Question to the gallery.

I have electronic humidity control in my "bloom-a-door" 🙂 and I've heard differing opinions regarding proper humidity for long term storage.

Some say, 70/70. Others say cigars are better kept at 65% RH. Still others say, 70% long term with a "dry box" for a period at 60-65% for pre-burn perfection.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Yes. X

I think most cigars smoke better closer to 65% but that's a preference thing. Experiment.

You get a little tighter draw at 70. (Sometimes a really tight draw). I am in a tough spot with one of my humidors. It was showing 72-74% consistantly. I pulled out the humidifier left the box open and finally got it back down to 65%. The cigars in the box at 72-74 had a real tight draw compared to the same ones from my more stable humidor.

I haven't seen any damage, but I guess you can really mess up your cigars more by keeping them too "wet" as opposed to a little on the dry side.

I like mine around 68% and have noticed that not only do you tend to get a tighter draw at over 70% but you risk damage long term because at over 70% your smokes will eventually even out at 70%; then, if you do put them in a drier environment (again depending on how dry) the wrapper, because it dries first, could split. This happened to me when moving some of my smokes from a 70%+ environment to about a 65% environment that got to about 60% before I could get it stabilized.

All in all, experimentation is the key but try to avoid abrupt changes from higher to lower, if they were at a higher % for a long time. Whew! that was at least 5c worth!

many thanks. One footnote, I have 3 digital hygrometers, they all claim to be + or - 2%... I have seen as much as 10% variation between them!! My electronicly controlled unit I tend to trust because it was so darn expensive (100 bux). So I would be leary of a measurement from a single source. If you know folks who have a digital hygrometer, I would swap and trade a few and perhaps average the readings between them to help calibrate yours. i.e., if you're reading 70, and you're 6 to 8 on the low side, your pushing 80%, very bad...

You can use the salt test to verify the accuracy of your hygrometers. Some of the digitals can be calibrated, but most cannot. If yours cannot be, simple make a note of the difference and then you'll know what the actual humidity is.

-Lenny

http://www.cigarsinternational.com/html/cig101_12st.asp 

Don't believe what X says, he lies a lot. LOL

Barry