Questions about RH

[William Wonkum]

Like many other BOTL's, I keep a digital hygrometer outside of my desktop humidors just to monitor the RH and the daily fluctuations of the RH in my room. I have noticed that on many days, the RH in the room is already at a nice 60%-75%. The reason I bring this up is because I tend to freak out about leaving a cigar outside of a humidor for too long especially while rearranging cigars or transporting cigars. I find myself constantly worrying about a cigar "drying out" but I realized if the room is already at a good RH, I should worry less right? On very dry days, I found the RH in the room is 40%-50%. So if I accidentally left a cigar out, it's not as if the air outside the humidor is 0% RH and so the cigar can't COMPLETELY dry out right? I realize that 40%-50% RH is not good for a cigar, but rehydrating a cigar would mean bringing it back(slowly) to 65%-70% from a worst case scenario of 40%-50% and not a 0% RH condition, which is what I mistakenly thought before I actually kept a hygrometer outside the humidor.

I realize that leaving a cigar outside a humidor, even though the RH in the room is 65%-70%, is not good anyway because the cigar would loose essential oils. But, I just wanted to ask these questions for assurance that I and other fellow newbies don't have to worry so much or be so anal about RH, especially while picking one out to smoke or rearranging them in a humidor/coolidor. Thanks in advance for any clarifications or advice.

William

 

[William Wonkum]

I apologize, as I should have posted this in the humidor/cigar storage forum. I realized this after I clicked the post button. Please forgive me.

William

 

[Brickhouse]

A lot of what you're asking has to do with one factor. How long is the cigar out of the humidor, or how long is the humidor open?

I think you're probably worried a little too much about it though, base on your post. If the RH outside the humi is in the 60-70 range then yes, you could have the humi open or cigars outside of it longer with little or no adverse affect other than lack of spanish cedar and the flavor it adds. Now if the RH is lower....say 40%, then it's still going to take a bit of time to start drying out the cigar, I would ballpark somewhere around 8 hours. I would guess it wouldn't get dangerously dry for about a day or so.

So let me try and clear my thoughts up here:

1. If the RH outside the humi is 60-70, then I don't think you have anything to worry about as for as having your humi open for a longer time or a cigar sitting outside of it.

2. If the RH is below 50ish, then yes, you need to watch yourself and how long you leave your humi open or cigars out, but it's still going to take a few hours to drastically affect either.

3. Fumble around in your humidor all you want bro. If your humidification is doing the job and you keep an eye on it then it'll balance itself after each opening and closing.

Hope some of this info helps.

 

[atuck]

Some of the Chinese cigar collectors believe that 50% RH is best for aging cigars. I don't necessarily agree but it would not make me worry too much. If you leave one out for a couple of days when it's 40-50% just put it back in your humi for a week or two before you smoke it. If it gets crispy though, I'd toss it.