Vacuum Packing your smokes

[smokinghole]

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.

I was thinking oxidation but said fermentation anyhow. Glad there are experts here as I am certainly not one.

As for crush problems that will only happen if you use a food "saver" and nothing rigid like a box. Dan at NHC uses a food vacuum to ship cigars his cigars with boveda packs. If you had the hardware you could create a serious vacuum and remove all air from a space with cigars in it with no worries of crushing. I wonder what effect that sort of vacuum would have on the tiny air that is probably trapped in the leaves?

 

[Moro]

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.

When vacuum packing, ye never take out 100% of the air out; therefore RH stays; and yeah, ye take half the moisture out, but also half the air; so the percentage remains.

 

[Ratbert]

I seem to remember Ratbert experimenting with this and finding he had some crush issues.

Yep...I was using a vacuum food sealer when shipping cigars and sent some to Chuck that went in fine and came out box-pressed! :lookaroun After that, when using it I would stop the vacuum action so that some air still remained in the bag, thereby achieving a great seal, without crushing the smokes.

I have used it when shipping boxes so that I didn't have to worry about the sticks drying out, especially in the winter.

As far as aging goes, I'd shy away from it just because the opinions tend to lean towards the cigars needed some movement / exchange of air. Aluminum tubes and and cello aren't air tight, so while air exchange is slowed, it still occurs.

 

[daniyal]

When vacuum packing, ye never take out 100% of the air out; therefore RH stays; and yeah, ye take half the moisture out, but also half the air; so the percentage remains.

Yes but cigars need to be aerated every once in a week or two else (in long term storage) they'd develop a stale/moldy taste.

 

[Moro]

Yes but cigars need to be aerated every once in a week or two else (in long term storage) they'd develop a stale/moldy taste.

I know; I was only speaking of how RH would be inside.

 

[cvm4]

Yes but cigars need to be aerated every once in a week or two else (in long term storage) they'd develop a stale/moldy taste.

The plastic bag breathes.

 

[ccd1977]

old thread I know but I had a RyJ in a tube that was aged for 26 years and never opened. That was the most amazing smoke. Smelled like cheese and tasted like peppercorn ranch dressing when I smoked it! Amazing@!

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

 

[cvm4]

Actually a great bump :thumbsup: Could probably be applied to non-cubans if one had the storage and wanted to keep them optimal.

 

[Cojonu]

Yep...I was using a vacuum food sealer when shipping cigars and sent some to Chuck that went in fine and came out box-pressed! :lookaroun After that, when using it I would stop the vacuum action so that some air still remained in the bag, thereby achieving a great seal, without crushing the smokes.

I have used it when shipping boxes so that I didn't have to worry about the sticks drying out, especially in the winter.

As far as aging goes, I'd shy away from it just because the opinions tend to lean towards the cigars needed some movement / exchange of air. Aluminum tubes and and cello aren't air tight, so while air exchange is slowed, it still occurs.

I just did a box and it definitely pressed them a bit. They were only sealed a couple of hours before I read this and realized I may have pressed them in the box. Any chance they will come back to shape as they reacclimate back to not being under pressure?

 

[Nacho Daddy]

depends how much you mashed them.........