Speaking of ham smoking, this past Thanksgiving I did a Prague style ham. Took a whole leg and did 10% brine injected and let set for 25 days. Then boiled till well on the thermometer. Once it was fully cooked I let it cold smoke for a day in the smoker. It's a ton of work but the result was near perfect.

Thanks. There's more in it now. That was pre-AF releases. 🤦

On topic update. After reading about someone separating rows with straws, I found a package of bamboo skewers that were the same length as my tuppadore. AHA!

I re-organized it separating the layers with the skewers so there is free air flow between the layers. I would think it has to help. But what the hell, it can't hurt. I'm actually thinking about getting some sushi rolling mats and cutting them to fit. That would be even slicker and I could take the whole layer out at once. 🤔

Mmmmmm.... Sushi.

If you're running a tupperdor I wouldn't worry about adjusting humidity. All that air circulation junk is for large humidors like walk-ins and warehouses.

They will also greatly help regulate humidity and reportedly will also ward off beetles. Bonuses!

Some company should make a device that works to separate and break up groups of beetles. They could call it the "Yoko". (rimshot!)
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Bingo, exactly right.

I use multiple 116-quart Sterilite tubs and have for years. Inside each I have jars of the superabsorbent polymer balls/gels soaked in 50/50, some 69% Boveda packs, some random Spanish cedar sheets, hunks and pieces, and piled-up boxes, Ziploc bags (open-topped not sealed) and 5-packs of cigars. Just piled up on top of each other. No fans, no trays or shelves or dividers, no meticulous efforts to create air channels for air circulation, etc. They're all just thrown in there up to the brim of the container. There is one hygrometer near the top, in one location only. I generally never "rotate" the cigars and change their positions, they stay wherever they are in the container, typically for years.

Result, from many years of experience -- Cigars from ALL areas in the containers perform identically. All (except for badly-rolled ones, of course) burn great and taste great. There are zero differences based on where in the container a cigar is from, from the very bottom to the very top, from nearest to the humidification devices to the furthest away from them, from right next to the hygrometer to the furthest point away, etc. None of it matters. At all.

From this we can conclude that the humidity in these containers stays relatively uniform throughout.

So I agree completely with what you said. Worrying about 'air circulation channels' and battery-powered fans and such is an unnecessary waste of space, money and time, at least up to and including containers the size of 116-quart Sterilites.

Beyond that size, I can't comment, and it probably becomes necessary at some point on the size spectrum. But not until after the size tubs that I use.

Hope this helps!
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My spacers are an experiment and a hail mary. One of my Stolen Throne's that has been in the humidor for several months ghurka'ed on me the other day. Not just loose, but splitting, peeling, the whole nine yards. It burned pretty evenly considering, but I have never had a lick of trouble with those. The Ollie MB3, which has been there just as long but in the cello (trimmed off at the foot(Thanks CB!)), I smoked today was a perfect burn, and very nice to smoke.

The only thing I can think of is the wooden humidors I was using really went low when we got that brutal cold snap awhile ago which is when I switched back to the tuppador. The Crooked Crowns aren't in cello so I'm now looking at the naked cigars in there with suspicion and thinking they need some humidity love. So I'm making sure they get an equal chance to breath if you will.

Naturally all the naked ones are the higher end stuff. Some gifted Tat's and such. I figure it can't hurt, and if it helps them any I'm good with it. That's my ready service stash so capacity isn't really a thing with it. I've got a lb of HF beads in there and it's lined with spanish cedar veneer on the bottom, sides and lid. I figure it can't hurt.

I have a 300 count for 5x50 and such and a 400 count for bigger sizes.They have been hanging around 57% to 59% so the other night I opened the 400 count up and left it open all night and the whole next day . The moisture was in the air I would check the hygrometers and they would be in the 70s%. So they have been closed now for 2 days and are hanging in the mid 60s%. Which is where they seem to smoke the best out of them.


The 3 116qt tupperdores and 105 qt coolerdor I have 60% beads in them with some bovedas mixed around. They hang around the low 60s% and everything smokes fine out of them. There is no room in any of them I have done tetris so much I can't fit another box in them. I put 3 lfd la nox in one earlier and it's full. Everything smokes the same from top to bottom in the except the coolerdor it seems to smoke a little on the dry side to me.

Wow, I gotta hand it to you guys. I took your advice and dropped the humidity down in my new tupperadore and so far I am really liking the results.

I live in Arizona where the usual rh is about 10%, and I always tried to keep the cigars around 72 or 73%. I mean, isn't that the humidity in Nicaragua?

With the new tupperadore, I am holding at 68%, and so far I feel like my smokes no longer have the 'sour' undertone they used to.

I have always assumed that in the 10-20 minutes between me taking the cigar out of the humidor and actually lighting it, I lost about 5%, but it seems that starting at 68% is a better sweet spot.

Thanks gents!

I smoke my briskets with pecan. Better than mesquite imo.

Good to know. I do something similar with 60qt Ziploc WeatherShield containers. I've had some in for 7+ months and have never noticed any issues with smoking out of them. I've found one 320g Boveda is good for one of these containers. Way less hassle than messin with multiple 60g packs.

@ClintCigar, I like to mix mesquite with Pecan for beef. Just my own personal taste on that.

^I have mixed those before and didn't notice a difference but it was kind of random b/c I ran out of pecan.

I grill with mesquite, never smoke with it. 😳

agreed...mesquite is too strong if you're planning to do a low and slow smoke...unless you like a very mesquitey smoke flavored meat...

Anyone see an issue with using a sharpie to write the date of purchase on the cello of cigars?

If I have two five packs of a particular cigar aging for months, and buy a few more fivers, I don't want to accidentally grab a new one to smoke instead of a nicely aged one.

If I let the sharpie dry before sealing everything up in the tupperadore, there shouldn't be any chemicals affecting the tobacco should there?

I put self stick cut small labels on some unbanded cigar cellos for identification. You might try that instead.

Use what works for you but sometimes the writing is hard to see if the wrapper is dark (...assuming you’re using black or dark blue...). Additionally, although sold as “permanent”, some of the lighter colors such as red, medium blue, etc., can fade over time.

I normally use small cut out paper, taped to the cello. Easy to see and read. For naked cigars, I use a longer piece and wrap it around the stogie and then secured with tape.

Never heard that the fumes from the ink affected cigars but maybe you should Google that question.

I did the self stick labels before I got lazy and decided to rely on my wannabe photographic memory