Tupperware organization

[ohbob976]

I guess this is regarding long term storage. Tupperware that I will only open a handful of times a year. 

I was talking to a friend about storage. He thinks that the way boxes are organized within the Tupperware and the location of the boveda packs matters. He thinks the humidity packs should be in the center of the Tupperware and that the boxes within should have “ breathing room” so humidity can enter the boxes. According to his theory if boxes are too tightly stacked against one another there is no room for the humidity to enter the boxes from left to right, up or down etc leading to humidity issues 

What I have been doing is playing Tetris and trying to get as many boxes as possible into my giant Tupperware, stacking them as tightly as possible to maximize storage space. I then put in a 320g 65rh pack or two wherever they fit. Is it possible the boxes that are jammed into the bottom of the Tupperware aren’t getting enough humidity if the boveda packs are toward the top of the Tupperware?

Just curious, those who have been using Tupperware to store boxes over the years . How do you guys store your boxes in your Tupperware? Do you out any thought into organizing your boxes? How have the cigars that been stored like this over years smoked with some age on them? Are they any different then cigars that have been stored in proper humidors that give the boxes more room to “breathe”? 

 

I haven’t been overthinking my storage. Just trying keeping them stable at 65rh 68f .

[TheGipper]

If there isn't enough room for the humidity to "enter", then how could there possibly be enough room for the humidity to "exit" in the first place?

[Bucky McSwensen]

Dont overanalyze it.  With long term Tupperware it shouldnt be fluctuating in rh too much.  If you put in dried out sticks they will slowly but surely acclimate.  If you want to have airflow, then sure space them out.  Maybe tightly packing them will be like vacuum sealing where it slows the aging process (good or bad) but theres too many variables to blame it on boveda location. In a container this small.

[Tstew75]

It doesn't matter, in such a small container RH permeates the space over time. In terms of small fluctuations in one corner or another, sure maybe...but who cares...it's not like you'll be smoking right out of those containers without dry-boxing first anyways. As a poster said above, don't overthink this. Cigars are super resilient & a little fluctuation here & there is nothing.

This is probably obvious, but make sure to use the weather-tight storage boxes.

 

[ohbob976]

Awesome. Thanks for the replies and reassurance 

[ohbob976]

1 hour ago, Tstew75 said:

It doesn't matter, in such a small container RH permeates the space over time. In terms of small fluctuations in one corner or another, sure maybe...but who cares...it's not like you'll be smoking right out of those containers without dry-boxing first anyways. As a poster said above, don't overthink this. Cigars are super resilient & a little fluctuation here & there is nothing.

This is probably obvious, but make sure to use the weather-tight storage boxes.

 

I actually don’t drybox. Don’t think Ive Ever dry boxed any of my cigars. They usually burn well coming out of storage. 

Maybe I should give it a shot anyway 

[Cubasam]

8 hours ago, ohbob976 said:

I guess this is regarding long term storage. Tupperware that I will only open a handful of times a year. 

I was talking to a friend about storage. He thinks that the way boxes are organized within the Tupperware and the location of the boveda packs matters. He thinks the humidity packs should be in the center of the Tupperware and that the boxes within should have “ breathing room” so humidity can enter the boxes. According to his theory if boxes are too tightly stacked against one another there is no room for the humidity to enter the boxes from left to right, up or down etc leading to humidity issues 

What I have been doing is playing Tetris and trying to get as many boxes as possible into my giant Tupperware, stacking them as tightly as possible to maximize storage space. I then put in a 320g 65rh pack or two wherever they fit. Is it possible the boxes that are jammed into the bottom of the Tupperware aren’t getting enough humidity if the boveda packs are toward the top of the Tupperware?

Just curious, those who have been using Tupperware to store boxes over the years . How do you guys store your boxes in your Tupperware? Do you out any thought into organizing your boxes? How have the cigars that been stored like this over years smoked with some age on them? Are they any different then cigars that have been stored in proper humidors that give the boxes more room to “breathe”? 

 

I haven’t been overthinking my storage. Just trying keeping them stable at 65rh 68f .

Which tuppperware are using? Thinking of getting some since my humidor is overloading.

would love to find some Tupperware that’s large enough for boxes.

Do your Tupperware have air tightseals on them? 

[ohbob976]

9 hours ago, Cubasam said:

Which tuppperware are using? Thinking of getting some since my humidor is overloading.

would love to find some Tupperware that’s large enough for boxes.

Do your Tupperware have air tightseals on them? 

The jumbo airtight containers from the container store. I think 60 quarts? Don’t recall off top of my head 

[Cubasam]

4 hours ago, ohbob976 said:

The jumbo airtight containers from the container store. I think 60 quarts? Don’t recall off top of my head 

Oh nice! Didn’t know they had air tight ones. I’ll have to check it out today! Thanks

 

[J-ROB]

Ziploc Weathershield from Amazon if you want to avoid the crazed back-to-school shopping moms at Container Store!

[Silverstix]

16 hours ago, ohbob976 said:

I actually don’t drybox. Don’t think Ive Ever dry boxed any of my cigars. They usually burn well coming out of storage. 

Maybe I should give it a shot anyway 

DON'T! If the cigars are smoking the way you like, don't change a thing!!!

[Buck14]

I have several 46 quart airtight tuppies from the Container Store. I have two 360 gram Bovedas in each. I Tetris the hell out of each of them and because I do not open them often the rH keeps fine.

[Cubasam]

4 hours ago, Buck14 said:

I have several 46 quart airtight tuppies from the Container Store. I have two 360 gram Bovedas in each. I Tetris the hell out of each of them and because I do not open them often the rH keeps fine.

Awesome! I guess my next step is the 360g packs and to find a good humidity reader

 

[ohbob976]

9 hours ago, Silverstix said:

DON'T! If the cigars are smoking the way you like, don't change a thing!!!

