Cigar Vacuum Sealing Guide For Long Term Storage


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10 hours ago, Well Armed said:

1) Meater 16” vacuum sealer machine. Absolutely fantastic machine that can do 16” wide bags, has wonderful pulse control to dictate the amount of vacuum required, and a brilliant sealer that perfectly melds 5 mil bags. This is a commercial grade machine. I started back in the day with a simple Foodsaver machine, and they are fine for beginners. But if you are going the distance in numbers, you need a quality machine. You get what you pay for. 

I agree with on most items except the machine I recommend. I recommend foodsaver (the machine, not the bags as you noted) as it a weaker machine. In this case, that is a good thing. You do not need (or want) the power that stronger machines provide. Foodsaver itself can crush a box. A machine like you mention will just crush it more. Foodsaver has a 5 year warranty so if you destroy it like I did, you just a get a new and better one as a replacement. While 16 inch is great, how often do you buy 50 cabs? Especially now. The foodsaver turkey bag (the only foodsaver bags I use) works fine for the handful of 50 cabs I have. As long as you are careful, a stronger machine is fine, but for newbies, it may do more harm then good. Every single box I've done is with foodsaver and it has never let me down.

I use 4mil bags and have never had a problem. Unless they are in an area getting smacked around, you should be fine. % of nylon used for the bag is what is the key.  You need a combo of both thickness and high use of nylon.

I do mention in the video about heat stress. I've never seen that come up in my many chats, so I thought it was important to discuss. And yes, acclimatization is key as I note in the video. It is why I recommend anywhere from 30 to a year of humidor time before sealing up. Doing that plus a cheap humidor will maximize long term success.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good points on the machine. The MEATER simply has a wider capacity for bigger bags, a sealing strip that gives an exceptionally even and smooth seal on 5+ mil bags (which you can also adjust the sealing heat time), and also allows for a tremendously fine touch with the pulse control. 

I used a foodsaver for a long time before replacing it with a more capable unit. I use it for a lot of food as well. My frustration with the foodsaver timing out of the seal strip gets too hot drove me bananas. 

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I've been vacuum sealing my boxes for many years, and like Monterey, I use a Foodsaver machine with good results. For the extra large cabs and specialty sized boxes, I get those extra large bags too, and do a double seal just to be on the safe side.  

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10 hours ago, Chitmo said:

This sounds like a lot of work, I think I’m just gonna smoke mine. 😉 

And that's fine too. I smoke lots of freshies - QdO 50's and PSD 5 & 6 I'm finding I like them really fresh. But like a finely aged wine, aging cigars can bring out more complex flavors when done right. Not always, but more often than not, for me at least.  your mileage may vary.

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On 10/4/2024 at 8:28 AM, Well Armed said:

3) 16” wide bags… in a roll. With a 16” roll, you can easily fit a cab of double coronas. And the roll allows you to make the bag as long as you need. 

What brand of 16" bags do you use? I have had really good luck with "Out of Air" bags, but the widest bags the make are 12". I have some larger cabs that just dont fit in the 12" wide bags. 

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On 10/16/2024 at 10:25 AM, BrightonCorgi said:

I am a proponent of vacuum sealing cigars. I also like to vacuum seal prosciutto, jamon, and whole blocks of cheese. A more commercial style unit I have is my favorite kitchen device.

Weston® Pro-2600 Vacuum Sealer

I bought/rec'd this very same unit for Fathers Day. Love it. Just ordered a Stash Proof roll and will be sealing a few things shortly.

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On 10/15/2024 at 4:05 PM, kyee said:

I've been vacuum sealing my boxes for many years, and like Monterey, I use a Foodsaver machine with good results. For the extra large cabs and specialty sized boxes, I get those extra large bags too, and do a double seal just to be on the safe side.  

Kyee, you were ahead of me in this game and I followed your posts in the past. You are for sure a credit to the vacuum sealing community, along with the gipper. Large bag for sure for the rare 50 cab. Buying an expensive machine to accommodate a small amount of sealing you do is crazy to me, it does more harm then good. To each their own.

On 10/16/2024 at 7:23 AM, Chitmo said:

This sounds like a lot of work, I think I’m just gonna smoke mine. 😉 

I get it. 10 minutes per bag. The skill to put a box in a bag and hit 2 buttons to massively extend the life of your cigars and extend your investment and enjoyment. Tough stuff. Not a skill that all can master! :)

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Noob Question, but what is the theory behind vacuum sealing, and how important is it? I assume it's to stop the oils/aromas being lost over time, and keep maximum flavour for the long term.

At what point does this become worth doing time wise? I assume that if you are only aging cigars for 5-10 years or so then its not as necessary?

Thanks.

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13 hours ago, Gubbins said:

Noob Question, but what is the theory behind vacuum sealing, and how important is it? I assume it's to stop the oils/aromas being lost over time, and keep maximum flavour for the long term.

At what point does this become worth doing time wise? I assume that if you are only aging cigars for 5-10 years or so then its not as necessary?

Thanks.

In layman terms, it is to stop oxygen from ruining your cigars. Oxygen is very corrosive. Your assumption is correct.

As for timing, personal tastes. Anything you plan to not get to over 5 years I vacuum seal. Anything under, there is no point. A vacuumed 7 year box vs a 7 year old box just in the humidor will taste quite different. In my experience, it will be less flavorful then the vacuum box.

Years ago there was a person who thought vacuum sealing was stupid and we went back and forth. Then he did a 180 and vacuumed sealed a huge amount of boxes for 5 years. He got a large group of people to join in on his experiment. He left some boxes open to compare against. Farkham (or something like that) is his name here. He hasn't logged in in years the last time I checked. Anyhow, he is doing some large scale comparison with these people. They are going to note the flavor change of sealing vs non-sealing. If you search, you can find his posts and what boxes he sealed up. He did quite the write up. I am interested in what his team comes up with, though I wish he did a longer period then 5 years. I think it has been 3 years, so hopefully he returns in 2 years with his results.

 

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8 hours ago, vinnyvega said:

Do you guys vacuum seal partial boxes? 

I have thought about it but only vacuum seal intact boxes. Not sure why though lol.

You can. I would find something to fill the empty space to reduce the amount of oxygen in the bag, maybe a few cigars from other boxes. You have to be careful though, it will likely be easier to crush the box if you aren't careful. 

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On 10/20/2024 at 10:39 PM, vinnyvega said:

Do you guys vacuum seal partial boxes? 

Sometimes I'll open a sealed bag/box to sample a cigar to see how the box is doing.  Then I'll seal it back up.

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If removing the oxygen before sealing is the goal, would there be any reason not to sparge the box & bag with an inert gas (argon, nitrogen) before sealing? We do this with head space in tanks before bottling (wine) to prevent oxidation, seems like it could be another step in this process. Apologies if this is covered in the video, I haven't been able to finish it.

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