Thanks for those links John. I read each one. Seems like I need to keep an eye on my RH. My concern is still the fluctuations in temps between daytime and night. But I'm hoping that the well insulated coolers should even it out some and slow down the temp swings. I'm gonna monitor the temp swings and check the RH after a few days and see how it goes.
I think you're fine in that range, too. Cigars absorb humidity slowly so they don't fluctuate nearly as quickly as your hygro changes. Those temps are fine and I'm guessing your cigars are somewhere on the average between your swings which also is fine. My coolers jump around too since I live such a rustic lifestyle and don't have much environment control in my house. Cigars are tough, they'll be fine as long as the rh doesn't stay too high for too long.
It's the RH that you want to worry about...excess fluctuations in this category can be life and death to cigars. Outside temps are only a worry when the the extremes go from 70 at the most and then within a day or so they hit in the 40's...that's not good either. You want to keep your extremes lessened..no more of a variance of 15 degrees up or down otherwise the wrappers tends to shrink and bloat and the more times the variance happens the more of a danger it is.
So far the temps I've recorded inside the cooler have swung no more than 5 degrees and the RH has changed no more than 4 points. I'm feeling pretty good about keeping them there throughout the winter.
One of the biggest things to worry about (which seems not to be the case in your situation) is the combination of dramatic changes in humidity and temperature. High humidity and low temperatures can swell the sticks and cause them to tear. That, generally speaking, is not good :-).
Update: We've had a pretty cold couple of days now (40* days and 25* nights, last night was 30*) and temps inside the coolidors are down. The last time I opened the lids to check RH was two days ago and the RH was good at 67% and 68% but the temps have fallen from 62* to 50* over the course of four days. That's a larger swing than I had previously recorded. I'm not expecting the coolidor temps to get any colder because they seem to have leveled off now at about 49.8* and seem to be steady during the last couple of days. My concern now is the 12* swing in temp. Any thoughts on whether I should keep them where they are or give up this idea and bring them back in the main part of the house?
The principal reason to be concerned about the temperature is that tobacco beetles are unable to move around looking for a mate when the temp is below 70 degrees. Above that they're a potential threat to your sticks. If a person is paranoid on this topic they can freeze each new shipment of cigars as they arrive and thereby eliminate the problem. In most cases cigars in bulk are stored in an environment unfriendly to the little buggers but once in a while some infested ones slip through. Keeping your temp at 70 or lower hedges the odds in your favor..... FYI
The principal reason to be concerned about the temperature is that tobacco beetles are unable to move around looking for a mate when the temp is below 70 degrees. Above that they're a potential threat to your sticks. If a person is paranoid on this topic they can freeze each new shipment of cigars as they arrive and thereby eliminate the problem. In most cases cigars in bulk are stored in an environment unfriendly to the little buggers but once in a while some infested ones slip through. Keeping your temp at 70 or lower hedges the odds in your favor..... FYI
Perfect response and awesome info Marty, spot on buddy!
The principal reason to be concerned about the temperature is that tobacco beetles are unable to move around looking for a mate when the temp is below 70 degrees. Above that they're a potential threat to your sticks. If a person is paranoid on this topic they can freeze each new shipment of cigars as they arrive and thereby eliminate the problem. In most cases cigars in bulk are stored in an environment unfriendly to the little buggers but once in a while some infested ones slip through. Keeping your temp at 70 or lower hedges the odds in your favor..... FYI
Perfect response and awesome info Marty, spot on buddy!
Update: Any thoughts on whether I should keep them where they are or give up this idea and bring them back in the main part of the house?
Well, one thing you have to take into consideration is that Relative Humidity is the moisture content relative to the temperature.
For discussion only, not a meaningful or researched number, let's assume that cigars stabilized at 65 degrees/65 RH have the same moisture content as cigars stabilized at 70 degrees/60RH - which is probably a reasonable guess although this is only a WAG, with no data of any sort behind it.
We use the term RH a good bit, but IMO what we are more concerned with is true moisture content of our cigars. Just so you know that 62Degree/67 RH is a lot different moisture content than 50degree/67 RH. I have also seen where some posters say only RH matters, not temp. you decide.
Lately, I have been wondering if in fact temperature swings may cause more problems than we are aware.
So, while they might be fine where they are - if it were me, I would bring them back inside for more stable temps. That may also be easier for you to check on them now and then.
Update: We've had a pretty cold couple of days now (40* days and 25* nights, last night was 30*) and temps inside the coolidors are down. The last time I opened the lids to check RH was two days ago and the RH was good at 67% and 68% but the temps have fallen from 62* to 50* over the course of four days. That's a larger swing than I had previously recorded. I'm not expecting the coolidor temps to get any colder because they seem to have leveled off now at about 49.8* and seem to be steady during the last couple of days. My concern now is the 12* swing in temp. Any thoughts on whether I should keep them where they are or give up this idea and bring them back in the main part of the house?
Update: We've had a pretty cold couple of days now (40* days and 25* nights, last night was 30*) and temps inside the coolidors are down. The last time I opened the lids to check RH was two days ago and the RH was good at 67% and 68% but the temps have fallen from 62* to 50* over the course of four days. That's a larger swing than I had previously recorded. I'm not expecting the coolidor temps to get any colder because they seem to have leveled off now at about 49.8* and seem to be steady during the last couple of days. My concern now is the 12* swing in temp. Any thoughts on whether I should keep them where they are or give up this idea and bring them back in the main part of the house?
How are they smoking???
Thanks for asking. It's been several days of cold temps. The coolidors are keeping temps around 50*. I have only smoked one from those basement coolidors since I put them out there but it was pretty good. I smoked it just last night. It was a Ramon Bueso Genesis. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered the last Genesis tasting but it was still pretty good and I often feel like I'm getting slightly different results from the same cigar anyway, so I guess things are OK.
Update: We've had a pretty cold couple of days now (40* days and 25* nights, last night was 30*) and temps inside the coolidors are down. The last time I opened the lids to check RH was two days ago and the RH was good at 67% and 68% but the temps have fallen from 62* to 50* over the course of four days. That's a larger swing than I had previously recorded. I'm not expecting the coolidor temps to get any colder because they seem to have leveled off now at about 49.8* and seem to be steady during the last couple of days. My concern now is the 12* swing in temp. Any thoughts on whether I should keep them where they are or give up this idea and bring them back in the main part of the house?
How are they smoking???
Thanks for asking. It's been several days of cold temps. The coolidors are keeping temps around 50*. I have only smoked one from those basement coolidors since I put them out there but it was pretty good. I smoked it just last night. It was a Ramon Bueso Genesis. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered the last Genesis tasting but it was still pretty good and I often feel like I'm getting slightly different results from the same cigar anyway, so I guess things are OK.
If they're still smoking good then I'd say you're good.
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