Zeuss Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Hello everyone! I would like to thank everyone for the kind welcome Since being new to CC, I decided I wanted to try different flavors of many cigars to see what my taste prefers. My first order will be the New to Habanos Sampler. Can anyone tell me which cigars out of the sampler would be best ROTT? I also bought this for storage: http://www.target.com/p/sterilite-air-tight-storage-tote-transparent-with-aquarium-blue-latch-54qt/-/A-15079778 Does anyone have an idea on how many boxes this could hold? They are very stackable and cheap so buying another is definately not a problem haha. Any other tips or suggestions would be kindly appreciated! Thanks everyone!
PapaDisco Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Ha ha! Welcome to the slippery slope of Cuban cigars! The PSD4, Epicure 2 and Punch Punch have always served me well when I lacked discipline and just had to have something from a new shipment ROTT. I'm sure there's others in the sampler that would work as well, but these have been bullet proof for me. Make sure and season that tupperdore. There's several posts on here on techniques for eliminating the plastic smell (white vinegar, baking powder, fresh air and sunshine, etc.). Otherwise the tupperdore works great, particularly if it's kept in a place in your house with stable temperatures. You should be able to get a dozen Churchill boxes and 10 boxes of the smaller stuff in there with ease IIRC. 1
garbandz Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Invest in a proper digital Hydrometer.Test it against one you feel is accurate,and keep it in the unit. Avoid the temptation to fiddle with the moisture level.Adding a box can cause it to vary for a day or two,just remember that a mass of boxes will not lose moisture quickly,and if you get your cigars too moist it is a problem. Most of us will recommend 61 to 64 % at 68 degrees,which works nicely. I use wood slide top boxes exclusively,they stack well and are solid ,get these at a B&M for a few dollars...... 2
yhomas Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 A couple months ago, I picked up the Ambient Weather WS-10 which comes with 3x temperature/humidity sensors for ~$60. No WiFi or logging, and long term accuracy spec is not the best (all sensors arrived within 1% or maybe 2% of the 65% Bodeva calibration). Not perfect, but I am happy with the price/performance ratio. In any case, having multiple wireless sensors is nice.
topdiesel Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 If you have been smoking non Cubans, I would recommend smoking the Bolivar PC or Partagas Serie D Number 4. If you are new to cigars in general I would suggest you start with the Quai D’Orsay Corona, San Cristobal la punta or El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme 1
MrGTO Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 I would advise to fill your tuppador up with cigars, it holds RH better that way!? 2
Habana Mike Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Good start on a sampler. Should be fine regardless of order on these if you expect you'll go through them fairly quickly. Regardless give them at least a week to acclimate to the new home for best results. If like most that get the bug, that Tupperdor will be bulging soon enough!
stogieluver Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 I used one almost exactly like that before I got my cabinet humidor. It worked great. Get a good hygrometer, calibrate it, and order a tube (about 6" to 8" long) of Heartfelt beads, follow the instructions with the tube, and you'll be good to go with a steady 65% rh. As others have said, though, you will need to be saving up for a cabinet humidor because this hobby is an incurable habit and you'll very quickly outgrow that tupperdor.
Zeuss Posted October 6, 2015 Author Posted October 6, 2015 Ha ha! Welcome to the slippery slope of Cuban cigars! The PSD4, Epicure 2 and Punch Punch have always served me well when I lacked discipline and just had to have something from a new shipment ROTT. I'm sure there's others in the sampler that would work as well, but these have been bullet proof for me. Make sure and season that tupperdore. There's several posts on here on techniques for eliminating the plastic smell (white vinegar, baking powder, fresh air and sunshine, etc.). Otherwise the tupperdore works great, particularly if it's kept in a place in your house with stable temperatures. You should be able to get a dozen Churchill boxes and 10 boxes of the smaller stuff in there with ease IIRC. Invest in a proper digital Hydrometer.Test it against one you feel is accurate,and keep it in the unit. Avoid the temptation to fiddle with the moisture level.Adding a box can cause it to vary for a day or two,just remember that a mass of boxes will not lose moisture quickly,and if you get your cigars too moist it is a problem. Most of us will recommend 61 to 64 % at 68 degrees,which works nicely. I use wood slide top boxes exclusively,they stack well and are solid ,get these at a B&M for a few dollars...... A couple months ago, I picked up the Ambient Weather WS-10 which comes with 3x temperature/humidity sensors for ~$60. No WiFi or logging, and long term accuracy spec is not the best (all sensors arrived within 1% or maybe 2% of the 65% Bodeva calibration). Not perfect, but I am happy with the price/performance ratio. In any case, having multiple wireless sensors is nice. If you have been smoking non Cubans, I would recommend smoking the Bolivar PC or Partagas Serie D Number 4. If you are new to cigars in general I would suggest you start with the Quai D’Orsay Corona, San Cristobal la punta or El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme I would advise to fill your tuppador up with cigars, it holds RH better that way! Good start on a sampler. Should be fine regardless of order on these if you expect you'll go through them fairly quickly. Regardless give them at least a week to acclimate to the new home for best results. If like most that get the bug, that Tupperdor will be bulging soon enough! I used one almost exactly like that before I got my cabinet humidor. It worked great. Get a good hygrometer, calibrate it, and order a tube (about 6" to 8" long) of Heartfelt beads, follow the instructions with the tube, and you'll be good to go with a steady 65% rh. As others have said, though, you will need to be saving up for a cabinet humidor because this hobby is an incurable habit and you'll very quickly outgrow that tuberdor. Thank you all for your help! I am going to buy the 65% heartfelt beads. I'm sure I will need a cabinet in the future haha. That is a great idea about the slide top boxes, perfect for singles. This is exciting! I have been enjoying cigars for about 2 years but only non Cubans. Can't wait to expand
