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Blownout cigar feet...

Wurm

Wurm

Bratwurst and Beer
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
6,141
Location
Germany
Just got a box in where a good 1/3 of the cigar's feet are swollen and or blown out. I'm now writing my complaint email and wanted to be sure I put in the right possible cause(s).

Too much moisture? Too long in the cold? Both?

The cigars feel spongy so I'm thinking they got too much humidity somewhere down the line. But I'd still like to hear your opinion on the matter.
 
I definitely feel the box was exposed to very high humidity, even if unopened. A friend who oversaturated his 10ct humidor by filling up too much water in his humidification device had his 6-8 cigars all resemble what you just described. Soft as a pickle and with trumpet shaped feet.

Do you think the airlines that shipped it to you had exposure to wet circumstances in the course of getting it to you?

Did the box have dried water damage that may require you to lift the labeling just to check underneath?

Sorry to hear about it Shawn, hope they are salvageable smokes if you can't get credit or don't want to go through the hassle.
 
No signs of water damage, but its been very cold and moist here and in most of the US.

I'm going to let them know that I am displeased but will probably keep them and let them sit in the humidor for a month or two before smoking. These are my inexpensive yard-gars (Oliva 'O') so its not that big of a deal.
 
Maybe when an airplane goes up, the force of the atmosphere forces itself into everything (including packages) in a plane in order to stabilize itself. Combine that with moist air for a longer stint of time to due to the cold season and the end result by the time it hits Germany is what you opened to find.

I'm not an expert in anything aeronautical, maybe others that know planes can chime in.

I love the Oliva O line, my maduro torpedos taste really good! What size did you buy?
 
In my experience, extreme humidity swings cause this Shawn. Going from an extreme low to an extreme high in a short period of time did it for my cigars back in my newbness days.
 
I visited a B&M on vacation earlier this year, and they had a box full of cigars with blown-out feet, splits in the middle of the wrapper etc. for 20% off or something like that. I refused to buy anything there because if they can't take care control the humidity well enough to take care of their stock, who knows if your purchase will be any good. Oh, that and they visibly had mold on a few cigars throughout their cabinets.
 
Shamrocker said:
I visited a B&M on vacation earlier this year, and they had a box full of cigars with blown-out feet, splits in the middle of the wrapper etc. for 20% off or something like that. I refused to buy anything there because if they can't take care control the humidity well enough to take care of their stock, who knows if your purchase will be any good. Oh, that and they visibly had mold on a few cigars throughout their cabinets.
Click to expand...

x 2... I visited the B&M in Cambridge a year ago and most of his inventory- pricey Hunters & Frankau stuff- had blown-out feet. I confronted the guy behind the counter about it, asking about humidity stability. He said he'd let his humidors swing as much as 20% and it wasn't a big deal. They still smoked fine so who cared?

I cared. I didn't buy anything from him and haven't been back since.

Shawn, good luck with those Olivas. I hope they recoup and smoke okay for you. They're tasty smokes when they're on.
 
4cbln3 said:
Maybe when an airplane goes up, the force of the atmosphere forces itself into everything (including packages) in a plane in order to stabilize itself. Combine that with moist air for a longer stint of time to due to the cold season and the end result by the time it hits Germany is what you opened to find.

I'm not an expert in anything aeronautical, maybe others that know planes can chime in.

I love the Oliva O line, my maduro torpedos taste really good! What size did you buy?
Click to expand...

Humidity in a planes cargo hold is going to be very, very low.

If the box wasn't sealed well, it was probably high humidity then low for a few hours on the plane and then back to high that did them in.
 
tmoney2007 said:
4cbln3 said:
Maybe when an airplane goes up, the force of the atmosphere forces itself into everything (including packages) in a plane in order to stabilize itself. Combine that with moist air for a longer stint of time to due to the cold season and the end result by the time it hits Germany is what you opened to find.

I'm not an expert in anything aeronautical, maybe others that know planes can chime in.

I love the Oliva O line, my maduro torpedos taste really good! What size did you buy?
Click to expand...

Humidity in a planes cargo hold is going to be very, very low.

If the box wasn't sealed well, it was probably high humidity then low for a few hours on the plane and then back to high that did them in.
Click to expand...

As an aircraft climbs, air density decreases. There's simply less air and all the good stuff it contains the higher you get- that's why we use 10000 ft as the magic altitude to either require pressurization or the use of supplemental oxygen. If your box had a bad seal, then yes, I would guess that humidity change could have split the feet.

This is of course assuming your package came in the unpressurized part of the cargo compartment. Most larger commercial airliners that hop the pond- and carry our mail to us over here- have both a pressurized section and unpressurized section. My basset hound, even though she doesn't realize it, is really grateful to have flown over here on the pressurized side. I'm not positive, but I'd assume most mail flies unpressurized.
 
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