Cigars in humid climates - the grip of pleasure

[Randolph]

In the middle of my Chirstmas holidays in Thailand. It's been a marvellous smoking experience so far. All the cigars I've smoked during the past 6 days have been wonderful - and smoked to perfection. It's been about 32 degrees here in Phuket with humidity at around 70%. Cigars are being kept in 65% Boveda travel temple.

The weather has just turned to soup this afternoon, heavy rain, heavy thunder and a splash of lightning. A sight to behold. I decided to take advantage while Mrs B visited the Spa for a 90 minute facial treatment prior to a pre Chrismas dinner. Alas, my poor old Vegas Robaina Unicos (a cigar that has seriously tickled my fancy over the past few months since being recommended by JohnS) didn't take to the high humidity that the storm delivered. The cigar smoked, yes, it smoked, while I had to suck like an Electrolux. Normally the Vegas Unicos delivers a blitz of flavour. Owing to the slow damp burn I suspect I looked like an old guy with no teeth sucking on a seriously plugged Filipino cigar. Sadly the bombing of flavour was totally absent. While smoking I actually saw the cigar swell during the smoke, it reminded me of a childhood chemistry experiment, but I managed to take a great grip, which reminded me of other childhood experiences to minimise the swelling and the development of splitting - a bandaid was definitely required. Well, I managed to keep going until the end of the second third. Patience was gained by a few glasses of Johnnie Walker Blue Label gifted to me in return for a Cohiba Explendidos by a Chinese chap in the hotel lobby bar. The Cohiba Explendidos burned to perfection I noted. Blue Lable I have to say is somewhat overrated.

How do those living humid countries - cigar smoking must be a challenge.

Marry Christmas all.

Randy

[soutso]

Next time you drink Blue Label JW, put a few drops of water in it, no ice, nothing else.

Enjoy

[stogieluver]

I live on the gulf coast of the southern U. S., and our humidity in the summer hovers around an average of 90+% with temps above 90 F.

It's a challenge to smoke cigars outside in that type environment, and it definitely affects the taste and burn. Not to mention the mosquitos.

That's why I made a man cave inside my house.

[clickbangdoh]

Also live on the gulf coast, dry box is your friend. I only smoke outisde, so I tend to keep a number of cigars in a dry box for ready smoking. In the summer when the humidity is horrendous, I generally try to have several days worth of dry box time on most sticks prior to smoking. It helps that having to constantly run the AC tends to help dry things out a bit, but it can remain a challenge to get larger sticks like churchills or DC's to a good smoking condition, so my smoking habits tend to be backwards to what my brethren to the north do, enjoying the longer formats in the winter and shorter ones during the summer.

[SCgarman]

I live on the gulf coast of the southern U. S., and our humidity in the summer hovers around an average of 90+% with temps above 90 F.

It's a challenge to smoke cigars outside in that type environment, and it definitely affects the taste and burn. Not to mention the mosquitos.

That's why I made a man cave inside my house.

Do you have any nice cigar stores/indoor lounges to go to and stay cool in a comfortable chair with big screen TVs?

[stogieluver]

e

Do you have any nice cigar stores/indoor lounges to go to and stay cool in a comfortable chair with big screen TVs?

There's a nice cigar lounge about two miles from my house, but it has very limited operating hours/days. It's located in the rear of a nice liquor and cigar store, and the owners open it on Thursday thru Saturday evenings.

[JohnS]

Nice to hear you are enjoying the VR Unicos, Randy. It's a shame you hit high humidity, I had a similar experience last summer trying to draw on a quality cigar that was 'wet'. I hope you get better smoking conditions the next time you light up.

[Ken Gargett]

i am not a fan of humidity - so brilliant choice to live in Qld!

mind you, we think we have it bad. two places that leave a sweltering day in Qld for dead - DC in mid summer and Varanasi in India. i remember being in a pool in Varanasi and hopping out. i honestly felt wetter out of the pool than i did in it.

[Randolph]

Merry Christmas all! Post Christmas Eve dinner smoking experience was wondrous. A festival of flavour. 2006 Partigas Lusitania. A bomb of flavour that went from strength to strength. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd third delivered like a moving feast. Flavour upon flavour. More importantly it didn't succumb to the high humidity. It bellowed smoke, surprisingly, much to the complaint of cigarette smokers in the hotel lobby bar - who nervously coughed and waved their hands in the air to move the slow drifting smoke. If only I behaved in the same way when I encounter cigarette smoke!!!

