Dry Boxing - Questions

[massphatness]

I've read a number of the dry boxing threads but still have a couple questions.


I have about 25 cigars that have been sitting in an acrylic desktop humi at my office for a couple months. (It's kinda' like the Ball jar humis Shilala made, but mine's not as sophisticated.) I didn't have a hygrometer in the thing, but when I say the sticks are over-humidifed, I mean they are spongy-wet. Not soft -- spongy. Lots of give; like if I squeeze hard enough, I will be able to get water to drip from them. It's bad.

Took them home and put them in a 25-count humidor that has not been seasoned and contains no humidification device.

QUESTIONS
1. Do I remove the cello?
2. Do I remove the bands, ribbons, etc?
3. Is it OK to layer the cigars on top of each other as I would under normal conditions, or should there only be one layer of sticks (meaning I need another dry box)?
4. Any thoughts on how often (if at all) I should open the dry box to allow the moist air to dissipate and refresh with less humid air? And if this is recommended, how long do I leave the box open?
5. At what point is it OK to move these sticks to a regular humidor? (I haven't put a hygrometer in the dry box yet, but I will this weekend. From what I've read in other posts, my expectation is this project will be measured in months, not days or weeks.)


Looking forward to some jungle knowledge. Thanks all.

[n2advnture]

If that are that over humidified, I would suggest slowly lowering the RH to 70% (and then down to 65% if you choose) over the course of a month.

Once you get them properly acclimated to the RH level that you prefer, then I'd experiment with dry boxing depending on how they smoke after you get them down.

I hope this helps bro

~Mark

[taltos]

The first thing that I would do is to stick them in an air tight container with a hygrometer and try to get a feel for the ambient rh in the cigars at this point and then follow Mark's suggestion to bring them to 70 and later to whatever rh you desire. You should be able to stack them and I would keep them in the cello as a buffer against too rapid rh change.

[ritan]

QUESTIONS
1. Do I remove the cello?
Removing the cello would help speed up the drying process, so I would but that's just me.

2. Do I remove the bands, ribbons, etc?
Doesn't matter, won't impact anything. Leave them on, makes identification easier.

3. Is it OK to layer the cigars on top of each other as I would under normal conditions, or should there only be one layer of sticks (meaning I need another dry box)?
Nope, layer them up. They are fine that way.

4. Any thoughts on how often (if at all) I should open the dry box to allow the moist air to dissipate and refresh with less humid air? And if this is recommended, how long do I leave the box open?
Open the humi for 10-15 minutes daily. Or if you are really impatient, you can wedge something or prop the lid up a tiny crack and leave it like that for a day, closing every alternate day.

5. At what point is it OK to move these sticks to a regular humidor? (I haven't put a hygrometer in the dry box yet, but I will this weekend. From what I've read in other posts, my expectation is this project will be measured in months, not days or weeks.)
A hygrometer is important; it provides you a baseline as well as a measure of when it dries out. When it hits your desired humidity, smoke one and see if further dryboxing is needed. If they smoke well, put them back in your regular humi and forget about them for a while.

Best advice I can give you: Don't worry. Cigars are pretty hardy and over humidification is quite common from vendors who keep their stock overly moist to prevent them drying out during shipping. Yours may be an extreme case but nothing to get overly worried.

In any case, buy some new boxes of cigars to take your mind of these. Hey, I would use these sticks to condition a new humi, kill two birds.

[Ye Olde Phart]

Astroglide will cure a dry box.

[smitdavi]

Just curious...would you lower the RH with beads or is there another technique to do this over time? I have been thinking about this for a while now. Figured the logical answer was the beads!

[taltos]

Dry beads would help to take down the humidity and if it got to the set point of the beads, they would stabilize at that point.

[mrsmitty]

i have a humi care unit and it's over humidifing my gars I have xikar hygrometer that I done a salt test on for 20 hours and it set steady on 70/70, but I turned my humi care unit down to 63 because I want to bring it down to 65 but my xikar hygrometer is still reading 67-68 lol Do I just keep turning it down, I can't believe this would be so off. The humi care humidifier has a adjustable rh knob that I turned to 68 because thats why my hygrometer was saying hoping that would stabilize it but nothing is helping to get it right???

[buckwylde]

But a nice digital and move on. More time you can spend smoking.

[mrsmitty]

Originally Posted by buckwylde

But a nice digital and move on. More time you can spend smoking.

What do you mean buy a nice digital one? I have digital humidifier and a digital xikar hygrometer both are supposedly nice lol.

[Herf N Turf]

Please, please, don't think me rude, BUT...

Some one please help me. Why is this post on an ancient thread about dry boxing?

20h isn't nearly enough for a salt test. Go with 36h.

All turning the dial on a humi care unit means is, you turned a dial. All of these technological wunder widgets are "spotty" at best, in terms of their readings. Think about it. The unit is blowing out moistened air and is also responsible for reading ambient RH? Come on.

Originally Posted by mrsmitty

I can't believe this would be so off.

Now, do you?

Get some beads. Do another salt test on your hygro. Stop trusting the readings from your humi care. Adjust the humi care to the calibrated hygro. Replace the humi care media with beads. You will find nirvana.

Again, not to be rude, but you have legitimate questions, which would be better served if you started a new thread, or jumped on one more relevant to your issues.

Originally Posted by mrsmitty

i have a humi care unit and it's over humidifing my gars I have xikar hygrometer that I done a salt test on for 20 hours and it set steady on 70/70, but I turned my humi care unit down to 63 because I want to bring it down to 65 but my xikar hygrometer is still reading 67-68 lol Do I just keep turning it down, I can't believe this would be so off. The humi care humidifier has a adjustable rh knob that I turned to 68 because thats why my hygrometer was saying hoping that would stabilize it but nothing is helping to get it right???

[Herf N Turf]

Smitty, PM sent.

[GoodFella]

well it looks like he know how to use the search button.

any way your humi could take up to a week to settle down. think of your cigars and the wood as a sponge. all of it was at 70ish and now they need to dry out a little. you can leave your humi open for a short while each day to get the RH out. our just leave it alone. your Xikar gauge is good. it will be off -/+2 thats is not so bad. i know you are not doing any 15+ years of ageing. so just let your humi settle in and you will be fine.

[mrsmitty]

Talked to Don on the phone, and what a help he was.

Every forum I've been on I look at the old posts as well, why not? Is there not info to be learned from older posts lol.