Wine cooler and temperature thoughts and questions

[PorscheC4S]

Up until a about a month ago, my wine fridge with external (Johnson Controls A419) temperature control unit was working very well for me. It was very steady with temperatures only varying about 1 degree F and humidity only swinging 3%RH during a cooling cycle. After only two weeks of using the Avanti EWC28 thermoelectric wine fridge, (I kept it unplugged all autumn and winter) it **** the bed. The Light and fan both remained in working order, but the cooling unit stopped cooling completely.

Avanti was great and agreed to send me a new unit. They only requested that I cut a piece of the faulty units power cord, peel the metallic serial# label and send them, with a copy of the receipt, to their headquarters in Miami. I did so and received a new unit in about two and a half weeks. It had a couple of dents, but I keep it in a walk-in closet anyway and decided to just keep the replacement unit. I tested it for a few hours and it worked fine.

I had kept the original unit at about 65 degrees F, which required it to go on and off quite frequently. Using the external temp. control, it’s the same as unplugging and replugging the unit every few minutes. I wondered if this was the cause of the units extremely short life span. I decided to set the external control for 70 degrees on this new unit. So far, it turns on less often.

My question is about the 16 deg C to 18 deg C guidelines on the tissue paper insert found in each box of Cuban cigars. Was this range recommended because of the beetle threat? Now that Havana freezes all of its cigars before shipping, is this temperature range still relevant? Is there any reason to store ones’ cigars at approximately 61 to 65 degrees F, rather than 68, 70 or 75 F, as long as that temperature is steady?

My theory is that a very constant temperature helps to maintain a very consistent humidity level, which leads to well smoking cigars. Do you guys know of any reason to store cigars in the low to mid 60’s now that beetles are supposed to be a thing of the past (on newer production cigars anyway)?

[El Presidente]

» My theory is that a very constant temperature helps to maintain a very

» consistent humidity level, which leads to well smoking cigars. Do you

» guys know of any reason to store cigars in the low to mid 60’s now that

» beetles are supposed to be a thing of the past (on newer production cigars

» anyway)?

I wish I could say otherwise but temeperature vigilance remains important even on 06/07 Habanos cigars.

We have seen evidence of beetle holes on new shipments. Now I am talking one or two sticks in the past six months and we have found them at the time of unpacking and inspecting cases so it occured somewhere from the Habanos s.a warehouse to PCCHK to us. In both cases it occured with cabs one on Upmann 46 50 cab and one on SLR DC cab. In both instances the bettles holes were singluar with no sign of the beetle itself which leads me to think that it occured in the factory prior to being received in the HSA warehouse and prior to freezing.

I wouldn't take a risk. If possible drop your temp to 19 C.

[Tampa1257]

» I wouldn't take a risk. If possible drop your temp to 19 C.

Frankly, I have way too much invested to suffer an outbreak. I keep my Aristocrat at 67 degrees and 63% RH. My cigars smoke great. I believe that the freezing process is not 100% complete in Cuba, and I am not 100% sure that their Freezing would work, so I keep my cigars nice an cool until the flame warms it up.

I used a Haier winecooler for several years and it is currently unplugged and in standby mode

Question, 19 C equates to what F degree? :-D

[El Presidente]

» Question, 19 C equates to what F degree? :-D

66.2 degree Fahrenheit ;-)

[Professor Twain]

»

» My theory is that a very constant temperature helps to maintain a very

» consistent humidity level, which leads to well smoking cigars.

I posted some results of measurements I took from my Haier fridge several months ago. I used wireless remote digital hygrometers. One thing that I found was that, when the sensors were outside of boxes (out in the open in the fridge), there were marked shifts detected in temperature and humidity as the fridge cycled off and on. But when I put the hygrometers inside of boxes and cabs, there was little or no shift in temperature and humidity, for the most part only one degree or one percent humidity even during peak fluctuations out in the fridge. The insides of boxes and cabinets seem to be a sort of micro environment that protect the cigars from huge swings in temperature and humidity.

So, my conclusion is that the apparent shifts in temperature and humidity in a wine fridge are not likely to be very important in disrupting the maintenance of regular conditions of cigars that are stored in boxes and cabinets.

I also don't store loose singles in my fridge, and before smoking, I routinely transfer cigars to my desktop humidor so that they are at a stable and relatively low humidity before I smoke them.

The bigger issue in my fridge is that the bottom third tends to have a much higher humidity than the top third, and I have to rotate my cigars to keep this balanced out.