What's wrong with my cigars?

[charcoaldabs]

Okay gents. I think I have a problem...

I've noticed two cigars, after about 6 weeks of storage, have developed a suspicious ring of what looks like "moisture". I'm not sure what it is, or how it happened.

Additionally, the last two cigars I've smoked have had some trouble burning along the wrapper leave down the side (one just pretty much shot through the middle... all the way to no O2, then went the way of the do-do), the other just was slower than I'm used to. Is this the quark the cigar (bad brands?), or me?

One hypothesis as to the discoloration is that I have is I've forgotten about my travel case, and left it in my backpack a couple of times. Perhaps taking it into the cool temperature messed them up?

And, ladies and gents, the evidence:

http: [forward slash forward slash] i6 [dot] photobucket [dotcom] /albums/y237/charcoaldabs/IMG_0185.jpg
http: [forward slash forward slash] i6 [dot] photobucket [dotcom] /albums/y237/charcoaldabs/IMG_0186.jpg

[dj1340]

maybe it's just me but you just confused the crap out me!

[commonsenseman]

Looks like they got a little wet to me. What's the RH in your travel case?

Also welcome to Puff!

[iRace559]

Ditto on the wet cigars theory.

[Wolf4Fun]

I had a similar situation. I put too much H2O into my travel case and it leaked out.

[JCK]

what's up with the picture links?

Also what's the humidity in the humidor. It sounds like the cigars are wet. The one that tunnelled really bad, was that in your travel humi? If it's got foam padding in it, make sure water hasn't saturated the foam. Sounds like one line of the cigar was dryer than the rest causing it to burn quicker.

Are you having to relight your cigars often? That is a sign that the cigars are too moist as well. Another indication is little smoke with a heavy draw.

[ssutton219]

Originally Posted by JCK

what's up with the picture links?

Also what's the humidity in the humidor. It sounds like the cigars are wet. The one that tunnelled really bad, was that in your travel humi? If it's got foam padding in it, make sure water hasn't saturated the foam. Sounds like one line of the cigar was dryer than the rest causing it to burn quicker.

Are you having to relight your cigars often? That is a sign that the cigars are too moist as well. Another indication is little smoke with a heavy draw.

He hasnt been here long enough to post links..that is all.



Shawn

[charcoaldabs]

Originally Posted by JCK

what's up with the picture links?

Also what's the humidity in the humidor. It sounds like the cigars are wet. The one that tunnelled really bad, was that in your travel humi? If it's got foam padding in it, make sure water hasn't saturated the foam. Sounds like one line of the cigar was dryer than the rest causing it to burn quicker.

Are you having to relight your cigars often? That is a sign that the cigars are too moist as well. Another indication is little smoke with a heavy draw.

Yes! Sometimes requiring relighting, not lighting well to begin with, little smoke with heavy draw! I've found myself taking 3-4 rapid fire puffs (a matter of seconds) to get things kicking before I take a real puff with healthy smoke.

As for the others here. Water in the case? Not likely! It's a CigarCaddy 5 cigar travel case. It's sealed up pretty tight, I'm confident that no water is getting in and out. It must be that blasted DryMistat humidifier tube saturating things in there. That's a true bummer, I was looking for a no-brainer all-in-one solution. I am the casual dabbler. I get 4 cigars from the local tobacconist at a time, and smoke them at the rate of two a month. The idea is to not have to get off my lazy *** all the time.

Also, yes, I haven't posted enough to post links, kinda bummer to have to disguise it so much and have you decode it, sorry guys!

[ssutton219]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

Yes! Sometimes requiring relighting, not lighting well to begin with, little smoke with heavy draw! I've found myself taking 3-4 rapid fire puffs (a matter of seconds) to get things kicking before I take a real puff with healthy smoke.

