[darkninja67]

Those are some of my favorite CCs Zach. Hope you enjoy them too

 

[cronus0326]

Need some help here guys.... desperately.  I ordered some cigars from the internet.  A bunch....  I guess they came overhumidified already and I made matters worse by putting them in my humidor.  I estimate all the cigars are at about 80 humidity and up to 85 but no more.  None of them are soggy.  I know that overhumidified cigars are worse than dry but as they are not soggy, I can't imagine this is a complete loss.....  Do I just leave them in my humidor without a humidifier?  I don't have enough space for them all in there... at the moment I have 15 of them in a tupperware and I know thats probably going to dry slower than a wood humidor.  How can I salvage them?  Is all hope really lost?  I have a humidor comming in the mail in 2 days that I need to prep I know....  should I prep it a little less (like a 24hr prep) and just take my chances with that or anyone have any advice?  One thing that I would like to note is that some of them have a taste oddly similar to hydroponic weed.  I took this to be that their is too much moisture in them.  Are these ruined?  Those are the tupperware bunch...

 

[grawk]

Get some heartfelt industries 65% RH beads, pop them and the cigars into a container of your choice, and give it a little time.  They'll settle down.  Almost every cigar dealer sells their cigars a little wet.  They'll settle down in a little time.  

 

[darkninja67]

You can dry box them as well. Try to keep them at 65%. A large percentage of smokers do. I 2nd Heartfelt beads. They are a great passive solution.

 

[Zarathustra19]

Cigars are more resilient than you might expect.  Unless you get wrapper cracking or mold, they should be fine as long as you reduce the humidity as the other guys have suggested.  65-70 is the golden area, but also keep in mind that the tobaccos used in these cigars often spend years aging in varying humidities (not so much with the extremely reputable companies), and in the past, the only thing people used to keep cigars humidified was an apple core, since beads and the like were decades or centuries off.  In short, its hard to kill a cigar, so keep cool and all will be well.  Cheers on having bought too many to fit in your humi already though, ha ha!
 
Cheers,
Zach
 
p.s. I managed to smoke one of the Hoya's yesterday before it started raining.  Took a walk of about three miles and enjoyed the day.  The cigar had the characteristic salty flavor on my tongue pre-light with a slight barnyard or straw aroma, very potent.  Lit it up and got a great mix of flavors ranging from subtle exotic spice to straw to sweet leathery tobacco.  I'm really glad I ordered these, in short.  Should make a great addition to the family reunion in a few weeks time.

 

[grawk]

I just enjoyed a nice monte #4 on my front porch.  Unfortunately, that ends my stash of those.  

 

[Chimera-se]

I picked up an El Museo by LFD today that was on sale at my local B&M. Don't waste your time with this one, boys. Underwhelming, in a word. The band is pretty great, but that's about it. Most CAO's will destroy this smoke. I picked up an Alec Bradley Tempus which has gotten a lot of press lately and I'm looking forward to it. Most of what I'll post will be about what's good, but I've got to talk about the duds too. Cheers, Guys.

 

[Zarathustra19]

I've not tried the Museo yet, so I'll probably still smoke one if I come across it, just to see how bad it is, lol.  Anyway, speaking of LFD, I've had two airbenders in the past week, and I'm not hating them.  Not as powerful as they are billed to be IMO, but not bad at all.  Flavor sort of falls off after the beginning of the final third, but I put that down to the large ring and really (I mean really) thin wrapper leaf.  Good amount of resting smoke, and great amounts of smoke with each puff (great for smoke rings).  Probably won't be a regular in my line up, but one every once in a while is not a bad thing.
 
Cheers,
Zach

 

[Chimera-se]

Yeah, give it a try if you come across it, but know that it's no Double Ligero, strength wise. However it's not really being billed as much, I guess. Happy smoking!

 

[cronus0326]

Alright guys.  Help me figure this out so I don't make the same mistake again.  I had two boxes of cigars.  One I kept in a tupperware and the other in a humidor.  Both got too humid I think.  The one in the cigar box I just took out the humidifier and now taste great.  The one in the tupperware I let sit and did the same.  Occasionally I would air out the tupperware (I did this twice) to get rid of excess humidity.  The ones in the tupperware were in there with some seconds I didnt like the day I got them so I don't know if this had something to do with it.  I never let the humidity get below 60.  My hydrometer measured them at a low of 64 now I give or take 2 point to error of course so it could have gotten as low as 62 at some point I guess....  those ones are tasteless....  I heard about this happening when cigars got too humid but they are no longer too humid.  That chemical taste went away....  the other ones are fine.  What did I do wrong here?  At their highest they were at 79 humidity for like a day so lets estimate at a high of like 83 at most (lets assume I didnt let the hydrometer sit there for long enough).  Any ideas?  Does anyone think its possible that I can do anything to get the flavor back or is it surely gone?

