Cigars Cracking?

[poker]

I've had cigars that I had taken with me to Las Vegas in my traveldor. Put a couple in a 3 finger case & hit the casinos. Every one I pulled out and lit, the wrapper would split wide open or off completely. My thinking is that the cigars are at 70% or so and seeing how the wrapper is exposed to what was probably 3% RH in Vegas at the time, the cigar would swell slightly due to being smoked & the wrapper being dried out had no flexability to expand. Hence it split wide friggin open. It really made my Cohiba Corona Especiale fugly looking.

[sonick]

Disclaimer: Even though I make assertions, it's just a writing style. Take with grain of salt and only one man's opinion.


I don't think the humidity has anything to do with this whatsoever.

Temperature fluctuations will cause expansion and contraction almost instantaneously, and fluctuations (especially large ones) will lead to cracking within minutes.

Humidity differences take the speed of evaporation/absorption to take effect. Even the thinnest most delicate wrapper in the widest of humidity fluctuations would take a minimum of 30-40 minutes or so (the time it takes the ribbons from a pinch of pipe tobacco to get substantially more dry on my arizona countertop)

Temperature swings, however, will cause direct expansion and contraction almost immediately, leading to near-instantaneous cracking .

I'd focus directly on fixing the temperature fluctuations, or realize that lighting up a stick in 40 degree weather from a 75 degree humidor can cause instantaneous cracking.