New to cigars, need help.
musiciannameddave
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 26
in Cigar 101
Ok, so having never smoked in my life a few weeks ago I was at a friend's birthday party, and someone had given her a gift of a few nice cigars. We all sat around her back porch smoking them after dinner and generally enjoying ourselves.
So in the next weeks I decided I wanted to take up cigar smoking. My local grocery store has a dresser-sized cigar case, and so I picked up a few different brands to see if I could find something that suited my tastes. H Upmann, Don Diego, Macanudo, Romeo Y Julieta, Onyx, Excalibur, along with a few others. Several of them were quite nice, but I still hadn't found anything like the first one I had, nothing that was full-bodied enough or with a rich-enough flavor.
So of course I turned to the internet. The cigars that my friend had recieved were Montecruz, and after searching around a little I figured out that they were Montecruz Negra Cubana cigars made by Dunhill. There were 3 of them at the time, and they came in corked glass tubes. I figured to myself that glass tubes would be great, since I didn't want to invest hundreds of dollars on a humidor (especially since I'm currently a college student and don't have the money to spend excessively on cigars). Cigar.com, my source so far on all things cigar-related, didn't have any, so I kept looking. I couldn't find any that came in glass tubes, but I did find where I could get a box of 30 Negra Cubana Lonsdales for about $60. The problem being of course that I would have to buy a humidor as well.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to either inexpensive humidors or another brand similar to Montecruz that comes in a container that wouldn't need humidifying?
Sorry for the long post, but I figured if I explained my whole situation some more experienced smokers could probably be of better help.
Thanks.
So in the next weeks I decided I wanted to take up cigar smoking. My local grocery store has a dresser-sized cigar case, and so I picked up a few different brands to see if I could find something that suited my tastes. H Upmann, Don Diego, Macanudo, Romeo Y Julieta, Onyx, Excalibur, along with a few others. Several of them were quite nice, but I still hadn't found anything like the first one I had, nothing that was full-bodied enough or with a rich-enough flavor.
So of course I turned to the internet. The cigars that my friend had recieved were Montecruz, and after searching around a little I figured out that they were Montecruz Negra Cubana cigars made by Dunhill. There were 3 of them at the time, and they came in corked glass tubes. I figured to myself that glass tubes would be great, since I didn't want to invest hundreds of dollars on a humidor (especially since I'm currently a college student and don't have the money to spend excessively on cigars). Cigar.com, my source so far on all things cigar-related, didn't have any, so I kept looking. I couldn't find any that came in glass tubes, but I did find where I could get a box of 30 Negra Cubana Lonsdales for about $60. The problem being of course that I would have to buy a humidor as well.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to either inexpensive humidors or another brand similar to Montecruz that comes in a container that wouldn't need humidifying?
Sorry for the long post, but I figured if I explained my whole situation some more experienced smokers could probably be of better help.
Thanks.
Comments
Joe's suggestion is a much better option.
i will second the tupperware as makeshift humidor advice.
tubes are good for (in my opinion) about a week. i wouldnt go too much more than that.
PM sent.
I think you could probably find that deal here again in another month or so.
Just my two cents.
Yeah, actually another member PMed me with a place where I could get a humidor for cheap. So I ordered a 100-count humidor for about $40, just cheap enough of a purchase to not affect my budget.
So I bought some cigars and a humidor, should I wait for the humidor to get "broken in" before putting cigars in?
Your cigars will be fine if you just keep them in a sealed bag and out of direct sunlight for the few days you're seasoning your humi.
The cigars I ordered come in a box, I assume that it would be fine to simply not open the box until I've seasoned the humidor, or should I still bag them?
The tupperware idea is a good one as is a cooler, like igloo. Get the heartfelt beads or the DryMistat beads and you shoudl be good to go. The internet is loaded with info on how to set up a tupperware or cooler humidor. Also, before I got a humidor, I had good luck with the Humidor Bag, made by Fuente. 3 sizes for a few, some and a lot of smokes -- last 6 months, then throw it away & buy another. I still use it if I'm carrying cigars around for a while or on a trip. You're gonna have to humidify 'em some way, so pick out what is cheapest for you from the ideas here and enjoy your smokes.
One more thing: go to cigarbid.com where you can bid on cigars, lighters, humis, etc. You might get lucky & pick up a decent humi and some smokes at a deep deep discount.
we all may love c-bid but its fairly poor taste to say how awesome they are while on cigar.com.
its like going into Olive Garden and telling everyone there that TGIFriday's is way better.
I would agree on the humi bag. I had one for a bit to store overflow. i dont get overflow that much anymore because if it wont fit in the humi i wont buy it.
good thing for you that 61% isnt all that bad and no harm will have come to the cigars. since a cigar is hygroscopic it can act (in a way) as a humidification system.
lemme explain:
a cigar will lose moisture and have close to damaging RH in about 12 or so hours. it will never smoke the same after that. it may still taste ok but not how it was intended to taste. that rate of moisture loss is still very slow compared to moisture loss in the air. If you open a humidor that is at 70% in an area where the RH is 30%, almost instantly the RH in the humi will be 30%.
this is where the cigars come in. if you open a full humi in an area where the RH is 30% and then close it back up the RH will recover quickly. the cigars held the moisture in there. if there is only one cigar in there... the recovery will take much longer.