I just started really lighting up and I now have 2 humidors. Each hold about 40 sticks. The problem that I am having is all of my cigars don't seem to be staying fresh. Some of them feel hard and crack if I touch them. Both of my higrometers read between 70 and 80. A few cigars came to me a bit on the dry (hard) side. My questions are:

1) how long does it take for the cigars to freshen up?
2) Could i have to many cigars in the humidor? if so, why does it still read between 70 -80?

Please provide any suggestions. I really enjoy a good smoke but nothing is worst than lighting up a bad cigar.

P.S. I have even taken them out of the celo to see if that helps out...

Now what? Thanks in advance for your help.

Dave

I would:
1. Check your hygrometer! Salt-calibrate or get good digital. Analog is crap, IMO
2. Check seal of humidor.
3. How often do you open it and check the humidity??? I recommend leaving both humidors alone for 3 days and then check.
4. I have also heard that humidifying the room in which the humidors are in works too.

Or I could be way off and it could be that your smokes had a dry trip to your house, and in that case just let them sit for awhile. Or if all else fails send everything you have purchased to me and I will check how dry they are. Properly dispose maybe??
Dave

Thanks for the tips Dave. I think they had a dry trip to my house. I tried to leave them alone for a few days but cant seem to stay out of them that long. I keep going in for another smoke.

I just want to make sure they will come back and how long will it take? I have been hooked on cbid and have spent more money than my wife knows. I want to smoke all the sticks that i have. Thanks for the advice.. Keep it rolling in.

Dave

I found keeping cigars good in the smaller humidors to be a bit temperamental. I picked up a large glass top cabinet type - you know, the fancy furniture type - on Ebay for about $250 - new in a box - it looks a lot more expensive than it was - I was quite pleased with it.

I have found that so much better at keeping the cigars nice. I wouldn't call myself an aficionado or anything - and I'm certainly no expert and don't know for sure - but I suspect the larger volume of air in the cabinet type keeps the humidity more stable.

I started buying my cigars on line in larger quantities because all I could get was dry-rubbish where I live. In the small humidors - dryer cigars would never recover - but they stay really fresh in the larger cabinet.

I calibrated the analogue meter that came with it - and it was dead on - so I guess I was luck there (from what I've read).

Dgarcia,
For the first few weeks, it is impossible to not open and gaze just one more time. Take a few cigars that you will without a doubt smoke this weekend, and focus on the dry guys going into the other humi. If you are filling those 2 fourty-count really fast......search the message boards for "coolidor, igloodor, coolerdor,.etc. It is a great way to age and leave be, alot of your cigars. When I buy a box, or even a 5-pack, more than half go to the cooler. I have heard coolers keep a higher humidity (68-75), and that's where I put the drier smokes. Be very careful though, I built my coolidor before I truly needed it and felt obligated to just fill it sick right away. My .02 worth

Dave

Yep, make sure to do the salt test and get a good digital hygrometer as previously stated. It is well worth 20 to 30 bucks for the digital. (A few ruined cigars will pay for the digital.)

Did you season your humidor properly?

Sometimes people mistake freshness for overhumidification. Your cigars don't have to be soft to be fresh.

Sounds like you are almost to the coolerdor stage. When I went coolerdor my underhumidification problems ceased. Now I crack the doors a bit in the summer and close them in the winter.

Good Luck!!

Mike

Oh and search the message board for "dry cigars", or "dry smokes". You will find good info along with some of the funniest posts.

Sounds like one of two possibilities. Cigars that are seriously dried out need a considerable amount of time to "freshen-up." In fact if you try to do it too quickly the filler can absorb moisture quicker than the wrapper, expand, and crack the wrapper. Even though the humidity in your humidor is where you want it that doesn't mean the cigars have had time to be restored.

Secondly, assuming your cigars have been in 75-80 degree humidity for 10 days or longer, I think you may have a miscalibration. You might want to calibrate with the salt test. Just my thoughts................

I did the salt test and they passed. I am going to bid on the next good digital hygrometer.

Did you season your humidor properly? I think so.. I did what the postings said to do and they both read about 70 before I started putting my sticks in. It only took a day or two. Do you think i put them in to soon?


How do I know if they are over humidified? could this be part of the problem? I have noticed a few that seem to have a crack or two. One blew up at the end.

Dave

Welcome, d

I would get a couple of Radio Shack hygromters $20 ea. tomorrow. If they jive with each other, they are probably pretty accurate.

Once a cigar dries out, it loses alot of its oil and it will never fully recover. Still may be usable for yard smokes.

Bottom line...

Don't ever let 'em dry out!

Best wishes

P.S. What stinky said

Oh yeah,

Are your credos filled with 50/50?

If not, search "50/50", "PG", "Propylene Glycol" etc.

Now that winter is here it is easy to get freaked out if your humidor does a few flip flops on the humidity...but I find that the real way to find out if your smokes are doing well is to feel them...AND get a nice digital hydrometer...it removes all guess work. I currently have about 7-8 humidors...and have a nice supply of cubans...I often get them from people at work who do not smoke. I will not even defile these pages with a description of the condition of these cigars...but I can tell u this...if the smokes are dried out...be VERY patient and don't go too heavy on the PG. I have restored some very good Cubans...but it takes months...not days.

Gene