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Proper humidity level and it's affect on flavor...

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I know this topic has been hashed around for years. The Cigar authority did a show last week where they smoked an over humidified cigar compared to an under humidified. Then they smoke a properly humidified @70%. Mr. Jonathan does an excellent explanation of how relative humidity can vary with changes in temperature. How his humidor changes RH throughout the day and so on. (as temps go down RH goes up and vica versa.)

An interesting point he made was how he toured the Padron factory where he was taken into a room of moist tobacco and the smell was of sweet honey/ raisins.(sounds familiar) Paron explained that this smell is wonderful to the novice but will taste awful and must be avoided.

If you care to listen...
 
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IAn interesting point he made was how he toured the Padron factory where he was taken into a room of moist tobacco and the smell was of sweet honey/ raisins.(sounds familiar) Paron explained that this smell is wonderful to the novice but will taste awful and must be avoided.
Gosh, you don't say.
 

Cigary43

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There truly is a "dance" between the RH and temps and for true aficionados that are afflicted with OCD and ADD....nursing cigars through the process of this dance does have a payoff. Most cigars do not do well at the higher end of the RH spectrum and when you consider dealing with the temperature fluctuations it's enough to give you fits. Maintaining a humidor at the optimum numbers of 65% and 70 degrees is some serious work unless you have a great wineador that you can set and forget. Then there is the resting/aging element on top....but some of us deem it's worth all of the fuss because the end result is better than any "happy ending" I've ever had...a 3 hour happy ending....think about that!
 
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That's what I always thought for some reason. I had some trouble trying to check myself. didn't come across your link. thanks!
Something to think about. Even though your calibration will be accurate @75% after the salt test, when you drop down to say 65% there is a margin of error in your hygrometer so what you see is not accurate.

Probably the most accurate way to calibrate to 65% would be to put your hygrometer in a bag with a 65% Boveda for a few days and then calibrate to that setting. This would be just as easy as doing the salt test but would factor in any inaccuracy of your hygrometer.
 
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Something to think about. Even though your calibration will be accurate @75% after the salt test, when you drop down to say 65% there is a margin of error in your hygrometer so what you see is not accurate.

Probably the most accurate way to calibrate to 65% would be to put your hygrometer in a bag with a 65% Boveda for a few days and then calibrate to that setting. This would be just as easy as doing the salt test but would factor in any inaccuracy of your hygrometer.
Great point Thanks again.
 
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All fairly futile. After all your painstaking exactituddinosity, you tote your precious pampered stick out to the porch, where your humidibdidity is upta 88% waiting for a two degree drop in temp so's it can rain... halfway thru you've sucked so much damp air into it, it starts to canoe on you.

The sensor on the porch this morning reads 72 degrees and 82%. Was higher, but it stopped raining bout an hour ago. Rain dried it out a bit. 55% here in the home office.

Going to the circus today. Got front row tix. Love the circus. Love it. This one calls itself a "water circus". Cirque Italia. Never heard of it. They set up at Delaware Park. I'm stoked.
 
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All fairly futile. After all your painstaking exactituddinosity, you tote your precious pampered stick out to the porch, where your humidibdidity is upta 88% waiting for a two degree drop in temp so's it can rain... halfway thru you've sucked so much damp air into it, it starts to canoe on you.

The sensor on the porch this morning reads 72 degrees and 82%. Was higher, but it stopped raining bout an hour ago. Rain dried it out a bit. 55% here in the home office.

Going to the circus today. Got front row tix. Love the circus. Love it. This one calls itself a "water circus". Cirque Italia. Never heard of it. They set up at Delaware Park. I'm stoked.
This is a good point. We all know how quickly the leaf can absorb moisture. Every time you take a puff it draws in moisture. I can actually feel it get mushy in a matter of minutes.

Here in Florida I smoke very little outside in the summer. I live half a mile from a Corona cigar bar and sit inside the airconditioned lounge. Much better.
 
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All fairly futile. After all your painstaking exactituddinosity, you tote your precious pampered stick out to the porch, where your humidibdidity is upta 88% waiting for a two degree drop in temp so's it can rain... halfway thru you've sucked so much damp air into it, it starts to canoe on you.
How would high humidity cause canoeing? Moisture is evenly dispersed in the incoming air as you draw on the cigar. I can understand it causing a slower, cooler burn or even tunneling (if the wrapper absorbs the humidity faster then the filler) but do not see how it would affect one side of the cigar differently then the other?
 
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Beats me. Sometimes it's a canoe, other times it studges up, or who knows what.

92% out there now. Dug up a two year old stick from whuzzizname, remember southbound cigars? Burnt it on the porch reading Hornblower and the Atropos. Excellent draw about half way down. Then tunneled a bit and abruptly went out.
 
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This topic is of particular interest to me because I'm not sure any part of the country has the same humidity issues as the gulf coast. I do have to relight and correct burn issues occasionally but have yet to equate those problems to the humidity levels on my front porch. I am having fewer problems now that I started dry boxing with 62% Bovedas.

Simple enough to start paying attention to how my cigars burn when the weather changes. Curious to see if I can find any patterns? Thanks for the heads up.
 
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