Humidity Concerns with Cuban cigars

[gamerdude]

First time posting, but long time reader of the forum. You guys/gals have been a wealth of knowledge, and I hope to get some insights from you all regarding long time storage and smoking conditions. I am sure this topic has come up before, and possibly beaten to death, but any help would be great.

I have been smoking a lot of non Cuban cigars and storing them at 70% for some time now, but have recently fallen in love with Cuban cigars and am not looking to turn back any time soon. However, I keep my Cubans in the exact same conditions and seem to be having problems. Whenever I smoke them straight from the store, they are fantastic. A month in my humidor, they barely burn and taste muddy. I am assuming that the humidity is too high for the Cubans.

So, my question essentially is, at which humidity is best to both age long-term and smoke Cuban cigars? I just purchased a cabinet humidor that I will be setting up next week to keep only my Cubans in, and wanted to see what all of you have had success in using in your configurations. Many thanks in advance, and I am ecstatic to finally be apart of this great forum!

[LLC]

Welcome to FOH. Temperature will also play a roll in RH. I keep mine at 70F and 62RH. You’ll likely get lots of opinions but between 60-65 RH is the right area and the. It comes down to personal preference.


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[gamerdude]

Thanks a bunch. I keep my temp around 18 Celsius (64 Fahrenheit). Would a 62RH and 64F be something that is workable for aging and smoking?

[fitzy]

Yes generally for Cuban's the common recommendation is 65f at 65rh. 

[mi000ke]

I switched to Cubans about two years ago and went through exactly the same issue. I found that keeping my CCs at 62 made a huge difference, and now I keep my NCs and CCs in separate humidors, 62 for the CCs and 65 for the NCs.  Also, try dry boxing your CCs for a day or two before smoking and see if that makes a difference.

[HabanosNJGuy]

I had the same experience when I switched to CCs. Many of my cigars tasted flat and boring before and they would constantly go out on me.  My cabinet is set to 68F and 61%.  Amazing how dropping the rH affected my smokes.  Get used to your cigars feeling firmer than before.  The band being loose enough to roll or slide is a good rough test.  There is excellent advice on this forum.  Just search for temp and/or humidity settings and read what PigFish has to say.  It's all about the percent moisture content that works for you.  Most advice in other places online is total nonsense. 

It was an explosion of flavor for me.

[Buck14]

1 hour ago, gamerdude said:

Thanks a bunch. I keep my temp around 18 Celsius (64 Fahrenheit). Would a 62RH and 64F be something that is workable for aging and smoking?

Those are the exact numbers that my cigars are kept at in my Locker at my local B&M! The perfect numbers for me! 

[LLC]

Thanks a bunch. I keep my temp around 18 Celsius (64 Fahrenheit). Would a 62RH and 64F be something that is workable for aging and smoking?

Yes, my long term storage is in the basement so it is cooler there, 64F and 62RH.


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