yhomas Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 IMO, it is worthwhile doing research on humidity vs. temperature if you have not already. Unfortunately, these two are very related. I am not the expert on this topic, but basically, air can hold a total certain amount of water, and this amount varies with temperature. At high temperature, air can hold a lot more water than at low temperature. Relative humidity is always relative to a certain temperature. So basically 65% RH at 75F represents a much higher water content than 65% RH at 65F. Arguably, you want your cigars to have a certain amount of water in them, and you don't really care about relative humidity of air or temperature--you want to maintain constant absolute humidity or water content. It is common to see recommendations like ~65% @ 65F, or 61% @68F--both of which correspond to ~4.5 grams of water per cubic foot of air. However, if you maintain 65% humidity at 75F, that corresponds to ~6.1 grams/ft^3, which is reasonably over-humidified by the standards of many here. This is not intuitive, but to arrive at 4.5g/ft^3 water content at 75F, one needs a relative humidity of ~48%. I am not saying that 48%@75F is necessarily the right number though! I don't have much experience with CC, but even with NC, I feel like ~65% and ~75F is over-humidified based on my limited experience over the last year. So, the bottom line is that if your storage temperature is higher, consider a lower target humidity, or at least experiment with various humidity levels. Conceptually, this is an advantage of HCM beads because you can let them adjust them to different humidity levels.
drunkbuckeye Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Thank you all for your help! I am going to buy the 65% heartfelt beads. I'm sure I will need a cabinet in the future haha. That is a great idea about the slide top boxes, perfect for singles. This is exciting! I have been enjoying cigars for about 2 years but only non Cubans. Can't wait to expand You can never have too many beads. I use 1 1/2 lbs for my humidor and have them spread out in little bundles around the humidor to ensure maximum surface area.
Zeuss Posted October 8, 2015 Author Posted October 8, 2015 Thank you. I will be sure to order more HF beads than I need. Question, if a box code says, for example, LAR ENE 13...what does the LAR mean?
Fuzz AI Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Thank you. I will be sure to order more HF beads than I need. Question, if a box code says, for example, LAR ENE 13...what does the LAR mean? LAR is the factory code, ENE the month (in this case January), and then the year. 1
Zeuss Posted October 8, 2015 Author Posted October 8, 2015 LAR is the factory code, ENE the month (in this case January), and then the year. Thank you. Should I be looking for anything specific or just go for a year that I want?
rbelcastro Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Thank you all for your help! I am going to buy the 65% heartfelt beads. I'm sure I will need a cabinet in the future haha. That is a great idea about the slide top boxes, perfect for singles. This is exciting! I have been enjoying cigars for about 2 years but only non Cubans. Can't wait to expand Well, since you mentioned. This is a great unit to start with. Not sure where you live, but you can find these for around $200 shipped if you look hard enough: http://www.walmart.com/ip/NewAir-CC-100-250-Count-Cigar-Cooler/40447617
Fuzz AI Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Thank you. Should I be looking for anything specific or just go for a year that I want? Realistically, since you are new to CC, I'd stick with the samplers for now.
Zeuss Posted October 8, 2015 Author Posted October 8, 2015 Realistically, since you are new to CC, I'd stick with the samplers for now. I will be sticking with samplers for a while. Just curious for the future Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
luv2fly Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Samplers are the best way to go especially if you can't go to a B&M to get them as you please. Have fun and hold on tight. It's Mr. Toads Wild Ride you are boarding.
JohnS Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 I will be sticking with samplers for a while. Just curious for the future Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Curious for the future? If you really get a fix for this hobby you'll find a brand (or brands) you'll like and you'll be buying boxes before you know it. Then you'll have space issues with your humidor. Then you'll tell yourself you've got enough for now, but still pick up a box here and there. It's a common story. Yes, welcome to the slippery slope! 1
Zeuss Posted October 11, 2015 Author Posted October 11, 2015 Slippery slope indeed! Haha. I am realizing that I am going to need to control the temperature of my cigars better. I live in Florida so it's not realistic for me to keep my house below 70 in the summer. So I am looking at thermoelectric wine coolers. What would y'all recommend? Would heartfelt beads be the best way to go or cigar oasis...or both? My wife is allowing me to do this because it's my birthday month!haha
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now