Cigar storage problem

[jayfaro]

Hey y'all, I'm new to this forum and wanted to say hello. I do have a problem with storage and I dont know what my next step is in order to remedy it. I have a 150 count humidor that is only about a 1/3 full. I have my Cuban Habanos on the top under the glass lid for display. The humidor is a Savoy. I have a total of 35 or 40 Cubans and 20 or so of them are Cohiba Robustos. About half of the Cohiba's have split at the very end of the cigar. No big splits either and they only appear at the very end of the cigar. Also, the ends of the Cohiba's appear to be a little swollen. I was thinking over-humidified but the Cuban RyJ's, Montecristos, and Hoyo's are all ok. My humidity is usually around 65-72% though I did have a month I didnt check on them and the humidity was below 60%. As I said, I don't believe the small splits will hurt the smokes but I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. Also, I believe just the outer wrapper is split. Can someone help? I posted this in a couple of places to make sure i get help quick! Do y'all keep your cigars stacked on top of each other without the plastic wrappers? Could this be a problem? Sorry for such a long post...I went in yesterday to grab a stick and almost got sick when I saw my Cohiba's. Thanks,
Jay

 

[DocLogic77]

Hey Jay...just a few thoughts. First, I think it's best to keep your cubans and non cubans seperate. Cubans do best between 62%-67%. NC do best 68-72%. How are you humidifying? I would consider beads to keep the humidity more consistant. Wide swings can wreak havoc on the wrappers.

 

[kyleb]

Hey Jay...just a few thoughts. First, I think it's best to keep your cubans and non cubans seperate. Cubans do best between 62%-67%. NC do best 68-72%. How are you humidifying? I would consider beads to keep the humidity more consistant. Wide swings can wreak havoc on the wrappers.

Why is that?

 

[GoneDave]

Why is that?

It seems CC smoke better drier, and then about the swings..When they dry out some what and then rehydrate,and then dry and rehydrate they contract when they dry and expand as they absorb moisture back in , so it is a back and fourth , small then large,then small issue and the wrappers just cannot hang..opeyes:

 

[GoneDave]

Oh yeah get some beads from Viper!!:thumbsup:

 

[DocLogic77]

It seems CC smoke better drier, and then about the swings..When they dry out some what and then rehydrate,and then dry and rehydrate they contract when they dry and expand as they absorb moisture back in , so it is a back and fourth , small then large,then small issue and the wrappers just cannot hang..opeyes:

:thumbsup:

 

[DocLogic77]

PS: The only people that I know that like their CC at 70%+ are the French. You would actually be surprised at how many knowledgeable BOTL keep their massive collections at 60% or lower. I don't personally like my CC lower than 62% but it's hard to argue with the guys who have been doing this for decades.

 

[kyleb]

Right on!

Looks like I gotta switch a few things around now, Monday project time!

 

[tubaman]

A few thoughts:

Not related to your quesiton but make sure you don't keep your humi in direct sunlight especially with the glass top. First it will cause the temp to change alot and second, it's just not good for the cigars to be exposed to alot of sunlight

Doc is correct with his suggestion about lowering the rh, although I keep NC's at about 63% and they smoke fine to me. But that's me. I like my cigars on the dry side.

As to why only certain cigars have cracked feet, it sounds like they were affected in transit which would account for only them being cracked. Were they received seperately from the other cigars? If so, that would be my guess. They may have been "wet" at the vendor and then dryed somewhat during shipping. Then if you have your humi rh on the high side, well you get the idea I think. Temperature swings can cause this also which could occur during shipping.

Just some thoughts.

 

[jayfaro]

Guys,
Thanks so much for all of the respones...first off, what "beads" are you speaking of? I was going to replace that piece of crap green foam humidifier with a Xikar or Madelaine Crystal humidier. Secondly, I found the reason why only a select few CC's were cracked. Turns out the cigars that were directly above the green foam humidifer were the ones that split. The reason it was limited to my CC's was the Partagas, RyJ's, and Hoyo's were on the opposite side of the humidor so they weren't affected by the humidifier. I think the humidity has been ok but when I looked at the 2 handmade sticks a buddy brought home for me from Miami, I knew it HAD to be the green foam humidifier. I could literally take either of those sticks and bend them in half! They were soaked...seems like I caught it in time as my Cubans seem to be ok. I had to have one Saturday evening because curiosuity was getting the best of me and even though there was a small split at the very end, the cigar burned nice and even and tasted great. As soon as I was 1/16" of an inch into the smoke, there were no reminders that the end was split. Thanks for all of your help...tell me a little more about these beads!
Jason

 

[kyleb]

Jay,

Check out this great sticky - it has tons of info on using Beads as humidification.

http://www.botl.org/community/forums/showthread.php?t=1663