Hello, I am new to this and have read about beads but I don't see them on this site where do you purchase them and what exactly are they? When storing the cigar in the humidor do you remove the plastic wrapper from the cigar? What is the salt test and how do you perform it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

buy beads at http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/

beads are a silica product designed to soak up humidity when it gets to high and put out humidity when it gets too low. Its a modified version of the "do not eat" packets at the bottom of beef jerky

i dont remove the cellophane when i put them in my humidor but it wont hut the cigars if you do.

the salt test is a test to calibrate your hygrometer.

here is the salt test:
get a bottle cap (i use the top to a gatorade bottle so i know i have enough salt and water)
get some salt.
get some distilled water
get a plastic zip-loc style bag.
put salt in the bottle cap.
start adding distilled water to the salt and stir untill it makes a salt/water paste.
place that little set up inside the zip-loc bag. dont spill it.
place hygrometer in plastic bag next to the bottle cap
let it sit for about 36 hours or so.
your hygrometer should be at exactly 75.5% RH. if it isn't then you need to calibrate it so it does. If its an analog dial style there will be a screw in the back. turn it untill it says 75%... if you have a digital that can be adjusted do so (read those directions) if it cant be adjusted then make note of how far it is off. My hygrometer is low by 4 so i put a sticker on it that says "-4"

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

 

Thank you very much for your replies it is greatly appreciated, now when my humi arrives I'll know what I should be doing to get started.

I went to the local cigar shop yesterday and was talking to the owner regarding aging cigars in a humidor. The gent at the tobacco shop stated that if one wants to age cigars, the plastic needs to be off. Then he proceeded to say that if you want some cigars to take notes from other cigars in the humi, the plastic needs to be off. In the little that I have read here, I seem to get the feeling that most folks store their cigars with the plastic on. What is the correct way to do this? Another potentially related question - I went to a shop on the way home from work and picked up an Onyx Reserve. It was supposed to be rated a 94. When I smoked it, it seemed to have a very poor aftertaste. Could this be a cigar that might have required some aging, a facet of the maduro wrapper that I just might not have the palate for, or something else? I pointed towards maybe a maduro wrapper issue, because I also smoked a cigar.com Montecriso Medianoche (maduro) and it exhibited the same poor aftertaste. All this being said - I did enjoy the house brand brazillian (which I believe is Maduro). Thanks for the help with the multiple questioned post.

hes only kinda right about the cellophane being off. If you age your cigars for many many years and the cello is of there may be a bit of exchange of oils from cigar to cigar. It is very little though. i doubt any of us would be able to tell.

ad far as plastic being off just to age... i dont see why. Cellophane is a porous material. there is air exchange. if you doubt this is true leave your sticks out in the cellophane overnight or a few days in the dead of winter. tell me they arent dry. I dare you.

i keep the cellophane on to protect my cigars. thats it.


you may just not like the Onyx. try another one later. Maybe your mouth wasnt ready for a cigar. some days are hit or miss. ... but it kinda sounds like you arent to big od a fan of a maduro wrapper. some are good some arent. go by what you like, not by what others say is good.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

From everything I've read there are two schools of thought. What is generally referred to as the cuban philosophy on this is that the cellophane does interfere with the aging process. I've never heard any explanation on this other than, "how couldn't it". Cuban cigars almost never have cello on them.

The other school of thought pretty much applies to the rest of the world, with some noteable exceptions, Davidoff for example. However many of these cigars that do not put cello on do so only out of tradition and trying to appear cuban.

Cigars take a little bit from each other through the process of exchanging oils. To test the fact that oils can seep through cello I have poured baby oil inside a cigar wrapper and let it sit, trust me it leaks out. I look at the cello similar to an oil filter in your car. It slightly impedes the flow of oil through my car but it prevents anything damaging from getting into my engine.


