is studied in great depth in the dry goods and dry, or packaged food industry.

If you ever wondered why your packaged peanut butter cookies with the peanut cream are crispy, when the peanut butter is gooey, this is the reason! When you leave the same cookie on the counter and it ‘feels’ stale some hours later… well this is again attributed to water activity.

I have to ask… any of you guys read my stuff on rH and temperature?

So today I pick out a ’01 SLR A, cut it and drop it on the scale. Here is the pic. By the way, this scale has a resolution and precision of 1/70,000 of a pound. It is a precision electromagnetic (not a spring) scale. An atomic clock was not used!!! I did not touch the cigar after weighing it. I supported it with parchment paper. After reading you will understand why…

The results are forthcoming, but I have to giggle here a little and toss out a spoiler. How many times have I posted here that cigars are not ‘free space?’ They are a hygroscopic entity with characteristics not the same as water vapor in space, or in air. Cigars compete with free space for water. They control water and bond with water unlike free space! TEMPERATURE HAS JUST AS MUCH TO DO WITH THEIR AFFINITY FOR WATER AS ErH DOES….

Now, on with the show!

Cigar on scale for first reading, fresh out of a humidor where it has been kept at 70dF and 60rH.

Cigar after 20 minutes in that really dry freezer!

…What the "F" happened??? "OH, NO… the truth, the facts… the humanity….!

Piggy's hot little hand and the cigar!

… back to the scale!

So for kicks, after weighing the cigar the second time, I picked it up and a handled it as if I was going to smoke it. I took it back to the humidor that it came out of, I picked up a lighter and cutter (yes it was cut already) and moved back out to the scale.

Hmmm…. This is odd! Now, for the record it is currently 70rH at my house and this cigar has been stored at 70dF and 60rH for a number of years now. It would appear that I have believed (rhetorically speaking) in a myth that has lead me astray, one that is absolute bullshit! It would appear also that lower temperatures ACTUALLY CAUSED MY CIGAR TO ATTRACT what little free water was left in my system. What a shocker!!! -LOL If I only listened to that Pig dude on FoH, he told me this would happen!!!

Many beliefs are based in cigar myth and are absolute bullshit. People with good intentions share the myths and the myths move though the community and other people blindly believe them and take them for fact, probably largely due to a placebo effect…

Here is some data for you all to chew on. I actually removed more water from the cigar by heating it in my hand at a higher rH for 3 minutes, than cooling it in a dry environment for 20 minutes where I actually added water to it.

Temperature and equilibrium relative humidity levels work hand in hand to condition your cigars. They are both important.

Check your beliefs and rituals my friends… I think I may have just saved one member a trip to the freezer and 17 minutes… -LOL Or maybe he now knows that he likes his cigars wetter and not dryer. Perhaps he might give water dousing a try!!!

Cheers! –the Pig

[PigFish]

…oh, and by the way! We cannot rule out the fact that a cold, or frozen cigar may have actually attracted water to itself via condensation when brought out of the freezer. This is the reason that I tell my customers not to refrigerate cigars with my systems!

The final point to this is that the ritual, ultimately ended with a cigar with a higher water weight when it came to smoking, than a cigar pulled straight from my humidor…!

Thanks for reading! -Piggy

[TypicalSituation]

Can someone give me the cliff notes on the above?

Haha, in all seriousness, excellent read!

[PigFish]

Can someone give me the cliff notes on the above?

Haha, in all seriousness, excellent read!

… don't believe everything you read on the internet!!! -LOL