Travel/humidity question

jlmarta

So we're leaving our home in California where the humidity is fairly low, I keep my sticks at about 65%, and we're going to the Bahamas where the humidity is usually 75% or more.

Question: If I take some of my sticks along, are they gonna swell and crack due to the RH? Should I use up one of the five slots in my herfador for a 65% bead stick? Is the TSA gonna confiscate the bead stick? So many things I don't know... Can anyone offer suggestions - or experiences?

Marker

I don't know about the TSA part. The travel part is easy. If you have it in a humicare x5 or x10 etc you should have no issue on a trip up to 5-6 days. I have had mine in a the travel herf up to 7 days and they smoke just fine without extra humidification. I do put just a little 50/50 solution in the built in sponge just for good measure. The change in humidity should not be a problem because your cigars are at 65% or so and the humidity there of 75% will not be a big swing. In MN we swing from 40-90% humidity in the summer and I have not had cracking issues. I just put my cigars in the x5 herf for a day before I smoke them to give them a slight dry box. This would be the same as you traveling for the day.

BigT06

you can always go the trusted cigars and humi pillow in a bag, then put the bag in a tupperware locking storage container. RH will stay perfect, and they'll be super safe. Just open it every 3 to 5 days to let some fresh air in and make sure the pillow is still charged.

ltherron

Took a similar trip a while back from 0% humidity down to the Caribbean. 5 nice sticks in a herf-A-dore with a pillow. I took the sticks with me as carry on but packed my cutter and lighter in my checked baggage. TSA made me open the Herf but that was about it. The smokes stayed perfect for the week I was there and 2 even made the return trip. I never got inspected by customs so not sure how in depth they look at them on the return trip if you get tagged. Just make sure you don’t bring a torch lighter or nice cutter as carry one, torch lighters are a no-go and cutters are iffy.

JonathanE

I side w/ the ziplock and pillow on this one. At AUAB the humidity fluctuates from 15% during the day to 80% at night so I fight both battles constantly depending on when I'm going to smoke.

If I'm storing the cigars in my herf overnight (80% humidity) they will pick up a good deal of moisture from the air even inside the herf. I compensate for this by putting the herf in a fridge where there air is dehydrated by the refrigeration cycle. The hazard with this is that you have to let your herf warm up after you take it out before you open it otherwise your cigars will get condensated on when you take one out!

If I'm smloking during the day I just through a pillow in there or even do nothing. My observation is, and I can't explain it, that when my cigars are in a herf, they will pick up humidity from the outside fairly quickly but they are pretty slow about giving up humidity in a dry climate.

Hope that helps!

JDE

jlmarta

Thanks for the info, guys. I feel better about it now. I was aware of the restriction on cutters and torch lighters so I plan to pre-punch the ones I'm taking and just carry a Bic in my pocket. If they take the Bic, who cares? But if my child bride and I have to fly somewhere we do it with carry-on only. If we can't make it with carry-on, we don't go. We've had a few bad experiences with checked luggage in the past and just don't do it.

We've been all over, Europe included, with only carry-on and, believe me, the lack of hassles is worth it.