My first Tupperdore cigar tasted like wood

[jeffturneraz]

Newbie here, so taking that into account....

I've been smoking everyday now for around 5 months. Maybe my pallet isn't as refined as a professional, but I do know what I like for the most part.

For these 5 months, I smoke them as I get them. I previously never had more than 3 cigars at once (because no storage) and I always kept them in a regular kitchen drawer...inside a ziploc, with a damp, 1 inch piece of spanish cedar that my shop throws into every bag.

I started a Tupperdore last week. It is a decent size, enough that I threw 2 sheets of cedar to cover the bottom.

Last night, after 1 week of sitting in the tupperdor, I grabbed an Undercrown out and lit it up.

Maybe I have an amateur pallet but I swear I felt like I was smoking splinters/wood.

Granted the conditions inside haven't been ideal, I've been running around 76% / 79-80 degrees all week but I'm in Arizona and I can't really get the temp down lower right now.

Maybe it's a coincidence since I've only smoked one, maybe the others taste fine. Am I doing something wrong here or maybe I'm imagining the taste of wood.

 

[mwlabel]

76% RH is way too high. You want to be, typically, in the 65-70% area.

 

[UpInSmoke]

High humidity and high temp = bad time

 

[jeffturneraz]

Okay, thanks for the replies, so new question:

Well first, I can bring the RH down but there's not much I can do about the temp.

I'm wondering then

A: will bringing just the RH down help my cause any and

B: Can my other sticks be saved from having sat in those conditions?

 

[mwlabel]

Okay, thanks for the replies, so new question:

Well first, I can bring the RH down but there's not much I can do about the temp.

I'm wondering then

A: will bringing just the RH down help my cause any and

B: Can my other sticks be saved from having sat in those conditions?

Yes and yes.

Either way, you need to bring your RH down. Adding some Heartfelt Beads would be worth doing.

They've only been in there a week. They should be fine. If you're worried about beetles or mold growing, it might be worth doing the freezing process.

 

[jeffturneraz]

Yes and yes.

Either way, you need to bring your RH down. Adding some Heartfelt Beads would be worth doing.

They've only been in there a week. They should be fine. If you're worried about beetles or mold growing, it might be worth doing the freezing process.

Okay thanks,

My shop insisted on giving me the 72 Boveda's because "We are in Arizona, that's all we sell"

I have 2 packs of the 72 and it has never gone below 77% all week.

Not sure how that even works but either way, other than Heartfelt beads, I'm thinking I'll replace the 2 72 packs with 2 69 packs and hope that fixes things for now.

I'm just hoping that the heat/temp in there isn't the main reason my cigars seem to taste like rolled up cedar.

I have them stuffed in a dark corner of the closet...other than that, we are another month away from the weather getting cold out here.

 

[BrittS88]

Yeah man I am in AZ as well. My sticks are doing great at 65 RH. You gotta get that RH down. With that temp and RH you'll get cigar beetles and your sticks will be ruined. I am starting my collection over and only have about 13 cigars right now and the best thing you can do for a small collection is use a container that is just big enough for what you have. Keep the empty space in the tupperdor to a minimum. Oh and you can keep it in the bottom of a closet or under a bed. This will keep the temp down a bit. IMHO try to avoid using the damp cedar as a humidity device. But before you do this let your cigars sit in the tupperdor for a couple of days maybe more, without any humidity device to dry them out a bit. I'm not a pro but his works for me.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Edit: changed some info. My Tapatalk didn't load all the posts at first so I didn't see all the info.

 

[problemsolverjc]

I might suggest investing in some beads as was suggested above. I've never had any luck getting the Boveda packets to remove humidity from the system, only add it. Which may be part of your problem, although I know they are supposed to be bi-directional.

I switched to beads a few months ago, and never looked back. They are great.

 

[mdwest]

For tupperware... just throw a 65% boveda in there and be done with it...

1 boveda is more than enough for my tupperadores (one holds about 50.. the other holds about 30 to give you a size reference)...


Not sure why youre not getting RH absorption out of your bovedas problemsolver.. RH gets in the high 80's around here during the summer.. bovedas are how I keep that under control... I typically dont have to "recharge" bovedas until mid way through the winter each year.. they spend most of the spring and fall about "even".. soak up tons of RH during the summer.. and start going "dry" on me here from about November until March...

 

[problemsolverjc]

No idea either... When I upgraded to my end table humidor I moved to beads...