Tis Christmas Day...after breakfast I enjoyed a Cohiba Esplendios - sheer luxury and I can't wait to order a box when i get back home. The the Esplendidos could easily become an expensive habit!

Cheers to fellow cigar smokers!

Merry Christmas.

Randy

[joejack11]

I was in Bali Indonesia , suffered same problems . I would try putting the cigar in the fridge for an hour prior to smoking , or have the ac on in the hotel on low fan speed set at 74 degrees to dry the room hence drying the gars .

[PapaDisco]

Merry Christmas everybody!

I shuttle back and forth from the States to Saigon, and used to be constantly fighting the high humidity, high temps in Saigon. Made the cigars burn all wonky and destroyed the flavors. My original strategy was to try and keep them as close to 65/65 right up until smoking (outdoors usually), and that strategy had a poor rate of success.

Then I experimented with 'embracing' the heat and humidity by 'wet' boxing the cigars in my hotel room: just kept them in box there with the A/C turned off while I was at the office, and let them adjust this way for two-three days. So far this has seemed to work much better. Before, the wrapper would get saturated while the filler would stay dry and the cigar would tunnel right up the center. Now the burn is much more even, although tougher to keep lit. It's both hard to keep lit and hard to smoke with any pace; if you push it the tastes (which have returned) go all harsh.

My experience is by no means definitive, but it does seem to indicate that a cigar adapted to its environment and smoked accordingly does somewhat better than trying to make it dryer than you reasonably can.

Now, when I can smoke indoors in Saigon (a fair amount of places there), then keeping the sticks at 65/65 is still my favored strategy.

[stogieluver]

I was in Bali Indonesia , suffered same problems . I would try putting the cigar in the fridge for an hour prior to smoking , or have the ac on in the hotel on low fan speed set at 74 degrees to dry the room hence drying the gars .

Piggy will want to weigh in on this, but I wouldn't put the cigars in the fridge or freezer and then take them outside to a hot/humid environment. The sudden extreme change in temp/humidity will only make it worse. Much worse. The cold, dry cigar will "attract" humidity at a much faster rate as it warms to the ambient temp.

I think Papa has the right idea, but in my experience, nothing really works to prevent the cigar being negatively affected by high humidity.

[LGC]

As discussed by Ray earlier, putting a cigar in the fridge has no effect on combustion. I believe his tests revealed that the cooled cigar, in a humid environment, produced condensation... and might have even increased the water content on the cigar (measured by weight). You need to have even water content throughout the cigar. There are no quick fixes for correcting a wet cigar (no matter what anyone tells you). You really need to smoke inside an air conditioned building with low humidity. Personally I don't even light up if I can feel the humidity in the air. If I'm desperate and choose to light up, I expect to only be able to smoke a short time before the cigar absorbs moisture and begins to swell.

[WorkinDirt]

Preferred method of outside smoking in the summer here in NC is to let the cigar sit outside for 20 or so minutes before lighting. Seems to regulate to the temperature and humidity when sitting and the cigars dont swell and crack as bad as if you lit up as soon as you walked outside.

No science to back this theory.

[jwr0201]

Yep - high humidity here in Florida is tough in the summer. I prefer to visit a local pub and watch some golf or football with a few pints and cigars. Also good to have a cigar while fishing.

[maxcjs0101]

Merry Christmas everybody!

I shuttle back and forth from the States to Saigon, and used to be constantly fighting the high humidity, high temps in Saigon. Made the cigars burn all wonky and destroyed the flavors. My original strategy was to try and keep them as close to 65/65 right up until smoking (outdoors usually), and that strategy had a poor rate of success.

Then I experimented with 'embracing' the heat and humidity by 'wet' boxing the cigars in my hotel room: just kept them in box there with the A/C turned off while I was at the office, and let them adjust this way for two-three days. So far this has seemed to work much better. Before, the wrapper would get saturated while the filler would stay dry and the cigar would tunnel right up the center. Now the burn is much more even, although tougher to keep lit. It's both hard to keep lit and hard to smoke with any pace; if you push it the tastes (which have returned) go all harsh.

My experience is by no means definitive, but it does seem to indicate that a cigar adapted to its environment and smoked accordingly does somewhat better than trying to make it dryer than you reasonably can.

Now, when I can smoke indoors in Saigon (a fair amount of places there), then keeping the sticks at 65/65 is still my favored strategy.

This. I leave my cigars in the open for a few days prior to smoking them and i usually get a good burn.