Smoking in high humidity conditions?

[WalterG]

Can smoking in high humidity conditions affect the cigar? I was smoking a BBF today and the humidity outside was 95%. I would draw on the cigar and get no smoke. The draw itself was fine but the cigar seemed like it didn’t want to burn. 

[aircooled]

Yes it affects the cigar. Cigars are hygroscopic.  Best to smoke a half corona or similar on those conditions or go indoors with a dehumidifier.

[Derboesekoenig]

Absolutely! I have smoked in 10-25% humidity and 100% humidity, and depending on how long you're smoking, it can vastly affect your experience.

[Corylax18]

I only notice a difference towards the end of very large cigars. I typically smoke in Colorado, where the Humidity is extremely low. I just got done smoking in Cuba for 10 days and out of the 45-50 cigars I smoked, I can remember 2 that I had to put down early because of harshness. A salomones and a BHK 56 size. I smoked Siglo III, robust extra, and siglo VI size with no issues. We did mainly smoke mareva and Corona especial sized cigars, but I do the same in Colorado too. Also keep in mind that many of the cigars I smoked in Cuba were less than a week off the table, so very high in moisture content to start with. 

I think people greatly exaggerate the effects of weather on a cigar. Beyond extreme temps and humidity I really don't think it matters much over the course of an hour or 1.5 hours. 

[CampDelta369]

When traveling to a tropical climate like Hawaii or battling rain in Pensacola for weeks straight, the travel sticks will absorb that moisture and burn less efficiently if kept in the local environment for extended periods. Using a traveldor with a 54% Boveda helps greatly here essentially dry boxing the stash. 
I also notice how well the CC burns at home when humidity drops real low <20%RH outside. For me the higher humidity can negatively effect the combustion But I have had some wonderful smokes in the rain. There may be a lot of factors at play.

[slowsmoke]

Ambient RH definitely affects how a cigar smokes.  Fall/winter evenings around here are regularly 80+RH, and I can tell a difference.

Not only that, it is worse with Habanos than NC.  Whether it is the Cuban tobacco, younger cigars, fermentation differences, whatever, is beyond me.  But there is a difference for sure.

[Notsocleaver]

I went camping in a rain forest once and by day two everything was unsmokable. Ever since then I bring a 49% Boveda pack when I travel any place wet.

[HuffnPuffff]

I went camping in a rain forest once and by day two everything was unsmokable. Ever since then I bring a 49% Boveda pack when I travel any place wet.

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[Sir Diggamus]

This can definitely be an issue. I lived in Florida for some years and would check the humidity before smoking something that was a longer and thinner cigar. Too long outside and burn, smoke production, and most of all flavor suffer in my opinion. If it is a higher humidity day sticking to shorter and thicker cigars will help. 

[SCgarman]

Cuban cigars are much more fickle in high humidity high dew point weather than non Cuban cigars. It doesn't take long for the cigar to start not burning properly needing many touch ups and the smoke is not as plentiful. I have plenty of issues in the summertime. Has nothing to do with my storage either as they are maintained in the low 60% humidity range in my cabinet. 

[KnightsAnole]

1 hour ago, Sir Diggamus said:

This can definitely be an issue. I lived in Florida for some years and would check the humidity before smoking something that was a longer and thinner cigar. Too long outside and burn, smoke production, and most of all flavor suffer in my opinion. If it is a higher humidity day sticking to shorter and thicker cigars will help. 

Have lived in South Florida and have smoked a cigar in high humidity every day, for fifteen years. I store at 62% and 72* and won't waste a skinny on humid day. Robustos work best for me when it's really bad. when I smoked NCs, I never considered it.

[clickbangdoh]

I think I say this on every o e of these threads: drybox prior to smoking in a high humidity environment will definitely improve combustion and may save you from some really bad experiences. I smoke in Florida, drybox is a must in the summer, and hell, most of the year due to the higher humidity. Time of day can factor in here too, as sometimes dew can even become an issue if you are smoking later evening and after our ever present thunderstorms.

[slowsmoke]

Not to derail the thread, but those saying they travel with a low RH boveda, I question how effective that really is?  In my experience, boveda absorb water so slowly, it's hard to believe it would be able to do anything over a trip of days or even weeks, particularly when the container is being opened often.  But I have never actually tried it myself.

[SCgarman]

2 hours ago, clickbangdoh said:

I think I say this on every o e of these threads: drybox prior to smoking in a high humidity environment will definitely improve combustion and may save you from some really bad experiences. I smoke in Florida, drybox is a must in the summer, and hell, most of the year due to the higher humidity. Time of day can factor in here too, as sometimes dew can even become an issue if you are smoking later evening and after our ever present thunderstorms.

