Temp. and RH Fluctuations

[ChannelBlue-cl]

I have had my humidor seasoned and with cigars in it for about a week. Now that everything is established I see fluctuations in RH and temp. We turn the house up to 77 in the daytime and 73 at night, and my humidor fluctuates from 71 degrees to 76. Consequently, this causes my RH to go from 64-67 over the course of 24 hours. Are these fluctuations large enough to throw off flavor or cause damage to my cigars? Thanks

[Shelby07]

The fluctuations are fine. The longer the cigars sit in the humidor the more they will act as their own humidification devices. But 3% fluctuation is not going to hurt anything.

[ChannelBlue-cl]

Thanks for the reply. Ya, I'm not as worried about the RH fluctuations. I got extra beads to compensate for that. Its more the temperature fluctuations that really drop and fall in a 24 hours cycle. Like right now the temp. in my humi is 77, but at night its gets down to 71. I know, for example, that cameroon wrappers crack easily. Would a daily 6 to 7 degree temperature swing be cause for concern?

[Architeuthis]

Originally Posted by Shelby07

The fluctuations are fine. The longer the cigars sit in the humidor the more they will act as their own humidification devices. But 3% fluctuation is not going to hurt anything.

Squid agrees with this. The absolute WORST thing a person can do is get reactionary on these things... Time is your friend, and he moves at his own pace and can't be hurried. I expect my new Huge-Ador will do about four months worth of up-and-down swings before stabilizing. With cigars, I prefer to think in months/years.

It does take some time to get used to, considering a much longer time-frame than other consumables... As a test, see if you can go 48 hours (remove what you want to smoke for the next 2 days first) without even opening the humidor, or checking it out at all... <G>

If that's difficult, then you're getting there! I have a humidor that holds 600 loose cigars (empty at present) and a gigantic coolerdor that contains only boxes. After the time I've been a cigar-smoker it *still* isn't easy to ignore the coolerdor and not try to check the boxes every week or so...

[ChannelBlue-cl]

But temperature isn't something that will level itself off, its something that is only controlled by the thermostat over which I have very little control. At night it goes to 73, (humi can drop to 71) and in the daytime 76 (humi can get to 77. So is a swing of 71 to 77 happening everyday going to hurt my cigars?

[mauied1101]

Originally Posted by ChannelBlue

Thanks for the reply. Ya, I'm not as worried about the RH fluctuations. I got extra beads to compensate for that. Its more the temperature fluctuations that really drop and fall in a 24 hours cycle. Like right now the temp. in my humi is 77, but at night its gets down to 71. I know, for example, that cameroon wrappers crack easily. Would a daily 6 to 7 degree temperature swing be cause for concern?

No. And cammies shouldn't crack that easily at 71.

[Shelby07]

No - many homes experience those kind of swings. Cigars are a lot more tolerant than most think. The problem is that we keep hearing about the "perfect" environment and how extreme temp swings can cause cigars to crack. While this is true, the temperature swings found in a normal home are really nothing to worry about. If your temperature was constantly above 80 degrees or so and the humidity high, then tobacco beetles can be a real concern, but the types of temperatures you are talking about should pose very little, if any, risk.

Hope this helps.