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humidors? I'm no longer sure we do. OK, I've got three and as pretty bits of furniture to keep my cigars together in one place they're great little bits of kit, but as for the rest of the paraphernalia ? hygrometers, humidifiers, beads, crystals etc ? I'm starting to think they can be chucked.
Anyone flogging humi's will say they're absolutely essential. Are they? Hamlet, who knows just about all there is to know about Cuban cigars, happily confesses to keeping his at home in a cupboard. Ok, he lives in Cuba, most likely in Havana where the average annual humidity is 74.3? and the average temperature is 77?F which means as long as his cupboard is in a coolish part of his pad below 74?F , beetles won't hatch and his smokes are reasonably hydrated. Unlike the rest of Cuba, Havana is relatively cool and possibly one of the reasons most of the Cuban population live there and called it Havana in the first place. It's also a bit odd humidity wise. Daytime humidity is 60?-70? but during the night rises quite dramatically to between 80?-90?. Not very stable possibly, but it doesn't seem to do Cuban tobacco any harm or prevent them from making cigars in un-climate controlled factories, and Hamlet I'm pretty sure could lay his hands on a humi if he thought is was going to do him any good.
So, what's this all got to do with us? Well, quite a lot really. The UK average Summer temperature is about the same as that of Havana and which during our colder months is typically where we aim our central heating, 20-24?C. The UK average humidity is 79.6 (Lower in Metropolitan areas London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff etc., but higher in the Western half of Northern Ireland). However, unlike Havana, UK humidity rarely drops below 60? or goes above 90?. Within a degree or two the average humidity and temperature (which we compensate for during the Winter) of Havana and the UK can be pretty similar and so it follows if Cuban cigar smokers don't need humidors why do we?
Because cigars can dry out or become saturated? Yes they can .... seal them up in TUBOS and stick them on top of a radiator for a month or wrap them in a sponge and keep them under the bath with the shower running then both things are possible. But, the UK isn't arrid like Arizona or as tropically humid as the Congo and the filler leaf of cigars does not take in or loose moisture that quickly. The humidity in the UK does fluctuate, but only rarely does it stay high enough or low enough over a period long enough to effect cigars. In some ways, humidification within humidors and tuppadors especially during the Winter, creates problems where there weren't any. We all aim at the magic 69?, which during the Winter generally means topping our beads more frequently or adding extra devices. But, I've noticed that even with the added help I'm often under target (and yes, I do regularly salt test and change the batteries in my hygros) but, and this is a BIG but, the cigars in the humi feel slightly spongier than they did during the Summer. The reason I think, is that hygrometers are designed to read the level of humidity within the air that surrounds them and take no real regard to the un-released moisture within the beads of humidifiers or to the amount of moisture already contained within the cigars. During the Summer this is fine, the beads give out moisture which the cigars take in until the moisture in the beads runs out. In the Winter it's not so clear cut. At night, when the central heating goes off, the air in humi cools down quite rapidly and the moisture content rises. The cigars are quite happy, they're like camels, they'll 'gimme, gimme, gimme' till their wrappers burst. Fortunately the cedar in the humi will buffer the moisture a fair bit, but in the morning when the heating goes on, the hygro will still sit reading around 69? and the cigars will be that little bit plumper. The phenomenon is even worse in Tups because the plastic surface gets cold very quickly and without 'buffering' and nowhere else to go, moisture will saturate and condense on anything inside resulting in cold weather mould.
So what am I saying. Since the Autumn I've been keeping a dry box. It's just a regular Cohiba Magicos box. It's got an OK seal, but not tight like a humi. At any one time it can have up to twenty cigars in it, in fact some have been in there since I started it. It's got no humidifier just a hygro which today is reading 66?. I would contend that the cigars in the dry box, which I've just left to look after themselves, are in better condition and more smokable than those in my humis and tup and on which I've lavished time and money in the belief I was doing the right thing. The evidence says contrary.
Ah, but what about ageing, maturing and proper fermentation. Well, in Cuba that starts with leaving bales of tobacco against a wall in a shed in a yard. I'm not convinced that storing 25 RyJ in a humi at a constant 69?/69?F for twenty years would improve the taste appreciably or age them any better than keeping the box between two volumes in the book case. (Not that I've the will to want to do it anyway).
