Keeping the humidor temp down as summer approaches

[LukeC]

Hello everybody. With summer rapidly approaching for us in the northern hemisphere, I figured I would post a thread about internal humidor temps. I have a Daniel Marshall Ambiente (with a Treasure Chest on the way) and during the winter, I have no problems keeping my humi at 70/70. But as summer approaches, the temps rise, as does the temp in my humi. I've tried placing it in different locations, away from Windows, etc.

Who has tips to share on how to keep the temp down to maintain a healthy environment for our sticks to flourish?

Cheers

[shlomo]

Buy an air conditioner.

[LukeC]

Haha! I already have one. The problem is how much it costs to run the AC all day.

[CigarSeeker]

Buy a winecooler and turn it into an Wineador ?

[TomF]

If you don't have a basement and/or live in an apartment or condo but don't want to run the A/C then you're pretty much SOL. I keep my temperature-unregulated humidors in my basement where it usually stays below 70 and rarely gets above 75 no matter how hot it gets. I live just north of NYC so in the summer it gets hot and very humid. My basement is my refuge.

The other option of course is a cigar cooler or winedor. I have a Whynter which is a prefab converted thermo-electric wine cooler. I'm not handy enough to try and convert one myself, but this one came from Best Buy, has pre-made cedar shelving, and stays at a steady 65 degrees. Using a combo of beads and Bovedas the humidity remains very stable.

All that said, if it's beetles you're worried about then you can freeze your cigars and then don't stress out over temp. Put the humidor in a dark closet and just don't let the RH get too high.

[LukeC]

Dude! A wine cooler! Never would've thought of that! You guys are great!

[MaxG]

Got one a month ago. I love it!

http://www.wineadors.com/index.html

Also available on Amazon, where I got mine.

- MG

[earthson]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-pot_refrigerator

[CigarSeeker]

I love my Wineador and while I'm still tweaking it a bit and making some changes to it, it sure beats leaving your cigars in high temps.

[CaptainQuintero]

Dude! A wine cooler! Never would've thought of that! You guys are great!

Just be aware that you will be introducing water vapour/condensation into your wine fridge if you run it. You'll need to sort out a system to remove that or you're going to run into problems with mould

It's just my system but I find it much easier to simply freeze my stock, that way you never have to worry about temperature

[CigarSeeker]

I have always wondered about freezing cigars.. By freezing cigars don't you lose the essential oils etc ?... Also, if you're only worried about high temp because of "cigar beetles", doesn't high temp also ruins tobacco?

[stogieluver]

Buy an air conditioner.

And lower your rH to low 60's. You won't believe the positive difference it makes in taste and burn (assuming your sticks are CC's. If not, disregard said advice).

[JohnS]

And lower your rH to low 60's. You won't believe the positive difference it makes in taste and burn (assuming your sticks are CC's. If not, disregard said advice).

Ditto...x2. I concur with your thinking!

[LukeC]

And lower your rH to low 60's. You won't believe the positive difference it makes in taste and burn (assuming your sticks are CC's. If not, disregard said advice).

Forgive my noobish ways. rH?

[CaptainQuintero]

I have always wondered about freezing cigars.. By freezing cigars don't you lose the essential oils etc ?... Also, if you're only worried about high temp because of "cigar beetles", doesn't high temp also ruins tobacco?

I'm sure others can chime in if otherwise but I've never read anything as long as direct sunlight isn't involved.

As long as your rh is within the generally accepted levels (obviously temperature is linked to this) cigars are fine indefinitely. A cool dark place seems preferable but Cuba isn't exactly a cold climate if you think about it and they seem to have been doing it fine for a long time

I think generally you have a few options dealing with temperature and they all depend on the weather where you live plus how much time/money you're prepared to invest

-go with cooler turned on with a system for extracting the excess moisture from running said cooler and monitor readings, adjust as nessesary

-freeze and forget

-control the temperature of the actual room your humidor/storage is located in and monitor readings, adjust as nessesary

You can spend as much money and energy on whatever system you go with, I can only say go with the one which suits you/your time and money constraints

[stogieluver]

Forgive my noobish ways. rH?