As far as the Onyx Reserve, cigars are very personal. One persons favorite cigar may be complete rubbish to someone else. Also take a Cigar Aficionado review with a grain of salt. A couple of things to keep in mind when reading a CA review. First and foremost they are a business that makes the majority of their money on advertising in their magazine. If you rip a company's cigar you think they're going to spend a lot of money advertising in your rag? Second, their reviews are based on the opinions of a few people after smoking THE FIRST INCH of a cigar. Yes you saw that correctly they tasted all 42 flavors of Baskin Robins in one inch of a cigar. When I see a highly rated cigar from CA or CI to me it means that the cigar is likely a high quality cigar but I never take it to mean I'm going to like it.

The onyx is pretty strong, but it's a good cigar. One thing is to make sure your humi has a good seal and or has gotten good reviews. I have a glass top that is a no-name and the thing is horrible about humidity. I've got a butt load of beads in it and it is finally coming down, use to be around 77 now is coming down to 72. My other one which I just got is steady at 64-67. The glass top is soon going to be replaced since it is being used primarily for my infused gurkhas and I can tell you I can't afford it to turn bad.

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madurofan:

Cigars take a little bit from each other through the process of exchanging oils. To test the fact that oils can seep through cello I have poured baby oil inside a cigar wrapper and let it sit, trust me it leaks out. I look at the cello similar to an oil filter in your car. It slightly impedes the flow of oil through my car but it prevents anything damaging from getting into my engine.

im not exactly sure what you mean by this analogy. maybe im not that much of a car buff...

Im sure that a Cellophane tube with a few drops of baby oil in it would let the oils get through. however, this is hardly scientific on if the oils in one cigar would transfer to another. there is probably way less oil in one cigar than one drop of baby oil. ... probably a different viscus to it as well. there is (for lack of better terms) "osmotic pressure" holding the oils in one cigar. if all of your cigars have cellophane on them then there are two layers of cellophane that the very minute amount of oils would have to get through (if they even would seep out of the cigar in the first place)

Im sure there is a way to test all of this but i dont have the time, the patience, or the lab to do so.
I just think that given all the above mentioned variables that the chances of one cigar picking up a noticeable amount of flavor from another while both are in cellophane is slim to none.

and this doesnt even take into account if we could actually taste the difference if it DID make the trip.


besides that i agree 100% with what you said. Cuba has no cello cos well, they are cubans. (Davidoff is still snoby enough to ACT cuban.)
CA is not and never will be where i go to get Honest reviews. when there is that much money involved in anything, its almost impossible to be honest.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

madurofan:

Cigars take a little bit from each other through the process of exchanging oils. To test the fact that oils can seep through cello I have poured baby oil inside a cigar wrapper and let it sit, trust me it leaks out. I look at the cello similar to an oil filter in your car. It slightly impedes the flow of oil through my car but it prevents anything damaging from getting into my engine.

im not exactly sure what you mean by this analogy. maybe im not that much of a car buff...

Im sure that a Cellophane tube with a few drops of baby oil in it would let the oils get through. however, this is hardly scientific on if the oils in one cigar would transfer to another. there is probably way less oil in one cigar than one drop of baby oil. ... probably a different viscus to it as well. there is (for lack of better terms) "osmotic pressure" holding the oils in one cigar. if all of your cigars have cellophane on them then there are two layers of cellophane that the very minute amount of oils would have to get through (if they even would seep out of the cigar in the first place)

Im sure there is a way to test all of this but i dont have the time, the patience, or the lab to do so.
I just think that given all the above mentioned variables that the chances of one cigar picking up a noticeable amount of flavor from another while both are in cellophane is slim to none.

and this doesnt even take into account if we could actually taste the difference if it DID make the trip.


besides that i agree 100% with what you said. Cuba has no cello cos well, they are cubans. (Davidoff is still snoby enough to ACT cuban.)
CA is not and never will be where i go to get Honest reviews. when there is that much money involved in anything, its almost impossible to be honest.