Temperature is the key. Keep 'em cool and cigars are pretty tough cookies. I don't think UK humidity is extreme enough to do them any proper damage.
Anyone flogging humi's will say they're absolutely essential. Are they? Hamlet, who knows just about all there is to know about Cuban cigars, happily confesses to keeping his at home in a cupboard. Ok, he lives in Cuba, most likely in Havana where the average annual humidity is 74.3? and the average temperature is 77?F which means as long as his cupboard is in a coolish part of his pad below 74?F , beetles won't hatch and his smokes are reasonably hydrated. Unlike the rest of Cuba, Havana is relatively cool and possibly one of the reasons most of the Cuban population live there and called it Havana in the first place. It's also a bit odd humidity wise. Daytime humidity is 60?-70? but during the night rises quite dramatically to between 80?-90?. Not very stable possibly, but it doesn't seem to do Cuban tobacco any harm or prevent them from making cigars in un-climate controlled factories, and Hamlet I'm pretty sure could lay his hands on a humi if he thought is was going to do him any good.
So, what's this all got to do with us? Well, quite a lot really. The UK average Summer temperature is about the same as that of Havana and which during our colder months is typically where we aim our central heating, 20-24?C. The UK average humidity is 79.6 (Lower in Metropolitan areas London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff etc., but higher in the Western half of Northern Ireland). However, unlike Havana, UK humidity rarely drops below 60? or goes above 90?. Within a degree or two the average humidity and temperature (which we compensate for during the Winter) of Havana and the UK can be pretty similar and so it follows if Cuban cigar smokers don't need humidors why do we?
Because cigars can dry out or become saturated? Yes they can .... seal them up in TUBOS and stick them on top of a radiator for a month or wrap them in a sponge and keep them under the bath with the shower running then both things are possible. But, the UK isn't arrid like Arizona or as tropically humid as the Congo and the filler leaf of cigars does not take in or loose moisture that quickly. The humidity in the UK does fluctuate, but only rarely does it stay high enough or low enough over a period long enough to effect cigars. In some ways, humidification within humidors and tuppadors especially during the Winter, creates problems where there weren't any. We all aim at the magic 69?, which during the Winter generally means topping our beads more frequently or adding extra devices. But, I've noticed that even with the added help I'm often under target (and yes, I do regularly salt test and change the batteries in my hygros) but, and this is a BIG but, the cigars in the humi feel slightly spongier than they did during the Summer. The reason I think, is that hygrometers are designed to read the level of humidity within the air that surrounds them and take no real regard to the un-released moisture within the beads of humidifiers or to the amount of moisture already contained within the cigars. During the Summer this is fine, the beads give out moisture which the cigars take in until the moisture in the beads runs out. In the Winter it's not so clear cut. At night, when the central heating goes off, the air in humi cools down quite rapidly and the moisture content rises. The cigars are quite happy, they're like camels, they'll 'gimme, gimme, gimme' till their wrappers burst. Fortunately the cedar in the humi will buffer the moisture a fair bit, but in the morning when the heating goes on, the hygro will still sit reading around 69? and the cigars will be that little bit plumper. The phenomenon is even worse in Tups because the plastic surface gets cold very quickly and without 'buffering' and nowhere else to go, moisture will saturate and condense on anything inside resulting in cold weather mould.
So what am I saying. Since the Autumn I've been keeping a dry box. It's just a regular Cohiba Magicos box. It's got an OK seal, but not tight like a humi. At any one time it can have up to twenty cigars in it, in fact some have been in there since I started it. It's got no humidifier just a hygro which today is reading 66?. I would contend that the cigars in the dry box, which I've just left to look after themselves, are in better condition and more smokable than those in my humis and tup and on which I've lavished time and money in the belief I was doing the right thing. The evidence says contrary.
Ah, but what about ageing, maturing and proper fermentation. Well, in Cuba that starts with leaving bales of tobacco against a wall in a shed in a yard. I'm not convinced that storing 25 RyJ in a humi at a constant 69?/69?F for twenty years would improve the taste appreciably or age them any better than keeping the box between two volumes in the book case. (Not that I've the will to want to do it anyway).
Temperature is the key. Keep 'em cool and cigars are pretty tough cookies. I don't think UK humidity is extreme enough to do them any proper damage.
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