Can’t hurt to try though. Maybe I don’t know what I’m missing out on.

[Silverstix]

Can’t hurt to try though. Maybe I don’t know what I’m missing out on.

Nah can’t hurt to try at all. It’s only cigars, experimenting is half the fun. I just fall more into the school of thought that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.


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[Fugu]

Your parameter to care about will be temperature. Jam in as many boxes as you possibly can, humidity not "entering" boxes over time won't be an issue. But given there is no active ventilation in that form of storage, make sure to painstakingly avoid temperature gradients within (as well as wide(r) short-term fluctuations). Depending on the climate where you live of course, e.g. don't put up containers against a cold outer wall or directly onto a basement floor.

[ohbob976]

1 hour ago, Fugu said:

Your parameter to care about will be temperature. Jam in as many boxes as you possibly can, humidity not "entering" boxes over time won't be an issue. But given there is no active ventilation in that form of storage, make sure to painstakingly avoid temperature gradients within (as well as wide(r) short-term fluctuations). Depending on the climate where you live of course, e.g. don't put up containers against a cold outer wall or directly onto a basement floor.

ahhh that makes a lot of sense. thank you 

[parabola66]

I have a medium size storage container. I keep a few Boveda packs spread throughout trying to make sure they're (as best they can be) spread out evenly. Some on top, some on the bottom, some in the middle.

Like @ohbob976 said, temperature is more what I worry about.

P.S. Don't worry, there's another box on the way to fill the center gap... its perfectly box shaped. 

[PigFish]

Air space is vital to active humidors. I am not guessing, I know it for certain and can prove my statements. I am not an expert on static, passive systems, so I will pass on commenting regarding air space in them.

There is one thing that is certain, and that is that all of these 'containers' will stratify. They will develop a gradient from top to bottom where the warmer air will rise and the cooler fall. You cannot stop it.

I think it is best to keep static, passive systems stable as @Fugu mentioned. It is likely better to keep them cooler, vs hotter, there is are limits to everything.

My last input would be not over burden passive elements. The makers of these product far overestimate their performance. Passive elements are your weakest link and should not be.

The idea is to protect the cigars, yes. Then captive water should be at a level where losses and gains are not first made by the cigars themselves. Equilibrium would dictate that the passive elements and the cigars themselves have the same bond strength at a particular rH and temp. That's a definition of equilibrium in our context. However, what elements have the mosts water, the most surface area will sacrifice themselves first. This is where desiccant product shine.

I do believe if I were storing by this method, I would first start with a bed of desiccant products. I suppose even cheap desiccant cat litter would likely be better than not. I would acclimatize that to the proper level, then add cigars.

Leveling the storage capacity of water between your desiccant and aqueous salt products to that of, or near your water mass in cigars, would tend to have the support products do what they are actually intended to do, and that is protect your cigars from high water content flux.

My 2cts!

Carry on! -the Pig

[Cubasam]

What are you guys using for humidity readers? Have you guys tried sensor push? 

[JLinz]

10 hours ago, Cubasam said:

What are you guys using for humidity readers? Have you guys tried sensor push? 

I have two of them.  They need to be calibrated around the rh level and temp you are trying to maintain, however.  I've found that the calibration process is not linear.  But once you have them dialed-in, they're solid. 

[Tstew75]

On 9/5/2019 at 6:04 PM, Cubasam said:

Which tuppperware are using? Thinking of getting some since my humidor is overloading.

would love to find some Tupperware that’s large enough for boxes.

Do your Tupperware have air tightseals on them? 

Zipoc weathershield 60qt.  Walmart has the best pricing on 4 packs of them shipped.

[Homer]

On 9/7/2019 at 7:21 PM, PigFish said:

Air space is vital to active humidors. I am not guessing, I know it for certain and can prove my statements. I am not an expert on static, passive systems, so I will pass on commenting regarding air space in them.

There is one thing that is certain, and that is that all of these 'containers' will stratify. They will develop a gradient from top to bottom where the warmer air will rise and the cooler fall. You cannot stop it.

I think it is best to keep static, passive systems stable as @Fugu mentioned. It is likely better to keep them cooler, vs hotter, there is are limits to everything.

My last input would be not over burden passive elements. The makers of these product far overestimate their performance. Passive elements are your weakest link and should not be.

The idea is to protect the cigars, yes. Then captive water should be at a level where losses and gains are not first made by the cigars themselves. Equilibrium would dictate that the passive elements and the cigars themselves have the same bond strength at a particular rH and temp. That's a definition of equilibrium in our context. However, what elements have the mosts water, the most surface area will sacrifice themselves first. This is where desiccant product shine.

I do believe if I were storing by this method, I would first start with a bed of desiccant products. I suppose even cheap desiccant cat litter would likely be better than not. I would acclimatize that to the proper level, then add cigars.

Leveling the storage capacity of water between your desiccant and aqueous salt products to that of, or near your water mass in cigars, would tend to have the support products do what they are actually intended to do, and that is protect your cigars from high water content flux.

My 2cts!

Carry on! -the Pig

Would it be good idea to use product like Xikar HumiFan to get the air circulate? I have small cabinet humidor with passive humidifier system (bovedas) and I am thinking on buying something like humifan. I have cigar oasis plus 3.0 but I am not using it right now since it has 2 times freaked out and started to blow moist air in full speed for many hours. Its not nice to notice that the humidity % is 75 instead of 63% like it should be. 

[Bucky McSwensen]

I have a few of those in the coolidors.  They eat up batteries quick.  Just open and cycle every few months and you'll be fine.  If you have really wet sticks then a fan is good to speed up acclimation.  If all are good, just burp the containers every so often.