As for the others here. Water in the case? Not likely! It's a CigarCaddy 5 cigar travel case. It's sealed up pretty tight, I'm confident that no water is getting in and out. It must be that blasted DryMistat humidifier tube saturating things in there. That's a true bummer, I was looking for a no-brainer all-in-one solution. I am the casual dabbler. I get 4 cigars from the local tobacconist at a time, and smoke them at the rate of two a month. The idea is to not have to get off my lazy *** all the time.

Also, yes, I haven't posted enough to post links, kinda bummer to have to disguise it so much and have you decode it, sorry guys!

For what your wanting I wouldnt worry about the tube..the cigar will hold enough for the small case.


Good luck!


Shawn

[JCK]

Do you have a regular humidor or just the cigar caddy?

I would take the drymistat tube out of there. Like you said water doesn't get in or out, so those little buggers hold humidity very well. The sticks straight out of the B&M into the cigar caddy would probably be fine for a few weeks.

You should definately try drying out your cigars a little before smoking them. If you can anticipate you'll be smoking in a few days, keep that cigar in a regular cigar box without additional humidity for a day or two. It will burn much better.

If you don't keep a regular humidor, this setup might work for you... Get a tupperware, put the drymistat tube in there and use this for extended storage. Take all the humidification devices out of the cigar caddy and load it with cigars you may smoke in the next week or two. You should be in good shape then.

[dubels]

Are you keeping them in a travel humidor with a puck humidifier? If so the sticks closest to the puck are getting excess humidity. The puck will place moister most on the cigars directly under it. Because the travel humidor has such a great seal the RH probably really high in the humidor thus the cigars are getting moist.

to save your cigars you should drybox them. Put them in a tupperware box if you don't have a humidor yet and get a box from a B&M and just them sit for a few weeks without a humidifier in there and monitor the RH. You can get a cheap digital hygrometer at walmart for around $5-6, that is accurate if you salt test them. (Search Salt Test on puff)

[charcoaldabs]

All I have is the cigar caddy. Prior to this, I tried keeping cigars in an old tin. That turned out really poorly, in the other direction, but I suppose at this point I've over compensated.

With the winter months setting in, I'll probably be smoking less, it's not inconceivable that I would be holding onto a couple cigars for a handful of months without smoking them, so I'm hesitant to have zero humidification in the caddy.

To answer the other questions:

All I've got is the cigarcaddy and the drymistat. Nothing else.

[bxcarracer]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

All I have is the cigar caddy. Prior to this, I tried keeping cigars in an old tin. That turned out really poorly, in the other direction, but I suppose at this point I've over compensated.

With the winter months setting in, I'll probably be smoking less, it's not inconceivable that I would be holding onto a couple cigars for a handful of months without smoking them, so I'm hesitant to have zero humidification in the caddy.

To answer the other questions:

All I've got is the cigarcaddy and the drymistat. Nothing else.

It looks like they are indeed wet, also I have a humidor just chilling at my house, its a great starter, It needs a new home PM sent

[charcoaldabs]

Originally Posted by bxcarracer

It looks like they are indeed wet, also I have a humidor just chilling at my house, its a great starter, It needs a new home PM sent

To me? Maybe I can't receive PMs yet. I don't seem to have it.

Thanks

[txmatt]

Drymistat tubes are not good for a cigar caddy; not sure if you have the 5 or 15 count caddy but a Drymistat tube is designed to use in a cedar humidor with a 50 count capacity.

While there is PG in the "crystals" that fill the tube, drymistat has limited/no capacity to absorb water. In theory it will release water vapor more slowly as RH builds, but they are counting on some humidity escaping a cedar humidor to keep it from getting too high. Humidity does not leak with the tight seal a cigar caddy has.

I keep a 15 count caddy in my car and have used Boveda packs in it with a lot of success. They claim "true 2 way" humidification and the RH stays very stable in my Caddy when using them. They packs run $3 - $4, boveda recommends replacing every 3 months but my experience has been that the packs last ~9 months in a caddy.

It sounds like you might be upsizing in the near future, and I prefer beads in larger humidors and my coolerdors.