Wineador and dull tasting cigars

[Anth87]

Hope everybody's having a cracker weekend!

Put my cigars in my new wineador - the fridge itself was cleaned / aired / bi carbed for a week before getting rh correct then put my stash in -

I had a punch punch this morning and it was a bit dull - not sure if it was cigar or new storage - so I've just sparked a monte #4

Same thing a bit dull not much flavour - I've ooened the boxes and the cigars don't smell that strong

Temp is 18 c and rh is 65 - top section has around 6 boxes - is this normal or has it happened to anybody?

Is it just smokes adjusting to new storage conditions and do they just need time to balance out?

Thoughts appreciated

[Anth87]

I'm freaking out please don't tell me my cigars are ruined? Or is simply a matter of leaving the whole stash for a month or dry boxing for a day or two before smoking? Please help!

[RWhiz]

I'm no expert, but I would stop freaking out firsts, and give your stash at least a month. Is the Spanish cedar in the fridge seasoned properly? This has happened to me when I took some short cuts when seasoning a new humidor.

[Anth87]

Hi RWhiz - no cedar lining on the wineador - just cigars in their cedar boxes and also a few empty cedar boxes to get it smelling more humidor like.

What happened to you? Is this a problem that will just sort itself over time?

[Anth87]

This is the setup

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rye]

I lined the hell out of my fridge conversion and it seems to keep my sticks heavenly.

I am a firm believer in the power of good wood!

[aushy]

How were they stored before you got the fridge? Do you happen to have any other spare hygrometers lying around to test the humidity at different sections of the fridge? If the temp are hygrometer is reading as you say 18°C/65rH then you aren't doing any damage. The cigards just might just need some time to reach equilibrium with the fridge.

[Anth87]

There were in an old coolerdor - 65 rh around 24 degrees c - I've only got boxes in top section and the readings are ok.

I'm hoping you're right the smokes have only been in there a few days so maybe a bit of rest time maybe?

Just got a few cracker boxes from our host spent a bit of coin so the last thing I want to do is turn them to rubbish :/

It's just weird when I open a box and there's no cigar smell at all

[Optic101]

Difficult to give any suggestions without more information about the storage before and your environment when you smoke.

From personal experience.

When I started with storage solutions I too went with a small fride similar to yours.

Didn't work for me in my environment at all for some reason.

My makro environment is about 26-28 degree and 60-90% RH.

Cigars become wet over time even the RH on the hygrometer looked ok.

Whe I open the fridge my warm hot air brought always a bunch of "water" into the system which corrupted the mikro environment.

In addition to that, the cigars I took out, fresh and cold " inhaled the warm air before and during smoking.

Not good at all.

My solution.

All boxes and cigars are sealed in airtight plastic bags and container.

I use a desktop for my daily smokes which is at 26-28 degree and about 60% RH. ( now my preference )

Cigars I move from the fridge to the desktop I don't touch for at least 1-2 weeks to adjust.

Solved it for me.

[planetary]

RH and temperature are interactive. Rough math... Going from 24C at 65% to 18C would increase the RH in your cigars by +20%. They're probably way too wet and need a bunch of time to settle.

[Upmann2009]

Just relax and give it time in the frigde, given you got all the temp/rh right.

Cheers

[Dimmers]

Bro I've got same setup ( and brand of fridge) as yours and also sth east qld. My smokes are ace. Let yours settle and don't stress. Your smoking experience could have nothing to do with the fridge.

[Anth87]

Hi all many thanks for your valued Input Im thinking I put a few smokes in my desktop humi for a week and see how they smoke

In the meantime your comments have made me feel less stressed - so thanks .... Shall do this and report back

[santela]

My setup is similar and no wood, they taste great. I really don't think the wineador is the problem here. Give it some time and try some different boxes.

[CaptainQuintero]

Yep can't see any issue here, as long as the drain hole in the back is bunged up, I use blue tac, then there isn't anything else to do.

You need to talk fortnights and months in regard to changing humidors and cigars settling down. Chances are you just got a few dud sticks that would have been dud regardless.

