Nacho Daddy
Irrepressibly Irreverent Inveterate Ignominy
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If your humi is wood,it is not a sealed unit.wood is porous,and loses humidity.Is the seal perfect?if not it loses humidity.
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Sick humidor?
- Thread starter iergeni
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Nacho Daddy
Irrepressibly Irreverent Inveterate Ignominy
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2009
- Messages
- 3,493
doesnt "go" anywhere.......
A cooler wouldn't be airtight, I've never seen one that is airtight...but it's probably more air tight than the average humidor. Tupperware and glass jars are the only air tight devices to store cigars that I know of. It's still a good idea to use humi beads because adding cigars(which almost always come wet) will raise the RH%.
Well, the 2nd Nationales smoked like shit as well. Not right off, but in the 2nd third I was getting definitely nothing but the sharp resiny taste and some bitterness thrown in. The RH at the time of extraction from the humidor was 63 %.
So what now? All advice on the internet I could find was to let the cigars rest for a year or two. I have some cigars inside that are older than that, but since they come from the less inexpensive end of the spectrum I'm very reluctant to try them until I'm sure about the humidor as a whole.
So what now? All advice on the internet I could find was to let the cigars rest for a year or two. I have some cigars inside that are older than that, but since they come from the less inexpensive end of the spectrum I'm very reluctant to try them until I'm sure about the humidor as a whole.
That is common for sick cigars, in my experience. I believe the ammonia leaves the foot first and makes it way toward leaving the cap last, think about the airflow...2nd third gets less air exchanged than the foot because the cap is closed, it's a one-way street
That of course makes sense, and I'd get behind that rationale completely were it not for the following issues:
- I'm not sure about the production date on the JLPs, but I don't think the B&M I bought them at has a really high turnover rate. They might have been lying there for a while.
- I've had well-smoking JLPs from the same source with less, or a similar amount of rest time in my humidor
- All of the CCs I've had from that humidor since last summer were sick, regardless of the production date
Additionally, I've had a pair of Quienteros Favoritos and RG Panatelas Extra, one of each before and after the summer. Before, they smoked fine, after, they smoked sick.
Is it possible that the atmosphere in the humidor is making sick cigars that would have otherwise smoked fine?
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My apologies if I'm getting this wrong, but I thought you said that the cigars in this jar were at 80% rh at one point? Well I can't explain the science behind it, but imho you will definitely cause cigars to get sick like that even after letting them dry out. I've got lots of Tupperdors and have had this issue where it went up to mid 70's and those smokes didn't taste right for over a year (even after drying out at the start of the year). Lastly, as mentioned the tightness of the seal makes a huge difference. If the jar does have a very tight seal, it was packed with wet sticks and the rh was 80, you are going to have sick smokes that taste bitter (ammonia is what I've tasted). I would buy a seperate Tupperware container to put all affected smokes, leave them in at 65 or whatever you like, and just let them rest. Keep opening the Tupperware regularly to ensure circulation. At the end of the year (or two depending on your patience) you will be rewarded! In the meantime, smoke from another container / buy new smokes (which is never a bad thing to have to do). Good luck!
Hey, thanks for this post.
Yes, that's true, I've had humidity issues. First, it got dried out, then it got too humid (around 80 %). Then I got a new hygrometer.
I've been drying them out since around New Year's.
Based on what you've told me, I'll let the whole humidor rest for another year, and smoke from the other one. Or get new ones.
I think you'll be good if you can let them rest for a while, it's a lot harder to get humidity out of cigars than to get it into cigars. I'm hoping that's your issue because it would be a shame to lose the cigars.
Well.
Bought some cigars last summer, stored them at what should have been the right RH (around 66 %). While I was on the road, they were in my travel humidor, at home they went into the glass jar.
The ones I smoked right away smoked fine, but by september, the others were already showing the sick taste.
I found this link, which leads me to believe that the cause of the problems might be that the cigars are sealed in, without any air circulation. This sort of makes sense - when I started using the glass jar (and the tupperware humidor), I was new to smoking cigars and very excited by it, so I kept opening the containers to look at the cigars. This way, the cigars got plenty of fresh air.
In the past two years or so, the obsession has died down somewhat and the only time I open the jar is when I want to actually smoke one which doesn't happen all that often. In the mean time, the cigars are suffocating.
For the past couple of months now, I've been opening the containers (glass jar, tupperware box, cigar caddy travel humidor) once a week (on average) for about half an hour. Hopefully, this will help. Judging by the RH decrease upon opening, he tupperware box and the travel humidor air out nicely while the glass jar not so much. Something I still need to look into.
At this point, I'd also like to ask you for advice on small (and preferably inexpensive) humidors. At the moment, a sizable humidor is out of the question as I'm moving into a smaller apartment, at least for a while, and my financial priorities also lie elsewhere.
Bought some cigars last summer, stored them at what should have been the right RH (around 66 %). While I was on the road, they were in my travel humidor, at home they went into the glass jar.
The ones I smoked right away smoked fine, but by september, the others were already showing the sick taste.
I found this link, which leads me to believe that the cause of the problems might be that the cigars are sealed in, without any air circulation. This sort of makes sense - when I started using the glass jar (and the tupperware humidor), I was new to smoking cigars and very excited by it, so I kept opening the containers to look at the cigars. This way, the cigars got plenty of fresh air.
In the past two years or so, the obsession has died down somewhat and the only time I open the jar is when I want to actually smoke one which doesn't happen all that often. In the mean time, the cigars are suffocating.
For the past couple of months now, I've been opening the containers (glass jar, tupperware box, cigar caddy travel humidor) once a week (on average) for about half an hour. Hopefully, this will help. Judging by the RH decrease upon opening, he tupperware box and the travel humidor air out nicely while the glass jar not so much. Something I still need to look into.
At this point, I'd also like to ask you for advice on small (and preferably inexpensive) humidors. At the moment, a sizable humidor is out of the question as I'm moving into a smaller apartment, at least for a while, and my financial priorities also lie elsewhere.
Did you ever get 2 way humidification? Bovedas or heartfelt beads? Really the only way you're going to solve this.
@iergeni I experienced a similar problem to this last year. The last half of every cigar I smoked seemed to taste acrid like pine tar.
While I thought it was a humidification issue (69% vs. 65%) or cigars getting too hot, it actually turned out to be an issue with how I was cutting my sticks.
Either with a punch or cutting the cap too small with a cutter, the small opening built up tar. Once I started cutting a slightly larger hole, the issue pretty much went away. Sometimes it still shows up in the last third and I simply purge the cigar to make it go away.
While I thought it was a humidification issue (69% vs. 65%) or cigars getting too hot, it actually turned out to be an issue with how I was cutting my sticks.
Either with a punch or cutting the cap too small with a cutter, the small opening built up tar. Once I started cutting a slightly larger hole, the issue pretty much went away. Sometimes it still shows up in the last third and I simply purge the cigar to make it go away.
I used to have water pillows (which caused the overhumidification), now I'm on bovedas.
I've been through that already: http://www.botl.org/threads/a-harsh-hdm-ee.61488/
Since then, I try to make a wide enough cut, usually just at the point when the head starts to taper.
Anyhow, it'll get warmer soon, so I'll get to find out how effective my methods have been. Stay tuned.