Cigars shipping "wet"?

[Silverstix]

Hey all,

I've ordered about 10 times from here in the last few months, through the 24:24.  I was wondering if based on your experiences the cigars arrive a little overhumidified?  I have my CC's in a Tupperware with 65% Bovedas, but it's been hovering around 69% for a few weeks now.  It's an airtight Tupperware, in my office which is a pretty dry and constant 70 degrees.  Most of what I have in there is from 2017 boxes.

Anyway, I just switched over to 62% Bovedas in my CC Tupperware so hopefully I see some movement in a week or two.....but was curious to see if the cigars arrive a little on the wet side.

Thanks for your input!

Tom

[luv2fly]

Think of the shipping environment.  Especially in the warm summer months.   I have never found any to be on the wet side personally but that is just my experience.

That is why it is a good idea to let cigars rest for 30 - 60 days.  Let them acclimatize to your humidor and all will be well.

[PrairieSmoke]

Hey all,

I've ordered about 10 times from here in the last few months, through the 24:24.  I was wondering if based on your experiences the cigars arrive a little overhumidified?  I have my CC's in a Tupperware with 65% Bovedas, but it's been hovering around 69% for a few weeks now.  It's an airtight Tupperware, in my office which is a pretty dry and constant 70 degrees.  Most of what I have in there is from 2017 boxes.

Anyway, I just switched over to 62% Bovedas in my CC Tupperware so hopefully I see some movement in a week or two.....but was curious to see if the cigars arrive a little on the wet side.

Thanks for your input!

Tom

My cigars always arrive somewhere between 67-69. It’s a good RH for storage and shipping but I think most of us like them dried down a bit for smoking. You will need to air out your tupperdor on a regular bases to remove the extra moisture. The Boveda can only absorb so much.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SCgarman]

Not sure air tight is good for cigars. Maybe keep the edge of lid slightly cracked, as any humidor or storage environment should at least have a slow exchange of air. Are the sticks individual or in their original boxes?

[PrairieSmoke]

Not sure air tight is good for cigars. Maybe keep the edge of lid slightly cracked, as any humidor or storage environment should at least have a slow exchange of air. Are the sticks individual or in their original boxes?

Lots of folks use air tight storage - Tupperdors and Wineadors. Some people even vacuum seal their boxes for storage. As long as you are maintaining the correct humidity and temperature I’ve never heard of a problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cayman17]

2 hours ago, Silverstix said:

Hey all,

I've ordered about 10 times from here in the last few months, through the 24:24.  I was wondering if based on your experiences the cigars arrive a little overhumidified?  I have my CC's in a Tupperware with 65% Bovedas, but it's been hovering around 69% for a few weeks now.  It's an airtight Tupperware, in my office which is a pretty dry and constant 70 degrees.  Most of what I have in there is from 2017 boxes.

Anyway, I just switched over to 62% Bovedas in my CC Tupperware so hopefully I see some movement in a week or two.....but was curious to see if the cigars arrive a little on the wet side.

Thanks for your input!

Tom

Tom,

I have the exact same issue right now. I have a large cooler that was previously kept at a constant 70 percent humidity while storing Nicaraguan cigars in my basement. I switched out the 70 percent beads with 65 percent beads a few weeks ago because I started using this cooler for Cuban cigars, but the humidity level has been stuck at 69 percent ever since the new beads were installed. I suspect the issue is that the majority of cigars inside the cooler (a lot of Nicaraguan tatuajes are still in there) were at 70 percent for a long time (five years) and the new beads are unable to drop the humidity level significantly in a short amount of time. I just keep opening the lid every few nights to see if letting in some air might gradually reduce the humidity level. 

Right now, though, I am stuck at 69 percent. I’m not that worried anymore, just sort of annoyed. 

[Silverstix]

55 minutes ago, PrairieSmoke said:

Lots of folks use air tight storage - Tupperdors and Wineadors. Some people even vacuum seal their boxes for storage. As long as you are maintaining the correct humidity and temperature I’ve never heard of a problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly, and my Bovedas no joke last 2 years in the tupper.  I'm in them often enough, once a month at least, so the lid comes off and I get some flow.  Like @PrairieSmoke said though, if your RH and/or temp get too high it could definitely be counterproductive. 

I will take your advice and let the tupper air out for a while to try and blow off some of that excess moisture

[Silverstix]

Just now, Cayman17 said:

Tom,

I have the exact same issue right now. I have a large cooler that was previously kept at a constant 70 percent humidity while storing Nicaraguan cigars in my basement. I switched out the 70 percent beads with 65 percent beads a few weeks ago because I started using this cooler for Cuban cigars, but the humidity level has been stuck at 69 percent ever since the new beads were installed. I suspect the issue is that the majority of cigars inside the cooler (a lot of Nicaraguan tatuajes are still in there) were at 70 percent for a long time (five years) and the new beads are unable to drop the humidity level significantly in a short amount of time. I just keep opening the lid every few nights to see if letting in some air might gradually reduce the humidity level. 

Right now, though, I am stuck at 69 percent. I’m not that worried anymore, just sort of annoyed. 

Yeah, annoyed is the right word.  Definitely not worried about it, just sucks that for a month they haven't really been acclimating to anything.  I am not a fan of dry boxing, I like to store correctly so that I can pull out a cigar and smoke it whenever I want

[Martin_F]

Take the bovedas out and add some "dry" pieces of spanish cedar.