Relax and forget about it, let the cigars relax for a bit too

[RWhiz]

To answer your question, a while back I rushed a new humidor into service without proper seasoning. the cigars were bland for about a month or slightly more. Also a good amount of Spanish cedar will serve you well in buffering your humidity and IIRC helping flavors through absorption of ammonia. Get some good Spanish cedar in there! Nice set up to, it will be fine, some time and cedar.

[Ubergosupro69]

You might just be coming down with a cold or something. If I smoke two cigars back to back and they're both flavorless and odorless, I'd guess my sinuses are messed up.

[ElJefe]

I noted that you have several 69% RH Boveda packs in the second shelf of your wineador. What RH are the beads that you are using?

If you are using 65% RH beads then These and the 69% RH Boveda packs may just be working against each other giving you an overall higher relative RH. Also most hygrometers tend to be off a few points plus or minus on RH, so doing a Boveda salt calibration test would tell you exactly what the error margin for your hygrometers is.

I concur 100% with everyone's input on using Spanish cedar. If you search online you will find that there are a lot of custom pre-made Spanish drawers and Singles trays available for various makes and models of wine cooler to wineador conversion units.

Beyond that - no need to freak out. Unless you subject your cigars to extreme conditions they don't ruin that quick. The internal RH and oils preserve & persevere quite well I've found.

Just my two cents.

[moryc]

So the two cigars you had are located in the upper part of your fridge. I wrote something about that in your post in the Humidor Tutorial part of the site. Have a look, this might give you some answers.

[PigFish]

Grab a cigar!

Is it soft? Does it crackle? If you drop it, will it break?

If you answered yes, no and no, your cigars are too wet!

People (in my humble opinion) smoke cigars that are too wet almost universally. This is of course just my opinion and my taste. A cooled humidor that is not actively dehydrated will likely result in this situation.

Active coolers, unless they are trying to beat a high ambient all the time, are not likely too dry, but too wet. Someone above covered the reason in a previous post. If your ambient is over your desired storage rH, each air exchange is going to bring a ton of water into your system and deposit it there! If you have no means to dry your system, and subsequently remove the water, outside of the humidor, or at least trap it in a vessel of some sort, you will end up with wet cigars.

Additionally most users of coolers pick a temperature that is below that of the ambient, for a reason none other than the fact that it is the highest setting on their installed controller. This is a bad reason to choose a temperature by the way, but that is again just my opinion... With the low temperature, water wants to bond to tobacco rather than stay suspended in space. Furthermore, it does not want to let go and will migrate to and from the cigar much slower than at a higher temperature.

Are your cigars wet? If you cannot judge, take a few to a friend who knows. Let him/her feel them up and smoke one. That is the test of you cannot judge yourself. My guess is that a seasoned smoker is going to tell you your cigars are too wet. Alas, I am only guessing!

Happy smoking! Cheers... -the Pig

[Anth87]

Cigars aren't dry at all - I would tend to agree with pigfish however the smokes didn't have the usual wet issue ( wonky burn, relit, not much smoke, weird draw etc)

Took one out yesterday to dey box will smoke tonight - I also removed the beads (so bovedas don't wirk against them)

Moryc read your post Would you suggest moving bovedas to bottom of fridge? I'll try take a reading from a box see what happens

If indeed the cigars are too wet, wouldn't that mean they're ruined?

[Anth87]

Also , would you suggest leaving the cooler turned off instead if running?

Temp would probably jump to around 23c - not that bad?

[Laxman]

Piggy has it handled as always. I have a ton of wine coolers and have used them for 6 years now at least. Same set up as you and never had a problem. RELAX! That is what I learned here and gratefully so lol. After a move give them 30 to 90 days to sit.

[CaptainQuintero]

Also , would you suggest leaving the cooler turned off instead if running?

Temp would probably jump to around 23c - not that bad?

In general I'd never run one turned on, in order to cool the insides the unit creates cold (wet) air, so unless you have some system in place to regularly remove that created moisture you're are always going to get wet cigars.

Personally, I'd freeze your stock and then you don't really ever have to worry about the temperature unless you're getting into extremes.

(Roughly):

Temp for beetles

Humidity for mold

Freezing removes the beetle issue so then all you need is an air tight box, you already have one! Chuck some of your preferred beads inside, most would suggest 65%, and forget about it

[daeji5]

just dry box it. or put it in a desktop the night before.