 

[cronus0326]

I'm super pissed about this of course... would apretiate any help I can get....  I sound like a noob I know but whatcha gonna do.  I never had these problems in the past but then again I never had to use a tupperware and I only ever prepped a humidor like twice in my life so I had to relearn how to prep and everything and I guess I ****ed up.  I've had the same humidor the entire 5yrs i've been smoking

 

[Zarathustra19]

Gotta tell you Cronus, I've never actually had that happen unless I dried a cigar out accidentally in my car's ashtray.  Like you say, a low of 64 should not dry them out, and it definitely would not over humidify them.  The only thing that occurs to me that could have happened was that since it was in tupperware instead of a wood box, the evaporation of the water in the cigar may have triggered some chemical reaction with the lack of air exchange (excepting the opening of the tupperware as you said you did).  I'm no chemist, but I would think that letting something dry out in the absence of oxygen flow might have some sort of detrimental effect.  You might try putting them in with a selection of the good tasting ones for a week or two to regain strength, but I have no experience as to whether or not it will work. 
 
I know its not going to help for this situation, but if in the future you get some over-wet cigars in the mail, I would recommend that you let them dry box for a few days (place in a cigar box or other almost airtight container until they reach a consistency you feel comfortable with).
 
Another thing I just thought may have happened:  since you had the cigars in with the ones you did not like (I assume either young or tight draw, or some other common flavor or construction issue) the humidity of the wet sticks may have made a migration to the less wet "bad" sticks, sending a few of the essential oils with it.
 
Sorry all I can do is guess, hopefully one of the other pros on here will have a well founded opinion.  In the mean time, have another of the ones you really enjoyed.  It'll take a little of the edge off.
 
Cheers and happy smoking,
Zach

 

[kydsid]

Smoke another one and see if it tastes the same.  You could have just got a bad stick or even a bad box of cigars and your storage may not be the issue it is too early to tell.  Stop worrying so much about the humidity and swings.  It takes a long time for the humidity of a boxed cigar to go one way or the other, one day wont do much of anything.  My Vino swings all over the place as a result of the house temperature and cooling affects.  I don't see any changes in cigars I have smoked out of it versus old school humidors.  You can drive yourself nuts with humidity issues or you can sit back and smoke what you got.

 

[R04R]

Hey guys, just a little update.  I was the guy that was asking for help for his first cigar.
 
My first cigar was a Romeo y Julieta IV.  It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.  I noticed the pepperyness to it with a little sweetness as an aftertaste.  The taste stayed in my mouth for a whole day and that was a bit annoying, but good smoke nonetheless.
 
I went to the cigar place again a couple days later and asked for something lighter bodied because I didn't want that lingering taste again.  The guy suggested a couple of Aroma de Cubas. I brought them to a party of people that hadn't smoked a cigar before and they were a pretty big hit.  I myself though, was surprised they were so light and I didn't feel as satisfied as when I had the Romeo y Julietas.  
Now a friend of mine suggested me to get Rocky Patel Vintage 1990.  I just got 2 toro sized ones earlier today, but I don't think I'll be smoking them anytime until next week because I'm really busy right now with high school graduation and the events that come along with it.
 
Overall, I think it's really cliche to buy a cigar for an 18th birthday, but after enjoying it I can appreciate it as a more serious thing and not a superficial way to celebrate coming of age.  I'm pretty sure I'll be smoking some more cigars in my time.
 
And to those that helped me earlier, thanks.  I definitely took your suggestions into consideration.
 
 
 
P.S.  My first time at the place I bought my cigars the guy gave me an empty cigar box (not a humidor I believe, it's just an Oliva G box with gold-plated latches) and a CAO humidipak (69% humidity) for free.  How long would a cigar last if I left them in the cigar box with the humidipak.  Also, how long is the shelflife of this humidipak also?  Thanks guys.

 

[kydsid]

Ditch the cigar box and get a piece of tupperware.  The humidipak in the tupperware will last months.  In the box it will dry out along with your cigars as their isn't any kind of seal.  Or forget all that if you live in south Florida.