mixed humi. seperate sticks or leave em wrapped

tjp · November 2010

I currently have approx 30 ish sticks in my humi, the thing is now I'm getting other brands and flavors and ran out of dividers. So my question is should I have them stack with one another or leave them in the wrapper till its time to burn, or till I get the.dividers put in ?

wwhwang · November 2010

Question: Are any of your sticks infused?

If your sticks are infused (like ACID, Tabak, Java, Gurkha Grand Reserve, etc), I suggest getting another humidor and storing those in there. Segregation is the best policy when it comes to infused cigars. You don't want your traditional, non-infused cigars tasting like the infused ones.

I don't bother with dividing by brand or anything, really. Helps with organization, but it's just a waste of space to me. Just keep everything in the cellophane wrappers and toss them in unless they're infused cigars. The flavors won't intermingle.

tjp · November 2010

the only infused would be a couple grand reserves, but those are still in the tubes, mainly consisting of mow ruinations, armada and virtue, various diesels, cohiba's etc. should I leave them in the cellophane wrapper in the humidor, or remove them and stack them among one another.

PsychoSJG · November 2010

tjp:
the only infused would be a couple grand reserves, but those are still in the tubes, mainly consisting of mow ruinations, armada and virtue, various diesels, cohiba's etc. should I leave them in the cellophane wrapper in the humidor, or remove them and stack them among one another.

There is no right answer for the Celo, it's personal preference. You will get people on both sides. Personally, I like to keep em in. If you get hit with beetles it'll slow em from spreading, the celo helps show aging, keeps the humidity better, keeps the oils on itself and not on others, and more reasons. It's all about what you feel comfortable with.

kuzi16 · November 2010

PsychoSJG:
There is no right answer for the Celo, it's personal preference. You will get people on both sides. Personally, I like to keep em in. If you get hit with beetles it'll slow em from spreading,

no it does not. cellophane is made from Cellulose from mostly wood or cotton. those beetles will chew right through that stuff like nothing.

id does slow aging. (a negative in my opinion)

if it prevents transfer of oils from one cigar or not is debatable. not so much if the oil transfer occurs (because cellophane was designed not be permeable to oils), but if it makes a difference. i dont think naked cigars are a big deal from the flavor aspect (unless you have a palate like Henke Kelner, Litto Gomez, or A.J. Fernandez.)

Cellophane is also permeable to moisture but not to water. so basically it has no effect on humidity. it might as well be out in the open.

the one big reason why I keep my cigars in the cellophane is for protection. If i didnt handle my cigars so often or somehow developed a crazy soft touch, i would take them out. for a short while i did take them out. after a few chipped, cracked, or peeled wrappers, i started to keep the cellophane on.

Source

PsychoSJG · November 2010

kuzi16:
PsychoSJG:
There is no right answer for the Celo, it's personal preference. You will get people on both sides. Personally, I like to keep em in. If you get hit with beetles it'll slow em from spreading,
no it does not. cellophane is made from Cellulose from mostly wood or cotton. those beetles will chew right through that stuff like nothing.

id does slow aging. (a negative in my opinion)

if it prevents transfer of oils from one cigar or not is debatable. not so much if the oil transfer occurs (because cellophane was designed not be permeable to oils), but if it makes a difference. i dont think naked cigars are a big deal from the flavor aspect (unless you have a palate like Henke Kelner, Litto Gomez, or A.J. Fernandez.)

Cellophane is also permeable to moisture but not to water. so basically it has no effect on humidity. it might as well be out in the open.

the one big reason why I keep my cigars in the cellophane is for protection. If i didnt handle my cigars so often or somehow developed a crazy soft touch, i would take them out. for a short while i did take them out. after a few chipped, cracked, or peeled wrappers, i started to keep the cellophane on.

Source

It does slow the beetles from spreading because they focus more on the cigar they are on instead of attacking the one next to them right away. I never said it stops them.
Celo has low permeability to air, oils, greases, and bacteria. So while its not air tight, it protects from the elements more than having nothing. So it does keep humidity better, but I'm not saying you dont need to humdify it.
The celo will absorb the oils but not spread em to other cigars. Think of a greasy bag of chips

xmacro · November 2010

kuzi16:
PsychoSJG:
There is no right answer for the Celo, it's personal preference. You will get people on both sides. Personally, I like to keep em in. If you get hit with beetles it'll slow em from spreading,
no it does not. cellophane is made from Cellulose from mostly wood or cotton. those beetles will chew right through that stuff like nothing.

id does slow aging. (a negative in my opinion)

if it prevents transfer of oils from one cigar or not is debatable. not so much if the oil transfer occurs (because cellophane was designed not be permeable to oils), but if it makes a difference. i dont think naked cigars are a big deal from the flavor aspect (unless you have a palate like Henke Kelner, Litto Gomez, or A.J. Fernandez.)