All the baby oil does is prove that cellophane is porous. If you put a few drops of baby oil in a sandwhich bag, for example, it wouldn't leak through. I took the oil analogy directly from a CAO blender/roller. He was asked if they age their cigars with or without cello. They "age" without for the 6 months or so before they are packaged and sold but their aged collection in their humidor typically have cello on.

have to admit that the infamous "yellow cello" is a great indication of age....if there is no cello...there is no yellow cello

just one justification of my keeping cellos on

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"As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more." - Jules Renard

bbc020:

have to admit that the infamous "yellow cello" is a great indication of age....if there is no cello...there is no yellow cello

just one justification of my keeping cellos on

To add to your comment, cello becomes brittle when it is outside a humidor. Regular plastic like plastic wrap does not change feel when it is outside a humidor or in a humidor but a cello remaines nice and soft when in a humidor and as I said above brittle when it is outside for too long.

madurofan:

From everything I've read there are two schools of thought. What is generally referred to as the cuban philosophy on this is that the cellophane does interfere with the aging process. I've never heard any explanation on this other than, "how couldn't it". Cuban cigars almost never have cello on them.

I read somewhere that the cedar influences the aging process but I also have a Mahagony Humidor and read that Mahagony does not influence the aging process at all and can make it so that it takes longer for a cigar to age. I don't know if this is true but this is what I read. I think it was on a major competitors website.

rwheelwright:

madurofan:

From everything I've read there are two schools of thought. What is generally referred to as the cuban philosophy on this is that the cellophane does interfere with the aging process. I've never heard any explanation on this other than, "how couldn't it". Cuban cigars almost never have cello on them.

I read somewhere that the cedar influences the aging process but I also have a Mahagony Humidor and read that Mahagony does not influence the aging process at all and can make it so that it takes longer for a cigar to age. I don't know if this is true but this is what I read. I think it was on a major competitors website.

I've seen that same thing wheelz. My understanding is the reason that Spanish cedar is the wood of choice is that it is one of the most resistent to mold.

madurofan:

rwheelwright:

madurofan:

From everything I've read there are two schools of thought. What is generally referred to as the cuban philosophy on this is that the cellophane does interfere with the aging process. I've never heard any explanation on this other than, "how couldn't it". Cuban cigars almost never have cello on them.

I read somewhere that the cedar influences the aging process but I also have a Mahagony Humidor and read that Mahagony does not influence the aging process at all and can make it so that it takes longer for a cigar to age. I don't know if this is true but this is what I read. I think it was on a major competitors website.

I've seen that same thing wheelz. My understanding is the reason that Spanish cedar is the wood of choice is that it is one of the most resistent to mold.

Spanish Cedar is not Spanish or Cedar. this species is part of the Meliaceae, or Mahogany, family. the wood is known as "cedro" in spanish, hence "spanish cedar"


not only is it resistant to mold but insects as well.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

madurofan:

rwheelwright:

madurofan:

From everything I've read there are two schools of thought. What is generally referred to as the cuban philosophy on this is that the cellophane does interfere with the aging process. I've never heard any explanation on this other than, "how couldn't it". Cuban cigars almost never have cello on them.

I read somewhere that the cedar influences the aging process but I also have a Mahagony Humidor and read that Mahagony does not influence the aging process at all and can make it so that it takes longer for a cigar to age. I don't know if this is true but this is what I read. I think it was on a major competitors website.

I've seen that same thing wheelz. My understanding is the reason that Spanish cedar is the wood of choice is that it is one of the most resistent to mold.

Spanish Cedar is not Spanish or Cedar. this species is part of the Meliaceae, or Mahogany, family. the wood is known as "cedro" in spanish, hence "spanish cedar"


not only is it resistant to mold but insects as well.

I remember you telling us before, thanks for clearing that up. Its interesting how it still has that cedary smell though, not quite as potent but its there.