Different Humidities for Different Cigars

[smokem]

This has been discussed before and there is better information out there, but it's funny how different cigars may/probably need different humidities.

I keep my aristocrat at ~65-67%RH. My cigars feel and smoke fine. I pulled out a Perdomo The Cigar last night that has to be sitting in there for at least 4-5 years. The wrapper was very dry and crackly (word? sp?). Overall the cigar smoked fine, but when cutting and first smoking, it felt dry as a bone. It was hard to believe it came from the same dor as my other cigars.

[Mr Peales]

Camaroon wrapper perhaps?

[laficion]

This has been discussed before and there is better information out there, but it's funny how different cigars may/probably need different humidities.

I keep my aristocrat at ~65-67%RH. My cigars feel and smoke fine. I pulled out a Perdomo The Cigar last night that has to be sitting in there for at least 4-5 years. The wrapper was very dry and crackly (word? sp?). Overall the cigar smoked fine, but when cutting and first smoking, it felt dry as a bone. It was hard to believe it came from the same dor as my other cigars.

This is something that has always got me thinking on different tobaccos.

I'm mostly a CC smoker but I do receive often NC cigars and there is one thing that I

notice is , even when the NC are well humidified, the wrappers are not as supple as the CC.

they just don't have that elasticity that have the CC. Try It, you'll see. When you squeeze a

CC you almost get It flat and the wrapper won't crack, the NC will crack, even with more humidity.

Food for thougth ?

[stargazer14]

I also find this to be very true, the CC's are more forgiving than the NC's which often have wrapper issues,

tho I do not think upping the humidity will help the performance of the smoke.

[sounddust]

Could it be that some NCs like Padron use already aged tobacco leaf during production?

[stargazer14]

Are not the recent CC's using aged leaf? I think NC's in general feel stiffer and 'crispier' than the cubans,

and I too have them at the same RH.

[sounddust]

Are not the recent CC's using aged leaf? I think NC's in general feel stiffer and 'crispier' than the cubans,

and I too have them at the same RH.

Although I do not smoke NCs frequently, I have noticed that 3-5 year old tobacco is not uncommon for many manufacturers. However, if I'm not wrong, only ELs and Maduro 5s use similarly aged leaf

[laficion]

I don't think It has anything to do with age, It's the texture of the leaf that is different.

[aavkk]

I have personally found that for whatever reason NC's smoke better at 68-70% RH while CC's are on the money at 65%. It seems like such a small difference but its not. I am no expert but perhaps the tobacco from Nic, Hondruas, etc... is accustomed to the slightly higher RH than Cuba? Couple that with the typical looser draw on NC's and the slightly higher humidity makes for a better smoking experience.

[El Presidente]

Wrapper is generally not more than 12 months of age for general production cigars. The most prized characteristics are elasticity, oil, size, absence of imperfections.

You guys know better than I re NC's but I find that the wrappers are thicker on Padrons and Fuente Opus, Ashton VSG etc.

Most of us remember the horrendous Habanos 2000 wrappers which were thick and almost fireproof. These were the first Cuban wrappers that to me resembled Nic/Honduran wrappers. They didn't last long.

Your observation is right. I can't keep my NC's at 63-65% without having them feel on the dry side. They smoke fine at that RH but they do feel "delicate" to the touch.

[Alberto_Magnus]

Wrapper is generally not more than 12 months of age for general production cigars. The most prized characteristics are elasticity, oil, size, absence of imperfections.

You guys know better than I re NC's but I find that the wrappers are thicker on Padrons and Fuente Opus, Ashton VSG etc.

Most of us remember the horrendous Habanos 2000 wrappers which were thick and almost fireproof. These were the first Cuban wrappers that to me resembled Nic/Honduran wrappers. They didn't last long.

Your observation is right. I can't keep my NC's at 63-65% without having them feel on the dry side. They smoke fine at that RH but they do feel "delicate" to the touch.

Rob got it right about the wrappers. It's not an issue of poor wrappers but of thick ones. Many NCs need higher RH rates; take for example Oliva cigars, it's clearly stated by the Oliva family that optimal RH for their cigars is 76-78% and I do agree. I smoked a Perfecto Serie V last month and it had been kept in CC humy (65-66% i guess) and it was too dry. But if you smoke them at the proper humidity, they are very very good (well thats subjective I know...)

[sliver54]

I keep a couple of NC boxes in the same humi as CC's and I have noticed the same thing. My RH is 65 +/-2 and CC's are golden... the NC's (no matter the brand) always seem brittle to the point where I actually shy away from rolling them in my fingers because they just feel like they will crack. I think it's my humi's way of saying that IT TOO only wants CC's