Tip of the Day

[Slow Triathlete]

Thought that I would pass this on to everyone. Not sure if it will apply to anyone else.

I had a couple of pipes out on my shelf that I had pre-packed about 4 days prior and I also had some Barbary Coast out on a paper towel to dry off.

Last night I noticed that the Barbary was taking a long, long time to dry out. It had been out all day and it was still really moist. I grabbed the two pipes that were pre-packed and went out on the deck. Both of them were too wet to smoke and I knew that they were almost crispy when I put them in the pipes.

Well to give some back story my pipes and cigars are in my back bedroom. We keep that door shut because it is also the room that we have brought all of our outdoor plants into because it has a sunny window for them. We keep the door closed because our cats like to dig and poop in the dirt for them. Also, we keep the heater vent closed in there because we rarely go in there. My thinking was a nice cool room for my pipe tobacco, great, it will age correctly.

Well what I didn't take into account was that since all of the plants were in there it raised the humidity up really high and because the heater vent was closed (along with the door) it didn't dry out the room at all. I pulled my hygrometer out and put it on the kitchen counter and it read 53% humidity. I then put it in that bedroom and it read 75% humidity. Duh, no wonder my stuff wasn't drying out and it was actually re-hydrating!!

All in all, I opened up the heater vent in there and by the time I went to bed the humidity in there was around 55%

[rolyat150]

That's interesting. I have the same issue in my closet in my room in the basement. I never have to add water to my humidor so I moved my hygrometer out of it and on a shelf and it read like 73%. That or my hygrometer is broke lol

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by rolyat150

That's interesting. I have the same issue in my closet in my room in the basement. I never have to add water to my humidor so I moved my hygrometer out of it and on a shelf and it read like 73%. That or my hygrometer is broke lol

Aren't basements notoriously damp? I wish that I had one though to store my tobacco cellar down there.

[tzilt]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Aren't basements notoriously damp? I wish that I had one though to store my tobacco cellar down there.

Without a dehumidifier mine would be at around 80% I think. Nice and dry with the dehumidifier though.

[rolyat150]

There is a dehumidifier in the unfinished portion of our basement and it keeps all the rooms nice and dry but my humidor is on the bottom shelf in my closet which is always shut.

[Arizona]

Good tip and makes us think to consider such things. Now in my case living here in the desert southwest we're lucky to ever get to 50% humidity. Sometimes single digit humidity even. I keep just enough tobacco in my zipper tobacco pouch to last me about a week. The rest is stored in large Mason Jars in a cool place.

Those of you in humid places probably need to use a light bulb to dry your tobacco before a smoke.