Dry Boxing Cigars

[Caesar]

I have noticed that El Presidente (and I imagine other longtime cigar smokers) strongly encourage dryboxing.

Do you do this before every cigar that you smoke or just on certain cigars that appear or feel over humidified? For a couple of days? Wouldn't the cigar become too dry if left for days in a much lower humidified setting?

My Cubans are generally stored at 66% RH.

I tried dry boxing a Siglo IV the other day for about 8 hours and the cigar actually felt very hard when lit with dull flavor and a crooked burn.

I am curious to see when and for how long people dry box.

[El Presidente]

» I have noticed that El Presidente (and I imagine other longtime cigar

» smokers) strongly encourage dryboxing.

»

» Do you do this before every cigar that you smoke or just on certain cigars

» that appear or feel over humidified? For a couple of days? Wouldn't the

» cigar become too dry if left for days in a much lower humidified setting?

»

» My Cubans are generally stored at 66% RH.

»

» I tried dry boxing a Siglo IV the other day for about 8 hours and the

» cigar actually felt very hard when lit with dull flavor and a crooked

» burn.

»

» I am curious to see when and for how long people dry box.

I tend to dry box everything I smoke for 1-2 days dependent on:

A. The time of year. External humidity plays a part obviously.

B. The feel and moisture content of the cigar. If it is a cigar recently arrived then it is likely to have a higher moisture content than one that has rested in the humidor for 30 days.

c. Thickness of the wrapper. I like to give thick wrappers a little extra dry box time.

d. Maduro. always a full 2 days sometimes 3.

e. Firm cigars. Check the draw and re-check after 2 days.

It takes a little planning...picking tomorrows cigars today...but I find the small % of moisture you lose from the cigar really accentuates the flavours. To me the burn also improves.

Yet it is personal preference. I know many who prefer their cigars at a higher moisture content. No wrong and no right here.

[Lanthor]

I am going to start doing this as well after reading some of the Prez's posts.

I figure I will start with a couple PC's that are a little firm, then move up to the Monti A's if I like the results.;-)

[dolly]

What RH should the dry box be? my boxes are most likely 68% RH. I tried getting them down but its been difficult due to the ambient RH. Anyway, I would really want to create a dry box. I always find my cigars to moist. When I get to 2/3 of the cigar, some of them goes off. Please let me know what is the best RH for dry boxing.

Thanks :-)

[Colt45]

» I tried getting them down but its been difficult due to the ambient RH.

If ambient humidity is high as well, you won't really be able to dry box. I was bluntly

told to get air conditioning.

[El Presidente]

8 months of our year here RH is sub 60%. Makes it easy.

[Guest rob]

Sorry to diverge from the original topic - but what about for medium to longterm aging ? (4 years +)

What are your thoughts Pres? - I did some searching but could only find threads that indicate what RH smokes best... not which RH ages longterm best.

[El Presidente]

I am not too fanatical for long tern ageing.

I prefer 63%.

I smoke at somewhere between 59% and 61%.

[Guest rob]

Thanks for the reply R.

Sorry to be a pain in the balls... when you say you are not fanatical about longterm aging - do you mean you dont do it... or that you are nt to fussed about the humidity?

If you do longterm age... I guess you are saying that you believe the cigars will improve best at 63%. Do you find the oils tend to dry out at all?

[El Presidente]

» Thanks for the reply R.

»

» Sorry to be a pain in the balls... when you say you are not fanatical

» about longterm aging - do you mean you dont do it... or that you are nt to

» fussed about the humidity?

»

» If you do longterm age... I guess you are saying that you believe the

» cigars will improve best at 63%. Do you find the oils tend to dry out at

» all?

No. Oils don't dry out at 63%.

Somedays in summer I look at my Humi and it is at 65%. I don't have a cow. F###k it. Other days it is at 61%.....Couldn't really care. As long as it is in the zone I don't have a coronary ;-)

I am more concerned about temp. Under 18 degrees Celsius Roughly 63F.

[Guest rob]

» » Thanks for the reply R.

» »

» » Sorry to be a pain in the balls... when you say you are not fanatical

» » about longterm aging - do you mean you dont do it... or that you are nt

» to

» » fussed about the humidity?

» »

» » If you do longterm age... I guess you are saying that you believe the

» » cigars will improve best at 63%. Do you find the oils tend to dry out

» at

» » all?

»

» No. Oils don't dry out at 63%.

»

» Somedays in summer I look at my Humi and it is at 65%. I don't have a cow.

» F###k it. Other days it is at 61%.....Couldn't really care. As long as it

» is in the zone I don't have a coronary ;-)

»

» I am more concerned about temp. Under 18 degrees Celsius Roughly 63F.

Thanks mate. Your experience is valuable.

I'm also fairly relaxed about the RH swinging up and down a bit.... I was just trying to get a feel for what "zone" or range you felt was best. I'm currently at approx 70% I'll look to find a way to lower it to levels that you guys seem to find best.

Thanks again for the great answers.

[Smokin Bulldog]

I want to add a little question to this. How long can a cigar safley be stored in a dry box? Meaning, if I go on Vacation and pack a few smokes along, how long could they be out of a controlled enviroment before they would need to be put back?

[n2advnture]

I too dry box nearly everything. I have found that virtually all burn and draw issues can be directly attributed to over humidification.

I store at 65% RH and dry box for a few days prior to smoking. With this routine, I rarely have draw issues that can't be directly linked to construction problems.

» I want to add a little question to this. How long can a cigar safely be

» stored in a dry box? Meaning, if I go on Vacation and pack a few smokes

» along, how long could they be out of a controlled environment before they

» would need to be put back?

If on vacation, I suggest using a travel humidor. If your cigars are properly stored for an extended period of time prior to your vacation, they tend to hold their humidity for days in a small travel humidor (5-15 count).

If your vacation is longer than a few days, I would use a 18+ travel humidor that has a spot of a humidification device like the Puck-ifier. I've been using this set up on my vacations for nearly 10 years and it works great.

I hope this helps

~Mark

[Colt45]

» I want to add a little question to this. How long can a cigar safley be

» stored in a dry box? Meaning, if I go on Vacation and pack a few smokes

» along, how long could they be out of a controlled enviroment before they

» would need to be put back?

Over the years I've used a number of methods when traveling with cigars - zip lock bags, wooden

travel humidors, and airtight plastic humidors.

My own personal experience is to never add water with any of these - if anything I've found a

desiccant is more necessary. That is, I've had problems with cigars becoming over humidified

versus drying out, especially when traveling to warm climes.

I feel that putting humidified cigars in an airtight case, and adding warm ambient temps

creates an even more humid environment. Consider the hygrometer salt test. What happens when

you put the dampened salt in an airtight bag? Humidity goes up to 75% - pretty damp.

Just my two bits.