Wine Fridge: Goodbye 78 degree Tupperdor!

[Texican]

Bought this today off someone from Next Door for a hundred bucks. Thank you all for reiterating to me that my sticks would eventually get ruined if they continued to stay at 77-78 degrees. Now I consider the problem to be solved! And yeah...this is a European model...check out the display reading 15 degrees Celsius. Had to Google the conversion to figure out what the hell I was doing. Gonna let it cool down and then bring it up to 17 C/62F. Time to get another tupperdor to fill up methinks...

 

[BasicTek]

The majority of my stix are in coolidors at 66-70 and I feel they are in the best possible conditions.

I still have some in 68-75 but they seem ok as well

 

[Texican]

Wife vetoed my initial placement near the front entryway...it is now in it's permanent location in the study. Already reading 62 degrees in my 'tup.

 

[Boudie]

 

[Texican]

Y'all...why did my RH drop from 65 to 61 when I put the tup in the fridge?

 

[Boudie]

Since you have a closed system, a well sealed tuperdor, the amount of water vapor in the system is steady
Cool air holds less water vapor then hot air so some of that water vapor condensed into your cigars and Bovedas. The Bovedas will do their job over time and return some of that water vapor to the system. I believe you have only had the cooler for a day or so and with any cigar related storage you need time for things to level out. High 70s to low 60s is a sizable change. I use 65s in my tuperdors and they stay pretty steady at 65 - 67. When my humidity gets a bit low I know it's time to recharge.

You will notice a similar pattern when you go in and out of your storage but the Bovedas will get and keep control soon. Weeks from now if you notice your cigars not burning properly you can adjust the type of boveda you are using but I expect you will be fine.

 

[Texican]

Since you have a closed system, a well sealed tuperdor, the amount of water vapor in the system is steady
Cool air holds less water vapor then hot air so some of that water vapor condensed into your cigars and Bovedas. The Bovedas will do their job over time and return some of that water vapor to the system. I believe you have only had the cooler for a day or so and with any cigar related storage you need time for things to level out. High 70s to low 60s is a sizable change. I use 65s in my tuperdors and they stay pretty steady at 65 - 67. When my humidity gets a bit low I know it's time to recharge.

You will notice a similar pattern when you go in and out of your storage but the Bovedas will get and keep control soon. Weeks from now if you notice your cigars not burning properly you can adjust the type of boveda you are using but I expect you will be fine.

Thanks man! I went ahead and put the last 2 60g 65% in there, so 4 total now...figured it couldn't hurt. I'll just keep an eye on it over the next week or so.

 

[Boudie]

To speed up your equalization if you plan to smoke in the next day or so pull out a couple of cigars and place them either on your desk if the humidity in the house is ok or in a ziplock bag. May not want to open the tuperdor again for a while.

 

[Texican]

To speed up your equalization if you plan to smoke in the next day or so pull out a couple of cigars and place them either on your desk if the humidity in the house is ok or in a ziplock bag. May not want to open the tuperdor again for a while.

Thanks for that tip...I was planning on a couple tomorrow. Gonna move them into the tiny humidor.

 

[Texican]

Coming along nicely. Curious to see where the RH settles...it is up to 67 now, with 65% bovedas.

 

[Texican]

Hmmm....it has settled at 59 degrees right now, and that is with it set to its warmest setting. Is that too cold?

 

[Boudie]

Only thing cold does is slow aging. I think 60 is about as low as I go so 59 shouldn't be an issue. Try another thermometer in the unit itself and see if there are warmer zones or if you are having issues with your hygrometer. You have had the system running for a couple of days now and you are telling me that it has been running all that time to get to 59 degrees. Where has it been prior to now?

If you continue with cooler temps you may consider dry boxing your cigars for a couple of days to allow the cigar to come to room temp. It is not uncommon for a large temperature swing (59 to 90 or 75 to 35 for example) to cause wrapper cracking and burn issues.

 

[Texican]

Only thing cold does is slow aging. I think 60 is about as low as I go so 59 shouldn't be an issue. Try another thermometer in the unit itself and see if there are warmer zones or if you are having issues with your hygrometer. You have had the system running for a couple of days now and you are telling me that it has been running all that time to get to 59 degrees. Where has it been prior to now?

If you continue with cooler temps you may consider dry boxing your cigars for a couple of days to allow the cigar to come to room temp. It is not uncommon for a large temperature swing (59 to 90 or 75 to 35 for example) to cause wrapper cracking and burn issues.

It appears to fluctuate. I just checked it and now it is at 62.6. I have had it set to the same temp since the first day (18 Celsius lol) and the temp seems to move between an absolute low of 59 to a high of 63.

After your tip the other day I actually have been keeping a stash of 3 "on deck" sticks in the tiny humidor on the bookshelf. These will be smoked within a week or so, so not worried about the 78 degree temps hurting them.

As always, thanks for the input!!

 

[Texican]

9 months later...bottom shelf has been removed to make room for more vino (my wife's damn Pinot Noir bottles are oddly shaped and don't fit well) and allow for stacking of tupperdors. I think I'm close to about 75 sticks in all. Also...I think the blue light is pretty rocking.