Relative humidity, but it's "relative" to the ambient temp and the two are tied together like H is to O. If you do a search in this forum for rH, you'll find more information than you'll ever want or need.

Pigfish, this is tailor made for you. Piggy in 3...........2.........1...........

[CaptainQuintero]

Forgive my noobish ways. rH?

No need to apologise! Everyone is here to learn.

Relative humidity, literature says keep cigars at 70% humidity and 70f temperature. Although it has been called into question as being a marketing slogan - just keep them at 70/70

Its generally accepted that the lower your rh they more flavourful your cigars can be and the burning ability is increased (no second relights etc)

I've been down to 54% and the flavours simply kept getting more crisp however the wrappers began to become frail at that point.

I usually smoke at around 60-65% now, I think most people on here do too although you may prefer higher or lower

Lower generally = better burn, more discernable flavours

Higher generally = relights more often, more hotter/muddied/harsher flavours

Above 72% you can start to run into mould issues

[planetary]

Ditto...x2. I concur with your thinking!

x3. My current set points are 68F and 61.5%, offering a better smoking experience than the 65/65 I was running previously.

[mcease022]

Haha! I already have one. The problem is how much it costs to run the AC all day.

I have a tower humidor with fans to help with humidity distribution. The warmth is no problem in my house - I keep it in my basement and my wife hates the heat so we have our AC pumping all summer long. Happy wife, happy cigars...I mean happy life

[LukeC]

I'm thinking I should send the Daniel Marshall Treasure Chest back and just buy a Newair. I really like the idea of an electro thermal cooling unit!

[LukeC]

I have a tower humidor with fans to help with humidity distribution. The warmth is no problem in my house - I keep it in my basement and my wife hates the heat so we have our AC pumping all summer long. Happy wife, happy cigars...I mean happy life

I wish my wife was happy with cigars!!!!

[oliverdst]

Pig?

[mcease022]

I wish my wife was happy with cigars!!!!

I gotta say I am lucky. My wife does not love them and lectures me about health risks, but a lot of her family members smoke or used to smoke cigars, and we all appreciate the finer things in life (including my wife). She understands the draw to them, so she is ok with them. God bless her

[UpInSmoak]

I live in Southern California and can relate to your problems. As a result I freeze every incoming stick. I can't say I notice any distinguishable changes and my cigars smoke as great as ever. Now regarding temps....I have too much stock to use one wine fridge, and doubt my wife would allow one or even two. We don't quite have the space where it wouldn't be visible to most. So I store my collection in a closet in the coolest room in the house. However during summers the house routinely gets to 76f (as that's what the AC gets set at) and if we leave for vacation or a long weekend it gets set at 81, hence my cigars are also subjected to 81f. Since I freeze, I don't worry about beetles, and to tell you the truth my cigars smoke amazingly well. I do store around 60rh. Take it for what is worth. Cigars are quite resilient. What you want to avoid are crazy swings in either temp or humidity. As stated above, Cuba gets quite warm. If cigars smoke well there they should smoke well anywhere. Enjoy!!

[stigmata]

I have cigars and humidors,coolers stashed everywhere from home to my coffee rostery

Temperatures in Melbourne can get pretty hot in summer

I don't worry about it too much as long as my cigars don't fall outside of 55 to 70.

I can't possibly over the years keep amazingly exact humidity stability as well as temperature stability.

Cigars are usually between 55/65 and one never had an issue with wrappers crumbling or mold

Taste great!

Im not sure as long as they don't dry out or get too wet for long periods ( mold) that it makes an a remarkable difference!

I just learnt to not get them too dry or too wet over the years and just enjoy.

P.s I have boxes for a long period of time even upwards of a decade and they still taste great