Ammonia / Sour Taste Coming from Cigars

[sean]

Cigars dont get each other sick, they get sick because they're continuing to ferment. Doesn't really matter how many you have at a given point unless they're all sick or something. The KL is nice in that it helps absorb the ammonia out gassing.

Only way to know is to smoke another one. Like I said, my rule of thumb is to smoke within the first month, or wait until after month six. Generally that'll prevent you hitting a sick one.

Ninja speaks the truth.

I used to have sickness issues when I was smoking out of my 100ct. Anything that was in there for 2-6 months tasted "twangy" to me. Now that I have more space, I can keep more on hand, and now make it a point to leave most things to rest for 6mo plus. When working with small spaces/limited storage, the trick is to keep track of when you put the smokes in the humi.



Side note: if your RH is too high, you may be causing other "sour" flavors that way, too. Just something else to check out.

 

[nickaragua]

Cigars dont get each other sick, they get sick because they're continuing to ferment. Doesn't really matter how many you have at a given point unless they're all sick or something. The KL is nice in that it helps absorb the ammonia out gassing.

Only way to know is to smoke another one. Like I said, my rule of thumb is to smoke within the first month, or wait until after month six. Generally that'll prevent you hitting a sick one.

Ok I did not know that, that could very well be the cause of it all. That's very good to know. I was worried I'd have to quarantine all my cigars somehow but thank you for sharing this with me!

 

[nickaragua]

Cigars dont get each other sick, they get sick because they're continuing to ferment. Doesn't really matter how many you have at a given point unless they're all sick or something. The KL is nice in that it helps absorb the ammonia out gassing.

Only way to know is to smoke another one. Like I said, my rule of thumb is to smoke within the first month, or wait until after month six. Generally that'll prevent you hitting a sick one.

Ninja speaks the truth.

I used to have sickness issues when I was smoking out of my 100ct. Anything that was in there for 2-6 months tasted "twangy" to me. Now that I have more space, I can keep more on hand, and now make it a point to leave most things to rest for 6mo plus. When working with small spaces/limited storage, the trick is to keep track of when you put the smokes in the humi.



Side note: if your RH is too high, you may be causing other "sour" flavors that way, too. Just something else to check out.

Thank you Sean, I was using 69 RH boveda's but recently stepped them down to 65 RH Boveda's and have been keeping the temp on my wine fridge relatively low around 65 so the RH doesn't get too out of control.

 

[Sirspanksalot]

The solution seems to buy more sticks

I don't think I've noticed that ammonia type taste, or if I have its very infrequent. Most of my online purchases are things I'm gonna let sit or send, and my b&m buys are things I plan to smoke soon

 

[nickaragua]

The solution seems to buy more sticks

I don't think I've noticed that ammonia type taste, or if I have its very infrequent. Most of my online purchases are things I'm gonna let sit or send, and my b&m buys are things I plan to smoke soon

I buy most sticks with the plan to age, but that doesn't work out all the time. I need to buy more cheapie dailies I guess

 

[Sirspanksalot]

You're the one getting my father/Pepin sticks for 3 bucks. Next you'll tell me you get gurkha for 50 cents lol

 

[nickaragua]

You're the one getting my father/Pepin sticks for 3 bucks. Next you'll tell me you get gurkha for 50 cents lol

Lol its a true story though! Let's be honest here..even if I could get Gurkha for 0.50 I wouldn't. lol. Only had two Gurkha's that I've somewhat enjoyed and that was the ghost and cellar reserve (maybe).

 

[Sirspanksalot]

Have you had any of the AJF stuff? I like em, and they're cheap enough

 

[nickaragua]

Have you had any of the AJF stuff? I like em, and they're cheap enough

yep i have some puro authenticos left ( one of the "sick" cigars ) and also have a pinolero just chillin too. really enjoyed the diesel d5, mow, and little devil

 

[marshall9779]

Good to know I don't have anything going on with mine besides a little more fermentation. I know I wasn't over humidifying them. A couple had gotten real ammonia tasting/smelling when breathing out through my nose after exhaling.

 

[nickaragua]

Good to know I don't have anything going on with mine besides a little more fermentation. I know I wasn't over humidifying them. A couple had gotten real ammonia tasting/smelling when breathing out through my nose after exhaling.

