Vacuum Packing your smokes
- Thread starter hlrlbr
- Start date
While not bad for shipping it would not be good for long term storage. The cigars need to breath in order to give off the residual ammonia and other chemicals that continue to off gas as they age.
rick12string
Caught in the Crossfire
I think I would only do it if I had to freeze cigars to kill beetle infestation and hopefully it will never have to!
Lots of discussions over the years, ever since seal-a-meal came out. Ive probably seen hundreds of opinions, a few avid believers at either end of the spectrum. Most seem to feel it would retard the aging process. I tend to agree with eodcole as do most of the more reconized "experts". I don't believe anyone has tried this over an extended period
of time, at least not anyone that I've heard of.
of time, at least not anyone that I've heard of.
Mitch
BOM 2/09-Keeper BOTtLe
I don't use a food sealer, but you can buy vacuum bags with a little hand pump from Reynolds or Ziplock at the grocery store. GREAT for freezing cigars, I had to freeze a ton last year when I got visitors and it worked out great. Didn't have a single split wrapper or foot when it was all said and done. Just don't over vaccuum them, you can literaly crush the cigars if you go to far. Stop if you start to see wrappers getting wrinkled from compression.
High Vacuum has been used with some good sucess at killing bettle eggs in cigars by the industry, it dosn't damage the cigars at all, is more natural than chemicals and less likely to do harm than freezing. So everyone seems to agree that for short term at least you can't damage a cigar this way.
Never tried it for storage, but I've bought a fair number of vintage cigars and it's common to see these shipped in the cigar box, inside a vacuum sealed bag. So, I'm good with it, if those experts seem to think it's a good idea.
I haven't heard of anyone storing cigars in a vacuum for aging and from what I understand, you need the air as part of the natural process for it to work well.
High Vacuum has been used with some good sucess at killing bettle eggs in cigars by the industry, it dosn't damage the cigars at all, is more natural than chemicals and less likely to do harm than freezing. So everyone seems to agree that for short term at least you can't damage a cigar this way.
Never tried it for storage, but I've bought a fair number of vintage cigars and it's common to see these shipped in the cigar box, inside a vacuum sealed bag. So, I'm good with it, if those experts seem to think it's a good idea.
I haven't heard of anyone storing cigars in a vacuum for aging and from what I understand, you need the air as part of the natural process for it to work well.
cvm4
BoM - July '05 & Dec. '10
Strictly speaking from my experience with cuban cigars...
Sure, with fresh cigars there might be an ammonia smell and it usually goes away in a given amount of time. But, the cigars don't ferment at room temperature; they do however oxidize (oxidation), where oxygen lets the leaves merry together. You stop the oxygen or greatly reduce the oxygen that gets to the cigars and you change the way they age.
From what I've read over the years, vacuum sealing cigars will retard the aging process. But, it won't completely stop it since plastic can still breathe and all oxygen won't get pushed out of the bag. It really varies from person to person. One guy might like the way the cigars currently taste and so he wants to try to preserve them in that state. Another guy might like to see how they age over the years and he'll opt to not vacuum seal them.
There's a lot of great information on a thread over at CW: Vacuum Sealing
cvm4
BoM - July '05 & Dec. '10
I'd try this on a cigar more worthy of aging than a $2 cigar :wink:
gibbleguts
BoM april 09
Not really completely the same but would be quite similar to aging in tubes. One expert Min Ron Nee claims that while it does slow down the aging process in the end the result will be a more complex cigar. Unfortunately his terms of aging are different then most and for the first 10 to 15 years the open on will be better but once it is into decades the sealed one will be better
architeuthis
I see what you're doing!!
I've never done this. Even when long term aging, I prefer the cigars to sit in a closed cedar box...
Soundwave13
BoM Feb 2010
With or without cello?
There are good $2 ones. I just said it because:
a) I cannot do it and don't know if people would like to spend their money like that
b) What if it fails?
cvm4
BoM - July '05 & Dec. '10
There's no point in doing this unless it's for the longterm, 3-5+ years and beyond. Point being, you wait that long to smoke the outcome, then I would want better cigars to experiment with. If it fails, you're out materials plus a few cigars or a box :dunno:
Excelent point there. Me mind skipped the fact that it would be around 3 years before ye got them out when making the thought.
Aside from the lack of oxygen and whether or not cigars will age in a vacum arguement.
I have received a package from Mitch where he used the Ziplock version and that seems to work great for shipping because it holds the smokes in place so they don’t rub. That is about as tight as I would want it to get, for the protection of the smokes. If you remove all the air from inside the cigar and the bag crushes down on the smoke, you could damage it. If you wanted to seal a box, then there would not be the issue of crushing the cigars. I would suggest at least putting your smokes in an old seasoned box before sealing them.
Now here is food for thought. Our smokes sit at 60-70% RH at 70degrees. If you remove half of the air, will you also remove half of the moisture? If you remove all of the air, then I guess there would be nothing for the moisture to evaporate into. I dunno, just thinking.
I have received a package from Mitch where he used the Ziplock version and that seems to work great for shipping because it holds the smokes in place so they don’t rub. That is about as tight as I would want it to get, for the protection of the smokes. If you remove all the air from inside the cigar and the bag crushes down on the smoke, you could damage it. If you wanted to seal a box, then there would not be the issue of crushing the cigars. I would suggest at least putting your smokes in an old seasoned box before sealing them.
Now here is food for thought. Our smokes sit at 60-70% RH at 70degrees. If you remove half of the air, will you also remove half of the moisture? If you remove all of the air, then I guess there would be nothing for the moisture to evaporate into. I dunno, just thinking.