Layin up some smokes.

[El Jefe]

Howdy fellas. ;)

Got a wild hare here recently and decided to order a bulk of smokes and put a quantity away and age them a bit.

What I did was order two bundles of CI's 1886 cheap ass Churchills, a box of the Hoyo Montereys Excalibur #1's, a bundle of the Bahia blue labels, a box of the Cusano 18 connetticut robustos, and the big honking Ghurka's I mentioned in the other thread.

I've laid up most of em, we'll see how they change over time. I can tell you now the Cusano's and big Hoyo's won't age long. ;)

[76239]

How do you age them Jefferson? Or I guess the better question is how do you store them to age them?

[TEN-32]

Tobacco definitely changes with age. I had one tobacconist tell me he considered cigars a living organism. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'll be interested to hear your findings.

[CigarGuy]

Sadly, my 'buds are so burnt out I'm not sure I could tell the diff from one year to the next?
Short of some super premium brand(Padron 1926, Opus X, Ashton ESG) or Habanos(which are ILLEGAL, of course), I'm not sure I would bother. But, would be
anxious to hear your experience.

[El Jefe]

The issue I've noticed when ordering smokes from the big on-line retailers is that I believe many of these are sort of green, as in they go from the rolling table to the retailer and then out the door to us the consumer. This is unlike the stogies that a brick and mortar store will have stacked up in his humidor aging as the open box gets purchased.

It's not that the tobacco used hasn't been aged, it's that the filler, binder and wrapper haven't been together long. I've noticed that even with inexpensive smokes, 90 days in the humidor makes them taste smoother and better.

Right now I've got 3 desk top type humidors charged up and the smokes are resting in these. Obviously I'm keeping them as close to 70/70 as I can. I figure I can sample them say every 90 to 120 days and try to gauge how they're progressing. Should be interesting.

Something else I've been meaning to do is build a larger humidor. What I'm thinking is something like a Krenov chest on stand. If I didn't have to travel all the way to St Louis to get spanish cedar I'd have started it all ready, but alas, you can't buy SC out here in fumbuc. :(

[CigarGuy]

Understand. I have better luck with humidity around 65%. They seem to smoke "better" (to me) without needing to be relit. 70% is a little too wet for my taste.
Something about that "relative humidity" science crap in that since there is no way I can afford to A/C the house to 70, with the higher temp, I need lower humidity?

[El Jefe]

Understand. I have better luck with humidity around 65%. They seem to smoke "better" (to me) without needing to be relit. 70% is a little too wet for my taste.
Something about that "relative humidity" science crap in that since there is no way I can afford to A/C the house to 70, with the higher temp, I need lower humidity?

You're probably on to something. Mine varies a bit and I don't know to a certainty how accurate my hygrometers are either. I've quit using the humidification cartridges and now just use the gel with propylene glycol and distiller water. It works, but I'm thinking of getting one of the automatic systems if and when I build a larger humidor.

[CigarGuy]

You're probably on to something. Mine varies a bit and I don't know to a certainty how accurate my hygrometers are either. I've quit using the humidification cartridges and now just use the gel with propylene glycol and distiller water. It works, but I'm thinking of getting one of the automatic systems if and when I build a larger humidor.

Accuracy of hygrometers? Digital, good. Analog, throw it away and get a digital! ;)

[El Jefe]

Accuracy of hygrometers? Digital, good. Analog, throw it away and get a digital! ;)

I've read that more than a few times these past dozen or so years and I know I need to do it, just haven't. ;)

[CigarGuy]

It IS a pain running out for stupid specialty batteries all the time. Mine sit in there, dead.

[recon]

This info is interesting to read.

http://www.neptunecigar.com/co/faq-humidor_care_and_instructions.aspx
https://www.cigarextras.com/page/seasoningyourhumidor
http://www.cubancrafters.com/humidor-instructions.php
http://cigars.about.com/od/humidors/Using_a_Humidor_and_How_to_Care_for_Cigars.htm