Retrohaling still kills me so I wouldn't be able to comment on that bit, but it definitely threw me off when my cigars started tasting really nasty because they didn't smell/feel/smoke weird at all, just kept getting this nasty bitter ammonia taste. But it is good to know that one "sick" cigar doesn't get other cigars "sick" so let's hope they "heal" themselves over time.

 

[AdamJoshua]

Good to know I don't have anything going on with mine besides a little more fermentation. I know I wasn't over humidifying them. A couple had gotten real ammonia tasting/smelling when breathing out through my nose after exhaling.

Retrohaling still kills me so I wouldn't be able to comment on that bit, but it definitely threw me off when my cigars started tasting really nasty because they didn't smell/feel/smoke weird at all, just kept getting this nasty bitter ammonia taste. But it is good to know that one "sick" cigar doesn't get other cigars "sick" so let's hope they "heal" themselves over time.

There are plenty of cigars that just aren't made for snorking, i wouldn't snork a DE or Gurkha if you paid me, I can only imagine the burn lol

 

[marshall9779]

Good to know I don't have anything going on with mine besides a little more fermentation. I know I wasn't over humidifying them. A couple had gotten real ammonia tasting/smelling when breathing out through my nose after exhaling.

Retrohaling still kills me so I wouldn't be able to comment on that bit, but it definitely threw me off when my cigars started tasting really nasty because they didn't smell/feel/smoke weird at all, just kept getting this nasty bitter ammonia taste. But it is good to know that one "sick" cigar doesn't get other cigars "sick" so let's hope they "heal" themselves over time.

There are plenty of cigars that just aren't made for snorking, i wouldn't snork a DE or Gurkha if you paid me, I can only imagine the burn lol

I wasn't talking about retrohaling the smoke. I meant just breathing out through my nose after I had already exhaled the smoke. I was more smelling the amonia at that point. I tried retrohaling the smoke once and man it was a bit much.

 

[nickaragua]

Good to know I don't have anything going on with mine besides a little more fermentation. I know I wasn't over humidifying them. A couple had gotten real ammonia tasting/smelling when breathing out through my nose after exhaling.

Retrohaling still kills me so I wouldn't be able to comment on that bit, but it definitely threw me off when my cigars started tasting really nasty because they didn't smell/feel/smoke weird at all, just kept getting this nasty bitter ammonia taste. But it is good to know that one "sick" cigar doesn't get other cigars "sick" so let's hope they "heal" themselves over time.

There are plenty of cigars that just aren't made for snorking, i wouldn't snork a DE or Gurkha if you paid me, I can only imagine the burn lol

I wasn't talking about retrohaling the smoke. I meant just breathing out through my nose after I had already exhaled the smoke. I was more smelling the amonia at that point. I tried retrohaling the smoke once and man it was a bit much.

ah OK OK. yeah I'd get the same weird taste in the after taste in my mouth and weird chemically smell in my nose after exhaling the smoke.

have you ever tried dissecting one of those "sick" cigars? idk if the tobacco gets more and more "wet" while smoking but the tobacco has a noticeably wet feeling at the nub point. that's why I thought my cigars were over humidified.

 

[nickaragua]

So, I took my boveda's out of my wine cooler and the humidity is still not moving...somethings weird

 

[cgraunke]

So, I took my boveda's out of my wine cooler and the humidity is still not moving...somethings weird

I just scanned through the thread and didn't notice anything... have we addressed your hygrometer yet?

 

[nickaragua]

So, I took my boveda's out of my wine cooler and the humidity is still not moving...somethings weird

I just scanned through the thread and didn't notice anything... have we addressed your hygrometer yet?

I think so...can't recall. In case we didn't, its been recalibrated (bottle cap with salt and water) when I set up my wine fridge with drawers from Forrest about 3-4 months ago

 

[cgraunke]

Try putting your hygro in a Ziploc with a Boveda overnight to see what it reads...

 

[nickaragua]

Try putting your hygro in a Ziploc with a Boveda overnight to see what it reads...

I'll try that. I know this may seem like a ridiculous question but could a boveda ever be off?

 

[Bruce T.]

I have a couple of different type of hygros and they can sometimes take a full 24 hours to stabilize in a plastic bag so be patient.