newbie needs advice

[deelcee]

as a relative newcomer (2yrs) to smoking cuban cigars can anyone give me advice as to how to keep my cigars and for how long etc...

i have 2 humidors! holding 30/120 pyramids respectively.

over the past 2yrs i have tried many cubans and my preferences are

partagas p no.2,d no4 and montecristo no2

i returned from a trip to havana in feb this year with a box of each (all dated 06)

whilst in cuba i smoked many cigars and really enjoyed them!

however i cant say the same for the cigars that i have brought home!

i have checked the boxes and they all seem genuine (see my earlier post 'how long to age'

i am beginning to think that i am doing something wrong !!

also am i expecting too much from 06 cigars ??

would i do better to buy aged cigars and leave the ones i have in the humidor for 5yrs?????

the d4's are rolled very tight making it difficult to draw!

i would like to purchase a draw poker but am finding it very difficult to source one in england!!

i could purchase one from usa but have been quoted $34 shipping (rip off) are there any suppliers in the uk?

any advice would be great

cheers dave

[ccsmoker]

What is the humidity in your humidors?It might be too humid.As for a draw poker you can use an metal BBQ skewer or an bamboo BBQ

skewer they both work the same.I would try to keep the humidity

down to about 65% and see how they smoke when the tabacco

is too moist it expands making the draw a little bit tough

hope that helps..

[Mel]

Pokers don't work well for me I have gone to using a 3/16 inch drill bit and actually boring out the excess tobacco. This works best with a well humididfied cigar(68-70%) and after driling bring down to 63-65% for smoking. Some times no amount of doctoring will make the cigar burn correctly and then you just pitch the bastard.

I do also find there is a difference between drawing or air passing through the cigar and proper burn and oxidation of the tobacco. Good luck mate some of the Cuban cigars are just not made well.

[n2advnture]

I agree with ccsmoker.

Try 65% RH. I have found to too high of a RH can cause draw, burn and flavor problems.

Additionally, the rule of thumb is to smoke them with in a couple of months of the box code date. Once your out of that range, cigars used to get "sick" and you'd have to wait typically a year from the box code date to start trying them again.

With that said, over the recent years, Habanos has seemed to be able to greatly reduce the "sick period" of cigars.

Hope this helps

~Mark

[Fuzz]

» Additionally, the rule of thumb is to smoke them with in a couple of

» months of the box code date. Once your out of that range, cigars used to

» get "sick" and you'd have to wait typically a year from the box code date

» to start trying them again.

I find this interesting. What causes the cigars to get "sick" as you call it? Most of the cigars I've smoked have rarely had any chance to age, only recently have I started to wait for them to mature.

[wp2]

Let them rest for a year or so, then try them again. You'll notice a marked difference in improvement.