Cellophane is also permeable to moisture but not to water. so basically it has no effect on humidity. it might as well be out in the open.

the one big reason why I keep my cigars in the cellophane is for protection. If i didnt handle my cigars so often or somehow developed a crazy soft touch, i would take them out. for a short while i did take them out. after a few chipped, cracked, or peeled wrappers, i started to keep the cellophane on. Source

+1 to everything

PsychoSJG:
It does slow the beetles from spreading because they focus more on the cigar they are on instead of attacking the one next to them right away. I never said it stops them.
Celo has low permeability to air, oils, greases, and bacteria. So while its not air tight, it protects from the elements more than having nothing. So it does keep humidity better, but I'm not saying you dont need to humdify it.
The celo will absorb the oils but not spread em to other cigars. Think of a greasy bag of chips

A few things:

- If you've ever had beetles or looked at pictures of cigars that have been infested, you'll see holes in the cello - if the cello slows the beetles down, it's by a few hours at most, a few minues at the minimum - in either case, it's not going to make any difference - your cigars will be ruined

- Not sure why you'd wanna protect your cigars from the elements; the only 'protective' feature cello really provides is protection from grubby hands rooting around in the humi, a small air pillow of humidity to protect against wild swings in RH (which shouldn't be happening in a well-maintained humidor anyway) and maybe a little protection if you drop the cigar on the way to your car.

- Your analogy about cigar oils and greasy chips is way off - greasy chips are undesireable and spread quickly; cigar oils takes months to spread out in the cigar they're contained in (a highly desireable action, typically referred to as 'marriage' of the oils, which leads to the much-desired plume), and it takes years to spread to cigars that are touching each other without cello - and even then, they only way you'll ever be able to tell is, as kuzi said, you have an ultra-refined palate, like master cigar blenders possess.

- Additionally, since the cello has a low permeability to air, over time the cigar oils can clog the pores in the cello, effectively preventing air and humidity from being exchanged, which can choke off and damage the cigar (to be honest, for this to happen, you need to leave the cigar untouched for years on end)

PsychoSJG · November 2010

if the cello slows the beetles down, it's by a few hours at most, a few minues at the minimum - in either case, it's not going to make any difference - your cigars will be ruined.
with this prob, every min helps. A couple hours can save a lot.
what you say are the "elements" im talking about
and the greasy chip bag analogy was about the grease not spreading outside of the bag. It's kept in. And of course it takes a year+ for cigars, they arent fried.

kuzi16 · November 2010

kuzi16:

if it prevents transfer of oils from one cigar or not is debatable. not so much if the oil transfer occurs (because cellophane was designed not be permeable to oils), but if it makes a difference. i dont think naked cigars are a big deal from the flavor aspect (unless you have a palate like Henke Kelner, Litto Gomez, or A.J. Fernandez.)

the above was awkwardly worded.

PsychoSJG:
The celo will absorb the oils but not spread em to other cigars. Think of a greasy bag of chips

this is the short version of the first half of that

the second half is about if naked cigars sitting next to each other makes a difference.

and this:

xmacro:
cigar oils takes months to spread out in the cigar they're contained in (a highly desireable action, typically referred to as 'marriage' of the oils, which leads to the much-desired plume), and it takes years to spread to cigars that are touching each other without cello - and even then, they only way you'll ever be able to tell is, as kuzi said, you have an ultra-refined palate, like master cigar blenders possess.

is still true

but again its the personal preference. i mean... who am i to say that anyone's palate is not world class? iduno. ive never met either of you.
and sometimes, like Christmas gift giving, its the thought that counts.
even the thought of having another cigar's oils potentially tainting others could be a turn off.

how will you know how refined your palate is if you never smoke the "pure"

i once bought a cigar at a shop. when i got it home, i took a good look at it. there was one beetle hole in the cigar. it went out of the cigar and right through the cellophane. there were no other holes, and no other signs of beetles. it wasnt squishy or cracked or anything else. if remember correctly, the cigar was some low end bundle. personally i think the beetle had expensive tastes and was making a b-line to some OpusX. most of the tobacco beetles have expensive tastes.
this makes me lean to the train of thought that cellophane does not help contain beetles in any way at all.
of course there is no way to prove this without a massive time and money and cigar wasting study. i guess it will all be speculation until that scientific study takes place.

i also have a bit of a hard time defining "keeping humidity in better"
i also have a hard time believing that the cellophane on a cigar could hold humidity in a cigar better than it being naked. if the cellophane was sealed closed then i would say there is a better argument. however, cigars are packed in cellophane that is not sealed. its merely folded over.
a quick quote from the wikipedia:

Wikipedia:
Cellophane saw limited sales in the US at first since while it was waterproof, it was not moisture proof—it held water but was permeable to water vapor. This meant that it was unsuited to packaging products that required moisture proofing

i know we arent talking about "moisture proof" wrappers on the cigars but rather if moisture can get in and (in this case) out. clearly it can quite easily.
i would never leave a cigar out of the humidor with or without the cellophane. the difference, IMHO, would be negligible.

last point:

xmacro:
- Additionally, since the cello has a low permeability to air, over time the cigar oils can clog the pores in the cello, effectively preventing air and humidity from being exchanged, which can choke off and damage the cigar (to be honest, for this to happen, you need to leave the cigar untouched for years on end)

because of what was just said about the cello having no way to seal because of the open end, i dont see how the cellophane absorbing oils will cause any problem at all. cigars in tubes have far less air exchange if you leave them covered (an entirely different debate) and they seem to be fine many years on. worst case in the situation with cellophane that has its pores clogged by cigar oils is that the cellophane acts more like a tube.
but the real question there is: if there are so many oils from a cigar in the cellophane that the pores are clogged, will the cigar have lost so many of the essential oils that it has absolutely no flavor?
i submit that it will be the most flavorless cigar ever.

again... cellophane is optional.
i have my reasons for leaving it on. others have their reason for taking it off.
is it gunna change how much you love your cigars if you chose one way over another? i highly doubt it.