Cellophane storage: Pro/Con
Hi all. I'm very, VERY new to this hobby. I'm eager to learn must as a start-off question. I bought a sampler pack that came with a humidor from this site. I've followed guides here and elsewhere for starting a new humidor and am happy with my results, thus far. The only issue I haven't really seen addressed is whether or not to store my cigars in my humidor with the cellophane wrappers that come with them. With my limited knowledge I can see both pros and cons but I'd welcome most seasoned advice.
Comments
Stick protection is much more important.
Advantages to cello off
1) When you open your humi, it smells good for a few seconds
2) You don't have to remove the cello when grabbing a stick to smoke - saves you at least 5 seconds.
Advantages to cello on
1) Even though I pretty much know where all my sticks are (due to my excel tracking system), I still on occasion have to "dig" into a humi, moving 15 or 20 sticks, to get the one I want. I feel much better about "rummaging" around sticks when they have the cello on
2) I like to put a date sticker on my cigars - tough to do without cello, unless you want to put it on the band, which is quite lame
3) Sometimes I send sticks out for trade and such. Mailing sticks is always better when they have the extra protection of cello
4) A few times now, I have had to do a wholesale shuffling and relocation of 100+ sticks. That would be a pain with un-protected cigars, as you would have to be very careful about where you put them down, picking them up, etc.. Some cigars have delicate wrappers, and it doesn't take much for them to start fraying and getting beat up.
5) God forbid I should ever have a beetle problem, but I'd feel better having cello on my sticks if there were beetles, then not having cello. Despite the fact that they say the cello won't help much with beetles, I view it as an extra layer of protection, which might save a few sticks in the event of an outbreak.
Just my 2 cents...........
I like my ladies naked!
Advantages to cello off
1) When you open your humi, it smells AMAZING.
2) I guess technically, but never really thought of this.
3) The look, I have glass top humis and nothing kills the look of a humidor than cellophane. Call me vein, but thats important for me at least.
Advantages to cello on
1)I don't have enough cigars for digging to be come necessary, so if you do, then maybe consider this, Cello does offer alot of handling protection. Also I'm ok with minor blemishes becuase I'm going to smoke them.
2) Date sticker- True, I don't do this and maybe I would if I we're a cello guy
3) Mailing sticks is always better when they have the extra protection of cello. This is True, I feel bad mailing naked stick, but I toss the cello the second they land, so i don't have much of a choice.
Given all that. I weight the look and the smell over the extra protection issue and date sticker because that works for me.
Until I started as a customer with ccom, most of my purchases were ISOM sticks, and some did come with cello, but usually only if it was 5 singles from a box, so they would use cello for shipping. Most full boxes were naked.
In my case, it's what I got used to and I take the cello off without thinking of cons.