Watch the humidity go down and once you're below the threshold put the bovedas back in.

[fastkiller13]

Another thing you can do is leave the boveda packs out in the open for a couple days. This will dry them out a bit and they will be able to absorb moisture once you put them pack into the tuppedore.

As for the beads make sure they are all dry when you put them in. You may have to use a blow dryer set to low and cool to dry them out. If they absorb moisture and get filled up dry them out again. 

You should also open the tuppedore once a day fan it out and then close it back up. 

Take dry Spanish cedar and put it in the box as that will help as well. 

Finally in regards to shipping “wet”, if the boxes are from late 17 or early 18 the cigars were just rolled so the tobacco is fresh and wet. Another thing to consider is that although the FOH team does an awesome job at packing things up the post office doesn’t really care about our packages. They get dropped, kicked, thrown, etc... not to mention the rapid changes in humidity while traveling. So if they were shipping 62 RH cigars, they’d probably expand and crack when the temp and humidity rises during shipping. Not to mention a cigar kept at 62 RH is pretty fragile, whilst a cigar kept at 69/70 RH is pretty pliable and can take a squeeze, drop, whatever much better than a dryer stick. 

I personally prefer the cigars show up “wet” for the above reasons. 

Final tip: If you’re dying to smoke a cigar rott just pull one out of the box and dry box it for a couple days. It’ll smoke just fine. Hell, I’ve read some post where EL Pres has dry boxed sticks for a week or longer. 

P.S. make sure whatever beads and/or packs you use are all the same RH level. If they aren’t all that will happen is they’ll work against each other never actually affecting the humidity in a meaningful way.  

[fitzy]

14 minutes ago, fastkiller13 said:

Hell, I’ve read some post where EL Pres has dry boxed sticks for a week or longer. 

 

I thought I saw in a video he may have mentioned keeping them at 58% for a month before smoking but my memory could be way off. 

 

@SilverstixI also find they come pretty damp. When I get them in they get two months at 65%. Then anything I'm going to smoke in the next month I move to a box at 58%. Any cigars rolled recently never seem to burn well for me until you give them time to dry down a bit.

[Ethernut]

3 hours ago, Silverstix said:

 

I've ordered about 10 times from here in the last few months, through the 24:24.  I was wondering if based on your experiences the cigars arrive a little overhumidified? 

Frankly I prefer a cigar being a bit wet for shipping. It will handle the jostling that will naturally occur better. Heck a very wet cigar, you can pinch flat in the middle and it'll bounce back if rolled correctly. They are resilient that way.

 

To bring the humidity down, considering the RH in your house is lower than your humidor, sit them on the counter box open for 8 hours. Don't worry, they can take it. They don't need to be coddled or cuddled. They are more durable than folks give them credit for. Many of us freeze our cigars to kill beetles in certain scenarios. That doesnt bother them either. When my humidor gets a little wet (typically due to the occasional overfilling of my beads). I open the door for a 8 hours to a day. It's 55rh in my house right now so not a big deal. 

[Islandboy]

I have 65 Bovedas in both my humidors...steady RH in one is 67, the other is 68, measured with recently calibrated hygrometers. I’m fine with this as I believe its within Boveda’s stated tolerance, but just pointing out the variance one can expect. 

[Silverstix]

Thank you brothers, the advice is much appreciated!! Some GREAT points from you guys.....right now I have the lid off the tupperdor and I'm letting everything sort of air out for a few hours before I go home.  I'm also going to take the bovedas out, let them blow off some steam over the weekend, and then put them back in on Monday so they can absorb some of the excess moisture like they're supposed to.  That is a great tidbit of info!

Patience is something that I can appreciate, and in a world of instant gratification I find that the world of cigars is one of the last areas of life where patience is still required.  I enjoy letting cigars sit for 6 months, 12 months, etc at my preferred range and enjoying them, but after over 2 weeks and no movement, the best of us can get a little antsy LOL

[Silverstix]

1 minute ago, Islandboy said:

I have 65 Bovedas in both my humidors...steady RH in one is 67, the other is 68, measured with recently calibrated hygrometers. I’m fine with this as I believe its within Boveda’s stated tolerance, but just pointing out the variance one can expect. 

True that!  I have 65's in my NC tupperdors, and both are usually pretty dead on within 1%.  I'd be cool with 67 or 68 in there though..... But for my CC's I would like them to be low 60's, so I just bought some 62's hoping that eventually they will settle at a lower %

[Silverstix]

So just a little update - over the last week I've received 30 singles (bunch of 1/4 boxes) from the 24:24.  I put them all in a big gallon Ziploc bag with my hygrometer, and it's measuring 70% RH.  So I think they are just arriving a little on the wet side and it's taking a while for the boveda to do their thing and catch up.

[El Presidente]

I think the last thing you would want is for cigars to be shipped at low 60's RH.  Ethernut is correct. 

60-90 days acclimatisation in your humidor. There is no substitute 

[Silverstix]

I think the last thing you would want is for cigars to be shipped at low 60's RH.  Ethernut is correct. 
60-90 days acclimatisation in your humidor. There is no substitute 

Oh for sure, rather have them come that way. Was driving me a little bonkers trying to figure out if my hygro was off, or if I didn’t have enough boveda packs in there. But now I know for sure what it is, and I’m ok with that. Definitely no substitute for time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk