PM: cigars and OCD

[El Presidente]

Nice PM this morning. I was just going to ask him to PM Bijan  ......but I thought it is a good topic for a wider discussion. 

Help out if you can. 

 

Love the forum and the respectful banter between members. If you permit me I would like to raise an question that may be outside of the norm but it is one that FOH appears to handle with humor and largely a non judgemental basis.  OCD runs deep in my family. When it comes to hobbies I go way deep and need to immerse myself in every aspect. I started in cuban cigars just after the onset of Covid and from zero sticks i have now over 1500 most of which I am resting. I run a spreadsheet with alarms set at 90 days 180 days 365 days etc. financially I am fine with the purchases but I find myself being agitated over things such as temperature, hourly humidity variance, box codes. There are more spreadsheets. I read everything online and watch every video. Maybe only someone with OCD understands, but there comes a point where you know that you may be crossing the line. It is difficult to explain but I would like some guidance from FOH members who may or may have been in a similar position and how they set boundaries when first starting out. I hope I haven't confused you!

 

Over to you good folks. 

[JohnS]

2 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Nice PM this morning. I was just going to ask him to PM Bijan  ......

Oui, je suis d'accord... il est nécessaire !

[NSXCIGAR]

How about smoking some of those cigars and relaxing a bit?

Other than that, therapy and medication.

[Hammer Smokin']

I was gonna say, poor fella. Seriously, that must be tough to deal with. OCD is something that can really alter the enjoyment of something. 

I used to be extremely OCD when it came to fishing. Rods, reels, tackle, I have over 50 rods and reels all with specific dedications. Kept spread sheet with fish caught, depths, lures, etc. Then I completely burnt myself out. 100%. Stopped fishing for a couple years. Then got back into it, but with a completely different approach. 

Some people just can't get rid of OCD. But it is possible to burn out, and then come at it from a different angle. 

At least with cigars you could walk away from smoking for a period (even long period) and your cigars will be waiting for you, likely better than ever. Not the end of the world. Or sell them. 

[SpecialK]

Ding Ding Ding!!! I'm your huckleberry... I've got OCD and am on medication for it over  20 years.  I'm no where near as bad as I was but "checking" things was and still is my issue... I find myself sweating humidity variances all the time..  The struggle is real  and I'm still coming to grip with these things... but I think and I've read here that cigars are far more hardy and not as delicate as some think.. 

Don't beat yourself up ... I'm open to conversation about these things if you want to talk..

 

Kevin.. 

[JohnS]

On a serious note, you find you turn a corner in this hobby on the very day you decide that you will utilise simpler measures for your inventory. In my case, it was the time that I began to put my cigar boxes in ziploc bags without humidification devices and honestly I haven't looked back. I keep my stock in a well-controlled environment (i.e in the dark in a double-bricked room) and my cigars smoke just fine even years later. Mind you, I have other stock stored loose and in other boxes with humidification devices (i.e Boveda Humidity Control packs) but these packs are still malleable after many, many years!

Mind you, the seeds of doing this was was born from practical experience and reading about how @Nino stores his cigars long-term on his excellent blog.

[MrBirdman]

18 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Nice PM this morning. I was just going to ask him to PM Bijan  ......but I thought it is a good topic for a wider discussion. 

Help out if you can. 

 

Love the forum and the respectful banter between members. If you permit me I would like to raise an question that may be outside of the norm but it is one that FOH appears to handle with humor and largely a non judgemental basis.  OCD runs deep in my family. When it comes to hobbies I go way deep and need to immerse myself in every aspect. I started in cuban cigars just after the onset of Covid and from zero sticks i have now over 1500 most of which I am resting. I run a spreadsheet with alarms set at 90 days 180 days 365 days etc. financially I am fine with the purchases but I find myself being agitated over things such as temperature, hourly humidity variance, box codes. There are more spreadsheets. I read everything online and watch every video. Maybe only someone with OCD understands, but there comes a point where you know that you may be crossing the line. It is difficult to explain but I would like some guidance from FOH members who may or may have been in a similar position and how they set boundaries when first starting out. I hope I haven't confused you!

 

Over to you good folks. 

Apparently I got blackout drunk last night and PM’d Rob 😉. 

I feel ya man. My barometer is that it’s time to pump the breaks when your cigars start causing more stress than they relieve with enjoyment. 

[Enduin]

I have a suggestion for the gentleman afflicted by OCD: why not run an experiment? Take a few cigars from a box that has proven to be fairly consistently good. Store one at as close to perfect humidity/temperature as possible. One to lower humidity, one to higher. Same with temperature if that worries you too. After a 2-3 months ask someone (friends, family) to take one of the cigars out and give it to you without the band (which could betray higher/lower humidification) after taking note of what it is and giving it a number. You smoke the cigars and take note of which ones you like better ranking them by the number assigned. At the end of the experiment have the friend/spouse/relative reveal which number corresponds to which cigar. It will be very obvious if storage at less than optimal humidity has an effect or not on your enjoyment of the cigars. If you find that it doesn't, maybe that knowledge can help you be a bit more relaxed about storage conditions.

My 2 cents.

 

[Edicion]

Too many variables involved with cigars, collecting and storage which makes it difficult for those who need to have control or suffer from OCDs, perfectionists... because this hobby is dealing with inherently imperfect things and conditions. Having a level of acceptance for these variables and the consequences, might reduce anxiety and stress.

Just an example could be to write down an acceptable range of variences in temperature or humidity over the course of a month instead of a day. That will allow for a bit more relaxed approach.

Some others also suggest to smoke on and enjoy. Couldn't agree more. 

[Bijan]

Asking for advice on the forum helps (as does reading old threads). I was spending a lot of time worrying about storage humity, with a desktop, etc. Got coolers with boveda (and a few tupperware containers with bovedas too). Monitored it for a while (still do). But haven't actually had to do anything to adjust the humidity in over a year.

My experience with that mirrors @JohnS. My storage temperature varies widely between low single digits Celsius in the winter to mid teens Celsius in the summer (slowness of the temperature change is key, I sometimes go on vacation and take cigars in a tupperware and run into problem since they change temperature real quickly in that case). Humidity generally in the mid 60s not really sure where, but everything always smokes fine.

Have practically all the cigars I want now, except for maybe 3-4 more I plan on getting this year.

Had a spreadsheet updated all the time, but eventually entered everything into CCW:

https://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/

(and that simplified things so much that I haven't updated the spreadsheet in many months)

Only thing I really spend too much mental energy on is figuring out which cigar to smoke next. Any one got any advice on that? Or is that a problem I should just learn to enjoy?

[Edicion]

6 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Only thing I really spend too much mental energy on is figuring out which cigar to smoke next. Any one got any advice on that? Or is that a problem I should just learn to enjoy?

Let the wheel spin and decide! 

https://pickerwheel.com/

🤣

[Bijan]

9 minutes ago, Edicion said:

Let the wheel spin and decide! 

https://pickerwheel.com/

🤣

Oh that's not a bad idea.

I'd probably use:

https://www.random.org/

specifically the integer generator:

https://www.random.org/integers/

number my options between 1 and N, and generate a number from 1 to N.

Just have to make a weekday list and a weekend list. Or a short smoke list and a long smoke list.

I'm not sure this is helping... We'll see...

Edit:

Think I'll just make a list of my open boxes in order of size and then select the size range I want to smoke and randomize that. Should work 🤔

[Ford2112]

Use this wheel

 

 

[DeskSmkr]

On 1/20/2022 at 2:07 PM, El Presidente said:

When it comes to hobbies I go way deep and need to immerse myself in every aspect.

Go with it. Not everybody can focus like this and it is a strength. Give it time everything will be fine. Nice job so far, outstanding acceleration into hobby.

That said I don't understand what is being asked for specifically and I don't see a glaring issue either.

Yes it is agitating and there isn't a clear cut solution for storage. Bear in mind cigars themselves are variables and can't be controlled and we can't really tell until it's too late - after they are lit and smoked. There is no perfect temp and humidity, only best we can do for an average of varied experiences.

[CaptainQuintero]

  I think everyone has that when they first get into the hobby, you spend a lot of money and you want to make sure you're looking after them correctly.

  It might be worth looking into a passive storage system if you find yourself getting stressed out looking after the collection: set it up and forget

[helix]

Nothing like a new hobby . OCD it and have fun . As with all hobbies this shall pass. 

[gustavehenne]

23 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Nice PM this morning. I was just going to ask him to PM Bijan  ......but I thought it is a good topic for a wider discussion. 

Help out if you can. 

 

Love the forum and the respectful banter between members. If you permit me I would like to raise an question that may be outside of the norm but it is one that FOH appears to handle with humor and largely a non judgemental basis.  OCD runs deep in my family. When it comes to hobbies I go way deep and need to immerse myself in every aspect. I started in cuban cigars just after the onset of Covid and from zero sticks i have now over 1500 most of which I am resting. I run a spreadsheet with alarms set at 90 days 180 days 365 days etc. financially I am fine with the purchases but I find myself being agitated over things such as temperature, hourly humidity variance, box codes. There are more spreadsheets. I read everything online and watch every video. Maybe only someone with OCD understands, but there comes a point where you know that you may be crossing the line. It is difficult to explain but I would like some guidance from FOH members who may or may have been in a similar position and how they set boundaries when first starting out. I hope I haven't confused you!

 

Over to you good folks. 

I'm a bit like this too - I started off in March 2021 and have amassed a collection of around 2,8k cigars (my god, I only just added all of the spreadsheet up). I've got better recently and at the beginning couldn't stop buying on 24:24 and other places. Started off with a desktop humidor then straight away bought a climate-controlled electronic humidor capable (allegedly) of holding 5k cigars.

Did the same with wine and built up a great collection over a few years but turned away from this to move to cigars. Definitely got a lot of OCD running through me.

If the OP wants to get in touch I'd be happy to share my coping mechanisms and have a chat  

[SCgarman]

OCD can turn what is supposed to be a fun hobby into mental torture or torment. You should see some of the reactions on the Rolex watch forums when guys notice a scratch or ding on their 10-100K watch. Some of them curl up into fetal position in a corner of their house! 😂

[99call]

Putting `cuban cigars on a pedestal, can make the passion quite a stressful one. I would recommend doing two things. 

1,  Take any given cigar out of the humidor,  leave it out on an open shelf for a day, maybe two days,  then smoke it,  It's more than likely the cigar will be just as enjoyable as the ones you have given all your loving care.  The reality is, is that they're fairly forgiving things, and the idea of some sort of ensuing crisis will occur if you don't have constant obsessive control.  might fall away, and you'll become more relaxed. 

2, Take one of your cheaper cigars,  and open it up and really take some time inspecting the component leaves.   Cigars can look beautiful in the box, uniform, glossy, perfect little cylinders.  I think looking at how bloody terrible the guts of cuban (or any) cigar can look, really makes you a great deal less idealistic a smoker feels toward them.    The hole OCD thing starts to unravel, much like the cigar, you realise there are many aspects about them that are far from perfect. It may help you feel less obsessive about them. i.e regardless of what you do to keep them,  that will not stop their being huge stems, string, pieces of paper from the rollers table etc etc  all have been found in Cuban cigars.

[Bijan]

13 minutes ago, 99call said:

1,  Take any given cigar out of the humidor,  leave it out on an open shelf for a day, maybe two days,  then smoke it,  It's more than likely the cigar will be just as enjoyable as the ones you have given all your loving care.  The reality is, is that they're fairly forgiving things, and the idea of some sort of ensuing crisis will occur if you don't have constant obsessive control.  might fall away, and you'll become more relaxed. 

Must be your nice rainy UK climate

My humidity is currently 27% on my ground floor (genelly in the 30s even in the summer, maybe a max of 40%)... Won't ruin a cigar in a day or two, but I find them noticeably worse (though can't entirely rule out my imagination).

[99call]

1 minute ago, Bijan said:

Won't ruin a cigar in a day or two, but I find them noticeably worse

Yeah I get it,  it was more to say, small fluctuations inside a humi  etc etc.    Is not the end of the world. 

Be the master of you passions,  don't let your passions be the master of you..............well not unless your into S&M.........no thats not a cigar brand.