Cigars split

[Greenhouse]

I bought an assortment of Romeo y Julieta cigars about a month ago from Costco. They came in glass tubes; I left them in the tubes and tossed the whole thing in the coolerdor. Well, this afternoon I opened the first one and it split while I was smoking it. Does this mean too much humidity or too little? The flavor was OK, and the burn was fairly even. I managed to get the whole thing smoked, but I'm guessing that a split cigar is indicative of incorrect humidity.

I think I probably need to take them out of the tubes to get the humidity right (I have the 65% beads in my cooler), but I wanted to get some opinions.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Happy New Year!

- Greenhouse.

 

[r3db4r0n]

Sounds like your cigars are over humidified, I would take them out of the tubes and keep them in your humidor if it is maintained at 65%. Another solution is to dry box one for a couple days before smoking

 

[Greenhouse]

Thanks, Shawn. I'll take them out of the tubes and let them rest in the cooler for a while.

- Greenhouse.

 

[iCraig]

Even though you have the beads, do you have a hygrometer? At least just to double check to make sure your humidity is right?

 

[pnoguy]

Pretty much the only time I've had a similar problem was when the cigar was too dry to begin with, then placed in proper storage, causing it to swell because it gained too much moisture too quickly. I'm going to guess that this is what happened with yours. I would dry box for a day or two before smoking any more of them. I'm going to further guess that Costco doesn't have anything like a dedicated properly humidified environment to store cigars for any length of time. I was unaware that they even sold cigars. Hmmmmm.......

 

[Askonison]

It may have been too dry, likely poor conditions at Costco for god knows how long.
I could be wrong, but a sealed glass tubed cigar would take a long time to benefit at all from your humidor.

 

[L8A]

Costco sells cigars?????

 

[Greenhouse]

Craig - Yes, I have a couple of calibrated hygrometers in my cooler, one of which is wireless and allows me to check the humidity without opening the lid. The air in the coller stays around 66% - 67% RH all the time.

pnoguy - You are right about Costco -- no humidification at all. I would normally have passed on the cigars, but there was a table set up with a girl selling the cigars and ..... I caved. I figured it might not be too bad since they were in the tubes. We'll see; maybe I can salvage them.

- Greenhouse

 

[Jfire]

Where were you smoking it? Outside?

 

[Greenhouse]

Yes, I was smoking outside. But it was about 65 degrees here (Atlanta) yesterday -- not very different from the 70 degrees inside the house / cooler.

- Greenhouse

 

[Treinenwj]

Costco cigars should be treated just like the girl selling them. Look, drool, want-- but don't touch.

 

[Greenhouse]

Yep, I agree. Live and learn...

 

[Jfire]

Cold weather will split a cigar but very dry air would be my guess. The cigar was probably humid and the dry air made it split. It may have had a crack in the binder/wrapper that you didnt see.

 

[Le Buzz]

Hold the cigar foot up to your ear and pinch ever so slightly. You should hear very faint or no crackling. If you hear more cracking that means its dry. Also, it should be somewhat springy/spongy.

They could also be over-humidified... if it goes out on you and you have to keep lighting it a bunch of times that is the obvious sign.

Either way the thing to remember with tube cigars is to let them acclimate SLOWLY to your humi. Unscrew the cap just slightly. Let them rest for 2 weeks. Unscrew the cap a little more, and again rest for two weeks. Take it off all the way and let them rest some more. When they smoke well then you can pop the cap back on them all or I just take them out of the tubes.

Patience is key. If a cigars construction is good, which RyJ's are, then when they are properly humidified they should not crack.

 

[Greenhouse]

Thanks, Le Buzz. I'll loosen the caps and let 'em rest.

- Greenhouse