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65% vs. 70% - Comparison

J

jstrat

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
512
Okay, over the past few years I've always stored my cigars at about 70% RH. Recently, I switched one of my desktop humidors to 65% (thanks to Viper for the beads!). Since I've mostly smoked from that humidor lately, I've been wondering about how the difference in humidity affects the smoking experience. So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought two Hemingway Short Stories and two Padron 2000s and put one of each in the different humidors. To the best of my knowledge, the pairs came from the same box. I kept them in their cello and let them rest about two weeks. I smoked them all this week and here are my findings:

• Appearance - The 65% cigars seemed to look a little "older". But, no major differences.

• Texture - The 70% cigars felt a little more "springy" to the touch while the 65% felt firmer. I actually preferred the feel of the 70%.

• Burn - The 65% were the clear winner for me. Absolutely no issues with burn. Perfect! The 70% cigars burned a little more unevenly. The ash on the 65% held longer and firmer. In fact, the 65% Short Story held its ash almost to the nub!

• Taste - The 65% cigars were more balanced and the flavors were more subdued. No harshness or acrid flavors were noted. The 70% had more pronounced flavors, but I also detected some harsh overtones, especially toward the end.

Overall, I much preferred the 65% cigars for burn and taste. But, I will say that the 70% cigars "felt" better on the fingers and lips.

Now, this was by no means a scientific test, so I welcome any feedback.
 
I think you'll find a lot of agreement here. Lots of people love 65% for their cigars.

JK
 
jstrat said:
Okay, over the past few years I've always stored my cigars at about 70% RH. Recently, I switched one of my desktop humidors to 65% (thanks to Viper for the beads!). Since I've mostly smoked from that humidor lately, I've been wondering about how the difference in humidity affects the smoking experience. So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought two Hemingway Short Stories and two Padron 2000s and put one of each in the different humidors. To the best of my knowledge, the pairs came from the same box. I kept them in their cello and let them rest about two weeks. I smoked them all this week and here are my findings:

• Appearance - The 65% cigars seemed to look a little "older". But, no major differences.

• Texture - The 70% cigars felt a little more "springy" to the touch while the 65% felt firmer. I actually preferred the feel of the 70%.

• Burn - The 65% were the clear winner for me. Absolutely no issues with burn. Perfect! The 70% cigars burned a little more unevenly. The ash on the 65% held longer and firmer. In fact, the 65% Short Story held its ash almost to the nub!

• Taste - The 65% cigars were more balanced and the flavors were more subdued. No harshness or acrid flavors were noted. The 70% had more pronounced flavors, but I also detected some harsh overtones, especially toward the end.

Overall, I much preferred the 65% cigars for burn and taste. But, I will say that the 70% cigars "felt" better on the fingers and lips.

Now, this was by no means a scientific test, so I welcome any feedback.
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Try it again, but give them 6-8 weeks.
 
Great topic jstrat. Interesting comparison. I store my cigars at 65% (thanks to Viper here too ;)). Too bad I can't comment much since I've never stored cigars at 70%.
 
Interesting! Thanks for sharing your findings.

I've long kept my cigars in the 67-69% range. Target is 68%. I also remove all sticks from their cello. My experience is that I prefer them right in this range because, as you noted, a little extra moisture content helps to aid in the release of the volatile flavor components. The downside is that an increased puffing rate can occasionally result in the acridity you noted. I tend to be a leisurely huffer so this is not so much a problem for me. And I've never really noticed an issue with tar accumulation, either.

I have not noted an excessive occurrence of burn issues and I do love the more "lively" feel of cigars in this range.

Thanks for smoking one for the community. ;) :thumbs:

Wilkey
 
Very nice. I've done similar if less formal experimenting myself over the past couple of years. I also agree with Emo that 6-8 weeks would be even more conclusive as it takes quite a while for cigars to acclimate.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I will do the same test again in 6-8 weeks and report back. I will use the same cigars ... darn, another trip the B&M. :cool:
 
Along these same lines I try to keep my cigars at 65% for smoking and I store my cigars for long-term aging at 70%. I guess I've always felt they burn/smoke/taste better at 65% as opposed to 70% but I've heard it's best to age things at 70% for the long-term desired effect and chemical processess to take place. I look forward to reading your observations after a 6-8 week time period.
 
Captain Leafheart said:
I have also been shooting for the 70% storage / 65ish% smoking scenario.
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Agreed - my cooler (storage / aging) runs 70-72% / 68F (unused bedroom) and I try to keep my "smoking" humi around 65-68%. With winter / low RH my humi has been running right around 60% but the smokes are great....no worries or concerns. At least one very experienced member says he likes his smokes at 58-60% so I figure I'm in good company.... :p

Cheers - B.B.S.
 
I smoke and store at 60-63%. I find the burns are much more even and the flavor profile more complex at the lower humidity.
 
I smoke and store at 60-63%. I find the burns are much more even and the flavor profile more complex at the lower humidity.
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Jingles:

You don't see any problems with long term aging at that percent? I have been using 65%, but would go a bit lower if I thought I could get away with it.
 
Many of the world's top collectors age their stash at 60%. Along with lower temps it is thought to age cigars slower and more gracefully.
 
I keep everything now in the low 60s, in the past I was near 70%
 
Sounds like an interesting experiment. I used to keep my humi at 70%, but for the last couple of years I've kept it at 65% and I like the cigars better (for reasons stated above).
 
So, what the majority in here are saying and agree upon is that all cigars have a much better flavor and taste to them if they are all stored at the 60%-65% humidity level.

And the other thing which the majority in here are saying and agree upon is that cigars stored at 70% humidity level do not have the great flavor and taste as the ones that are stored at the 60%-65% humidity level.

So, the ultimate decision and the final end result here would be for everybody to "always" store all of their cigars at the 60%-65% humidity level in order to get the maximum flavor and taste out of them when you smoke them. Is this correct?
 
It's really an interesting issue because if you search around there are even experienced people that recommend 72/73% RH.
 
Bill Clinton said:
So, what the majority in here are saying and agree upon is that all cigars have a much better flavor and taste to them if they are all stored at the 60%-65% humidity level.

And the other thing which the majority in here are saying and agree upon is that cigars stored at 70% humidity level do not have the great flavor and taste as the ones that are stored at the 60%-65% humidity level.

So, the ultimate decision and the final end result here would be for everybody to "always" store all of their cigars at the 60%-65% humidity level in order to get the maximum flavor and taste out of them when you smoke them. Is this correct?
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Actually, I think you are slightly off on this. What a number of people are saying is that they prefer smoking cigars that are around the %65 mark. Storing isn't necesarilly the same as ageing. For instance, there are people who age their cigars at %70, and put them in a dry box for a couple of days before smokeing. There are people who swear by this. YMMV

-E
 
I see what you mean. I have a variety of small 25 count humidors that are usually in the 65%-70% humidity range. The other larger humidors that I own are in the 70%-75% range.
 
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