Its seems that since the Limitadas came out, I have not been smoking anything else, only problem is my check book wish has been suffering, but I can't complain since the limitadas are the best thing to come out of la habana in a long time.
Now the question is the proper humidity for these unsusual cigars, that some love and others just ignore.
For months I strugled with the proper humidty for my cabinet humidor, as well as my desktop humidor, spent at least 200 dlls on Climax Beads and still I could not get the proper humidty for my Habanos.
After all that was said and done, I ended up with a glass of distilled water inside the cabinet humidor, that keeps humidity at 68-70% wish I found was the best for cigar boxes especially cabinet style, and in my desktop what I did was to replace the foam inside the humidifier with climax beads and this works just fine and keeps my habanos at 65-67% RH.
But now the questions was about the Limitadas since in the months and years that Ive been smoking these darlings, I found out the following:
That when you first get the box its just shines with oil and darknes, but if you smoke them right out of the box they are a bit wet and they tend to go out, also limitadas are quite good in the first year but they tend to go trough a sick period the next 2 years, comming out strong and excelent in the 4th year.
Lets say what in my opinion the best tasting limitada Partagas Serie D #3 2001 wish was inside my Desktop humidor at 65%, its starts to losse those shiny oils, and becomes normal looking, and even the smells becomes lighter. but when you light it excelent and great draw and great ash.
But if I take out lets say the same Partagas Serie D #3 out of my Cabinet that has been siting at around 70%, the cigar shines with the oiliest and darkest wrapper one could imagine, they look like chocolate sticks, and they smell excelent, but once you light it, you see a tendnecy for a tight draw, and they tend to go out at least 3 times.
So what to do, sacrifice those shiny oils for that perfect draw, the taste also changes a little bit with the humidity. Its kind of confusing, since with other habanos I really dont care, especially with pale wrappers, but with limitadas it is part of their charm that maduro color.
One might argue that 65% RH is the perfect humidity for all Habanos, but then Limitadas are not like all habanos, any comments will be apperciated, and if you have a secret formula as to how to keep the oils in while lowering down the humidity I would apperciate it.
Like 2 years ago I tried lowering my humidity to 60% since a poster in this board said it would make all the diference in the world, and I do remember it did make a difference, meaning my wrapper cracked the moment I clipped the cigar, so 60% is now out of the question.
1st I would say get a cigar oasis + One of the best things I ever had. 2nd I smoke %100 cuban ,and in the humi I have it holds 25 boxes and 300 singles. It is filled to the max. Iwould say what i do is on the bottom of mine, I keep at %69 (where the boxes are) and the top stays at %64- %65, and everything smokes beutifully.
Posts: 374 | Location: joliet il usa | Registered: July 17, 2004
I sort of like how my cigars taste more than how they look. If they don't look shiny enough, rub mayonnaise on them and get the best of all worlds. Maybe a little balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard, too.
If ignorance is bliss .............. Why aren't there more happy people walking around?
quote:Originally posted by green day: I keep my storage humidor @ 75% humidity, and transfer them over to my smoking humidor, which is kept @ 68% humidity.
I have found that this system works well in the climate that I am in.
75%? Yow! I was wondering if your hygrometer was accurate? Your humidity may be a little lower than what your hygro says, but you don't realize it.
I have one hygrometer that is so far off it reads near 80% all the time. It's OK, because I know when it says 80% it's really aroun 67%. If it drops I just add some water until it's hovering around 80% again.
I keep my cigars around 65% and have found that the draw of everything in my humis, CC and NC is improved.
At 75% you will see slight swelling of the foot, wetter smoking cigars and tighter draws.
I keep my cabinet at 69% RH. They look, smell, burn, and draw great. I think too much emphasis is made on the draw/burn/humidity correlation. I don't think there is much of a correlation, unless you are at 80% RH or something. Never had a problem at 69-70.
quote: BinDerSmokDat: 75%? Yow! I was wondering if your hygrometer was accurate? Your humidity may be a little lower than what your hygro says, but you don't realize it. I have one hygrometer that is so far off it reads near 80% all the time. It's OK, because I know when it says 80% it's really aroun 67%. If it drops I just add some water until it's hovering around 80% again. I keep my cigars around 65% and have found that the draw of everything in my humis, CC and NC is improved. At 75% you will see slight swelling of the foot, wetter smoking cigars and tighter draws.[/QUOTE]
I have a digital hygrometer, which should be + or - 1%, my father in law tested the accuracy by another method, swinging a device around in the air, attached to a small rope. I do not know what the device was called, however the reading on my hygrometer was almost dead on.
I keep the storage humidor @ a higher humidity to STORE the cigars until I am ready to smoke them. I have some cigars in there that are 6 to 7 years old. I then transfer the cigars to the smoking humidor which is kept @ 68%. After 2 or 3 days they are ready to smoke, and draw wonderfully.
The thing you swing around your head is called a sling psychrometer. It is far from an accurate way to measure humidity. Too many variables can easily throw a sling psychrometer off. A half degree off on the thermometer of a sling psychrometer can mean 3-4% off on humidity. There are other factors I won't get into that could further fudge the reading.
It's a useful tool for demonstrating the principals of relative humidity to schood kids, but it isn't the most accurate method for calibration. Using one to gauge the accuracy of a digital hygrometer is like using a treebranch to judge if your ruler is straight. I'd use the salt test or towel test to see how your digital was reading.
As for your long-term storage humidity it seems a little high. I've been told and seen through my own experiences that cigars store better at lower humdidities. In fact, it isn't uncommon on a well aged cigar to find the bands a bit loose and the cigar shrunken overall.
I'm not saying your methods are wrong, if they work for you go for it! It's just contrary to what I've heard and experienced.
quote:Originally posted by BinDerSmokDat: The thing you swing around your head is called a sling psychrometer. It is far from an accurate way to measure humidity. Too many variables can easily throw a sling psychrometer off. A half degree off on the thermometer of a sling psychrometer can mean 3-4% off on humidity. There are other factors I won't get into that could further fudge the reading.
It's a useful tool for demonstrating the principals of relative humidity to schood kids, but it isn't the most accurate method for calibration. Using one to gauge the accuracy of a digital hygrometer is like using a treebranch to judge if your ruler is straight. I'd use the salt test or towel test to see how your digital was reading.
As for your long-term storage humidity it seems a little high. I've been told and seen through my own experiences that cigars store better at lower humdidities. In fact, it isn't uncommon on a well aged cigar to find the bands a bit loose and the cigar shrunken overall.
I'm not saying your methods are wrong, if they work for you go for it! It's just contrary to what I've heard and experienced.
Thanks so much for the information, at least now I know what I am talking about (LOL).
I am by no means an expert when it comes to cigars, however I must be lucky, for all my cigars in my storage humidor have bloom on them.
roberto, i know you had comment before about your favorite cigar (psd3 -and mine too) getting sick. i made the comment about trying upwards of 70. i find the same thing with this cigar and lower RH. luckily my box was perfectly filled and can handle the slightly higher RH, if your sticks are somewhat filled tightly there might be problems as you suggested. i'm with short on this one , i keep mine 68-70 and have never had a problem with any of my smokes.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