 

[jeffturneraz]

Yeah man I am in AZ as well. My sticks are doing great at 65 RH. You gotta get that RH down. With that temp and RH you'll get cigar beetles and your sticks will be ruined. I am starting my collection over and only have about 13 cigars right now and the best thing you can do for a small collection is use a container that is just big enough for what you have. Keep the empty space in the tupperdor to a minimum. Oh and you can keep it in the bottom of a closet or under a bed. This will keep the temp down a bit. IMHO try to avoid using the damp cedar as a humidity device. But before you do this let your cigars sit in the tupperdor for a couple of days maybe more, without any humidity device to dry them out a bit. I'm not a pro but his works for me.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Edit: changed some info. My Tapatalk didn't load all the posts at first so I didn't see all the info.

Thanks Britt, yeah, for now until I fix this, I'm going to take one out and let it sit out on its own for 24 hours at least before I smoke another one.

I'm assuming your temps are up in the high 70s also or do you have a cooler spot in your place?

 

[sofc]

think people get all too excited about RH and all that stuff (yes, if you have a walkin or jumpador or multiple coolers, I understand that.) You have a few cigars you're probably smoking soon enough. I wouldn't worry about it too much. In the future, as your stash gets bigger, and they last longer in there, that's fine.

Good suggestion is to throw a 65 boveda in there and move on.

 

[jeffturneraz]

I might suggest investing in some beads as was suggested above. I've never had any luck getting the Boveda packets to remove humidity from the system, only add it. Which may be part of your problem, although I know they are supposed to be bi-directional.

I switched to beads a few months ago, and never looked back. They are great.

Pretty sure this is where I will finally end up, wishing I would have gotten the beads in the first place.

Trying to avoid ordering something for now, going to run to another spot after work today and grab some more boveda's with way lower RH.

Hopefully this will get the fix going right away.

But yeah, I realize I'm probably avoiding the inevitable of just going ahead and ordering the beads.

 

[BrittS88]

Yeah man I am in AZ as well. My sticks are doing great at 65 RH. You gotta get that RH down. With that temp and RH you'll get cigar beetles and your sticks will be ruined. I am starting my collection over and only have about 13 cigars right now and the best thing you can do for a small collection is use a container that is just big enough for what you have. Keep the empty space in the tupperdor to a minimum. Oh and you can keep it in the bottom of a closet or under a bed. This will keep the temp down a bit. IMHO try to avoid using the damp cedar as a humidity device. But before you do this let your cigars sit in the tupperdor for a couple of days maybe more, without any humidity device to dry them out a bit. I'm not a pro but his works for me.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Edit: changed some info. My Tapatalk didn't load all the posts at first so I didn't see all the info.

Thanks Britt, yeah, for now until I fix this, I'm going to take one out and let it sit out on its own for 24 hours at least before I smoke another one.

I'm assuming your temps are up in the high 70s also or do you have a cooler spot in your place?

Mine is in the mid to high 60s but my house is all tile and I keep it in a closet so it says a bit cooler.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[jeffturneraz]

Good suggestion is to throw a 65 boveda in there and move on.

mdwest suggested the same thing, this sounds like the best fix for now.

I really can't help my temperature situation but since I can do something about the RH, I need to at least get that right.

I can still taste that Undercrown from last night...not trying to go there again if I can help it.

 

[YodisMatt]

I am not sure if I missed it some how but what kind of hygro are you using and has it been calibrated?

As stated above, find some 65% packets and be done with it.

Linker doodle

 

[jeffturneraz]

I am not sure if I missed it some how but what kind of hygro are you using and has it been calibrated?

As stated above, find some 65% packets and be done with it.

Linker doodle

Xikar, and I trusted the fact that it claims it comes out of the box already calibrated.

Should I calibrate it anyway?

 

[sean]

That wood flavor you are getting is probably from the wet cedar itself... normally this isn't a problem if you have 75+ sticks in a 100ct humidor. If you have a couple of sticks in a small place, with some stinky wood in there, your cigars are going to soak up some of that flavor pretty quickly.

remove wood + drop rh (like everyone has already said) = happy smoker!

 

[jeffturneraz]

That wood flavor you are getting is probably from the wet cedar itself... normally this isn't a problem if you have 75+ sticks in a 100ct humidor. If you have a couple of sticks in a small place, with some stinky wood in there, your cigars are going to soak up some of that flavor pretty quickly.

remove wood + drop rh (like everyone has already said) = happy smoker!

That makes all the sense in the world.

I definitely have too much wood-to-tobacco ratio going on in there.

 

[sean]

Should I calibrate it anyway?

Yes. (Not sure how I missed this)