12 point Rh drop

[metro_habanos]

I've had my tupperdor seasoned for about a month now and received a 5'r of Monte No.3's. So I placed them in my tupperdor and DAM! my Rh drop's 12 points? I knew it would drop about 5 but 12? Is this the norm for sticks out of the box? When I placed my box's (10) in to their new seasoned containidor it dropper 4% and is back to normal.

1 more question; I read that if your containidor is >80% filled you should open it once a month to allow fresh air to "roll" through if you will, so the stick's don't get stale. 

Thanks guys and gals.

[JohnS]

I read halfway through your post and thought to myself, "filling up the tupperdor would help stabilise things" but you've answered your own question it seems!

The jury is out on the 'air' question. My advice is not to overthink it. Just open the thing when you want a cigar to smoke and that will satisfy requirements nicely I believe. Likewise, keep it closed for months and your stash will be fine, trust me.

[raymond5737]

What did you use to season it? I use 65 degree temp/humidity beads. I'm glad you said not to overthink it. But now I'm thinking about it. Are my babies safe? How often do you check your cigar Temp/Humidity? What do you use to stabilize your cigar environment?

[PigFish]

This is called air exchange, however many factors can be at play here. If you ambient temp went up, while keeping your aH steady, your rH will fall.

You have to take all forms of variables into consideration when you open a sealed box and expose it to a different environment. Even the location of you hygrometer can change how it reads.

There is no 'right' answer here. There is merely speculation on what happened. Let it settle in room temperature for 24 hours and see how it goes. Adjust accordingly!

Best of luck on your project. -Piggy

[metro_habanos]

For seasoning I have had 320gram Boveda's @ 69% Rh and a Spanish cedar tray in preparation for when I load up the loose sticks. Piggy; it's going on 36 hours, the only thing to change was the addition of the sticks. Everything else stays were they are so I can get a baseline prior to adding cigars, this way I know when I have a change like the 12 point drop. My 2 other large containers still read the same so I know the temp in the storeroom, an extra closet on an interior wall, only changes + - 3 degrees f' during a 24hr period. I'll give her the weekend and give you an update.

I need to add a cab of Epicure Especial's that just arrived to my aging containidor.  Jon, this is the containidor I am referring to. This one will store all of the sticks that need to age > 3 years, all the others are in my smoke now and age less than 2 year containidor.

Thanks guys.

[JohnS]

A stable environment, with minimal temperature fluctuation such as your one, should be fine in my opinion.

[PigFish]

9 hours ago, smfdff said:

For seasoning I have had 320gram Boveda's @ 69% Rh and a Spanish cedar tray in preparation for when I load up the loose sticks. Piggy; it's going on 36 hours, the only thing to change was the addition of the sticks. Everything else stays were they are so I can get a baseline prior to adding cigars, this way I know when I have a change like the 12 point drop. My 2 other large containers still read the same so I know the temp in the storeroom, an extra closet on an interior wall, only changes + - 3 degrees f' during a 24hr period. I'll give her the weekend and give you an update.

I need to add a cab of Epicure Especial's that just arrived to my aging containidor.  Jon, this is the containidor I am referring to. This one will store all of the sticks that need to age > 3 years, all the others are in my smoke now and age less than 2 year containidor.

Thanks guys.

When I am talking variables, they should not be discounted! I will give you an example.

You posted above that:

9 hours ago, smfdff said:

only changes + - 3 degrees f' during a 24hr period.

... so I did some calculations for you.

Lets assume that we freeze the aH, or as close as I can with my limited time here.

Lets look at a baseline:

70F, 65rH, 71.12 gr/lb (aH)

Now lets look at a +3, -3 variation in temperature and try to lock the aH.

73F, 59rH, 71.45 gr/lb (aH)

67F, 72rH, 71/04 gr/lb (aH).... This is a 6F swing (+-3F).

Now lets look at the rH. What's that??? 13rH.

This is my point. Your rH will be different, and with a slow responding element such as a Boveda pack and a relatively sensitive hygrometer, paired with an air exchange, you are going to see it!

I proffer that the 12rH swing could be related to many things, and one of them is that you just happen to notice it based on loading up some new cigars.

So you added some cigars and got a 12rH loss. Do you know how dry those cigars would need to be to cause this?

Not gonna' happen.

Lets say a Coronas weighs 180 grains conditioned (I am guessing now). At 10% water, that is 18 grains of water per cigar for a total of 90 gains if they were dead, totally hard and ready to break to dust dry! That is what, about 6 grams of water? Not much! Not against all the wood, free water, bonded water etc. Surface area alone, the 5x cigars are nowhere near your other water bonded items.

You noticed a change. You noticed it in conjunction with a move-in of 5 cigars and an air exchange. What you noticed was a culmination of events, and the 5 cigars you added, mean very little in the total water content, or lack thereof!

My take on it. Believe it or not!

Cheers! -Piggy

[metro_habanos]

John, Pig, thanks a bunch. It is very appreciated that you would take the time to explain this to a stranger. Pull out your favorite cigar and have one on me. Enjoy, my friend, and stay well...

Tim