I would imagine your best cigar weather in Florida would be Dec, Jan and Feb while that is the driest air of the year. Even with a dryboxed cigar, it will still absorb the humid air as you smoke through it. I find the non Cubans to not have the sensitivity to excessive air moisture in the summer. 

[clickbangdoh]

12 minutes ago, NYgarman said:

I would imagine your best cigar weather in Florida would be Dec, Jan and Feb while that is the driest air of the year. Even with a dryboxed cigar, it will still absorb the humid air as you smoke through it. I find the non Cubans to not have the sensitivity to excessive air moisture in the summer. 

I only smoke outside, so that's pretty accurate. Generally best months are November to about March, but depends, as sometimes the hit, humid weather can last till late into December even (many memories of shorts and AC on Xmas...). I'd say NC's are indeed more tolerant of higher humidity, I think more because of how they are rolled than any other reason, think they are deliberately rolled a bit looser to account for swelling from humidity. In any case, they generally have far fewer tent-pole moments, in fact I think I've had maybe 2-3 plugged NC's versus 20-30 plugged CC's. Almost all can be fixed by dry box generally, but you need to catch that before you light the darn thing. LOL.

[WalterG]

13 hours ago, slowsmoke said:

Ambient RH definitely affects how a cigar smokes.  Fall/winter evenings around here are regularly 80+RH, and I can tell a difference.

Not only that, it is worse with Habanos than NC.  Whether it is the Cuban tobacco, younger cigars, fermentation differences, whatever, is beyond me.  But there is a difference for sure.

Yes I also notice that it's way worse when I smoke Habanos rather than NCs. 

[NSXCIGAR]

Been having more issues with humidity over the last 3-4 years. Anything over 70% ambient definitely affects the cigar by the end particularly if it's over 5" long. I had big problems with some Monte 1s in August that seemed to just sponge up moisture and I know my humidity wasn't higher than the low 70s. 

[earthson]

If there is high humidity outside, but I still insist in smoking, I'll go with something shorter as it seems to be a function of time as to when the cigar becomes too wet to perform properly, so minutos and entreactos are my usual choice.  I agree with the above that non-cubans perform much better under high humidity, but i have one desktop dedicated solely to non-cubans and I keep it around 69-70% RH vs the high 50s, low 60s I aim for for my Havana desktops, so it's possible that the cigars are already acclimated to a higher humidity, thus performing better than my old, dusty, dried-out Cuban cigars 

[Baccy]

Absolutely it affects the burn! I live in the Southeast, and I know from experience.

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[Burningman]

Where I live humidity is not an issue. A few years ago I went back to Houston TX to visit friends and took a few NC with me. I dry boxed them for a few days before the trip. My NC are stored at 70% with no issues. I can smoke them without dry boxing however this was not the case in Houston.

The cigars needed to be re-lit often and I picked up some sour flavors. The next time I visit I will dry box for a longer period of time and seek out some low humidity boveda packs.

[mt1]

On 12/8/2019 at 12:06 PM, slowsmoke said:

Not to derail the thread, but those saying they travel with a low RH boveda, I question how effective that really is?  In my experience, boveda absorb water so slowly, it's hard to believe it would be able to do anything over a trip of days or even weeks, particularly when the container is being opened often.  But I have never actually tried it myself.

I don't know about you guys but I haven't had any issues.  I've done many trips with 30-50 cigars in a couple of ziploc bags or cigar cases with 65% bovedas, going from varying climates (hot/freezing, dry/humid) and I have no issues--though I don't leave my box/bags open, I just open them just to pick a stick to smoke.

[ImTripN2]

10 hours ago, Burningman said:

Where I live humidity is not an issue. A few years ago I went back to Houston TX to visit friends and took a few NC with me. I dry boxed them for a few days before the trip. My NC are stored at 70% with no issues. I can smoke them without dry boxing however this was not the case in Houston.

The cigars needed to be re-lit often and I picked up some sour flavors. The next time I visit I will dry box for a longer period of time and seek out some low humidity boveda packs.

With all due respect I would argue the exact opposite is true. From my experience, cigars need to be acclimated to the ambient conditions in which they are smoked. I spend time on an island in Central America where the humidity is off the charts. The only way I can get my sticks to smoke well is to leave them out on the shelf, and after a week or 10 days they will acclimate to the 85%+ humidity and smoke just fine. Ever seen a humidor in Cuba or Nicaragua or Honduras? Tobacco is for the most part aged, stored and smoked without any artificial means to control humidity.

I guess if you are travelling from the mild climate of Nor Cal (74% yearly average RH in San Francisco) to a humid place for a vacation there won't be much time to acclimate your cigars, but I don't think more dry boxing beforehand is the answer.