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Last post 20 years ago by TubeDoc. 14 replies replies.
Stopping the aging process
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TubeDoc Offline
#1 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 3:11 AM EST
Joined: 05-05-2002
Posts: 69
If only I could do with human beings what I can do to cigars...
I mean, stop the aging process. I have purchased an active humdification system and kept my cigars at ~67% and near 70 degrees. I have "aged" them 2 years. No plome, no crystals, still haven't smoothed out...
Then one of my friends tells me he buys a couple of cigars, puts them in tupperware with a wet paper towel, places it in the bathroom near the shower, so it can get plenty of steam, and says that in a "few" weeks, the cigars were covered with crystals. He said they were some of the best cigars he ever smoked.
What gives???? Is he pulling my Johnson?
Any suggestions as to %humdity anyone uses or humidity?
I have heard that cigars age better at lower humidity and should be brought back to about 70% before you smoke them.
Slimboli Offline
#2 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 3:43 AM EST
Joined: 07-09-2000
Posts: 16,139
Sounds fishy to me ... never heard such a thing. It takes quite a while to develop bloom/plume, and some cigars don't always get it. It's the oils in the leaves coming to the surface through the wrapper ...

His process sounds more like mold, than bloom/plume ... LOL!

Heck, maybe he just likes the taste of moldy cigars!
RICKAMAVEN Offline
#3 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 4:13 AM EST
Joined: 10-01-2000
Posts: 33,248
i'm not sure how moisture would have any effect on cigars in a sealed tupperware.

what's wrong with moldy cigars?
Slimboli Offline
#4 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 4:27 AM EST
Joined: 07-09-2000
Posts: 16,139
Rick --- he said he puts them in tupperware with a wet paper towel!

The steam in the bathroom wouldn't have much effect on the cigars, but the wet paper towel sure would!
Robby Offline
#5 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 5:46 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
I've heard of a similar technique described, but it's trickey... You up the humidity in the mid 70s for several weeks and then back it back down and it forces the stogies to plume up. Anyone else heard this? The risk comes in to play of course because little buggies like that environment too...
Robby Offline
#6 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 5:47 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
p.s., the Ploomidoor stays at 68%. I'd always heard 70. Others say 65, so I split the diff.
E-Chick Offline
#7 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 7:36 AM EST
Joined: 06-15-2002
Posts: 4,877
And to think that I fell for it...I thought it was about the NEW Botox...

:(
Robby Offline
#8 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 8:35 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
E! You got a new Buttox?
efm Offline
#9 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 9:44 AM EST
Joined: 01-23-2001
Posts: 499
What can one say? If you think your cigars improve after a good streaming then that's what to do. I never tried it myself. I'm ain't gonna try it neither. I've smoked enough cigars at eighty something percent humidity when the cooler went berzerk and to me they smoke like....steam.

I wouldn't worry about lack of plume. As far as I know plume is a sign of aging, like a discolored cello, but I don't think it makes the cigar smoke better. And it might take way more than two years to develop if it ever does but plume AIN'T what makes a cigar good.

Tube, tell me, I gotta know: What cigars failed to mellow after you aged them two years?
Steve*R Offline
#10 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 10:41 AM EST
Joined: 07-23-2001
Posts: 1,858
The question: "Is he pulling my Johnson?"

The answer, of course, is Yes, ouch!!!

Excess RH inhibits the formation of plume. Plume arrives on the surface of the wrapper as the natural oils rise to the surface and crystalize. This cannot happen if there is over humidification. Frankly, at 70/70, it can be difficult to form plume, unless the leaf was inordinately oily to begin with, and you have a long aging time. Putting a wet paper towel in a closed environment with too few cigars will encourage mold in short order.

If I want to encourage plume, I remove the cello from the cigars, if they were celloed, place them in an unvarnished cedar box with sufficient air movement within, and place them in a cooler that is humidified to 66-68 RH, depending on the temperature.
redsquid Offline
#11 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 11:04 AM EST
Joined: 12-15-2002
Posts: 1,286
I've only ever had one cigar plume. An IT super fuerte robusto maduro. I've had it less than a year (don't know how long the tobaccanist had it). It's not received any different treatment from my other cigars (tupperdore that probably gets opened too often, with no guage). It has the cello on, but has holes punched in the cello. I keep wanting to smoke it, then I think 'mmm, maybe one more month'. It makes me giggle just to know it's there.
Robby Offline
#12 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 12:15 PM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
"If I want to encourage plume, I remove the cello from the cigars, if they were celloed, place them in an unvarnished cedar box with sufficient air movement within"

Celo off? I thought celo on?
snowwolf777 Offline
#13 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 4:04 PM EST
Joined: 06-03-2000
Posts: 4,082
Interesting to see this debate pop up in the timing. I put some of those CI rare corojos (a bundle of churchill and a bundle of robusto) into one of my "backup" humidors last summer. Forgot about them, except to hit them with 50-50 PG a couple of times. Opened the box last week after not messing with it for about 6 weeks and the whole lot of them were coated with heavy plume - most perfect I've ever seen. They smoked like totally different cigars - sweet, mild ... I don't know. I've never had my so-called "super premium" humidor develop nearly so much plume. Maybe just a lucky batch.
tailgater Offline
#14 Posted: Thu, May 1 2003, 4:45 PM EST
Joined: 06-01-2000
Posts: 26,185
That was a cigar in the tupperware near the shower? I thought it was a loufa. Sorry.
TubeDoc Offline
#15 Posted: Thu, May 8 2003, 8:29 AM EST
Joined: 05-05-2002
Posts: 69
cfm,
I had some Punch rothchild maduros and Puros Indios and Indian Tabac. They are all 50 size ring, so maybe they are just too fat.
Don't get me wrong, they taste great, I just expected them to mellow out more.
Maybe this guy was smoking a moldy old cigar, but he swears that white crystals formed on his cigar in a couple of weeks.
I have since removed all the cello from my cigars. they stay too wet if you don't.
Thanks all
Doc
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