I monitor my humidor's temp/humidity weekly. It lives in the lower level of my house, where both of these values almost naturally stay at 65/65 (plus or minus 3/3 during the winter). For my needs, that works great and my cigars generally draw and burn well. I've really never had any issues.
Nearly a year ago, I decided to try an experiment to find out whether aging cigars improved their qualities. So I've had a handful of good quality sticks resting in my humidor for over 300 days. The only thing I've done during that time is to rotate them occasionally to different positions within the humidor (top/middle/bottom of the heap) because I've heard that's a generally good policy.
For humidification I use Heartfelt beads with distilled water. That's it.
I've smoked four of these aged cigars recently, and all four of them exhibited some kind of severe burn problem. Three of them tunneled and one just had a bizarre uneven burn. My newer cigars, however, don't have these issues.
I keep my hygrometer calibrated, but even if it wasn't accurate it still fluctuates very little on a weekly basis, so the humidity/temp are at least steady. I've been told tunneling is due to different degrees of humidity in the inner vs. outer layers of the cigar. I don't see how that can happen if my humidor's conditions don't vary much.
Anyone have any insight or a similar experience?
Should I try dry-boxing these cigars for a few days before I smoke them?
I'm a little baffled.
Nearly a year ago, I decided to try an experiment to find out whether aging cigars improved their qualities. So I've had a handful of good quality sticks resting in my humidor for over 300 days. The only thing I've done during that time is to rotate them occasionally to different positions within the humidor (top/middle/bottom of the heap) because I've heard that's a generally good policy.
For humidification I use Heartfelt beads with distilled water. That's it.
I've smoked four of these aged cigars recently, and all four of them exhibited some kind of severe burn problem. Three of them tunneled and one just had a bizarre uneven burn. My newer cigars, however, don't have these issues.
I keep my hygrometer calibrated, but even if it wasn't accurate it still fluctuates very little on a weekly basis, so the humidity/temp are at least steady. I've been told tunneling is due to different degrees of humidity in the inner vs. outer layers of the cigar. I don't see how that can happen if my humidor's conditions don't vary much.
Anyone have any insight or a similar experience?
Should I try dry-boxing these cigars for a few days before I smoke them?
I'm a little baffled.