My hygrometer says 72% but my cigars are bone dry!
Hello all! First post and I have a dry cigar problem!
I live in Arizona. I have the Napoleon II Humidor (http://img.cigarsinternational.com/p/200/m/v/m-vg05.jpg) and and a digital hygrometer. The hygrometer reads 72% & 72* and my cigars are dry. The caps flake when I cut them. I don't even keep most of my cigars in there anymore because they are better when kept in the boxes.
For humidification I use the block that came with it and distilled water. I have been hesitant to take it above 72% for fear of mold.
Any ideas why they may be freakishly dry at 72%? I can certainly recalibrate the hygrometer but I can't imagne it being off enough to make them this dry.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I live in Arizona. I have the Napoleon II Humidor (http://img.cigarsinternational.com/p/200/m/v/m-vg05.jpg) and and a digital hygrometer. The hygrometer reads 72% & 72* and my cigars are dry. The caps flake when I cut them. I don't even keep most of my cigars in there anymore because they are better when kept in the boxes.
For humidification I use the block that came with it and distilled water. I have been hesitant to take it above 72% for fear of mold.
Any ideas why they may be freakishly dry at 72%? I can certainly recalibrate the hygrometer but I can't imagne it being off enough to make them this dry.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Comments
if so what brands do you tend to smoke. there are a few that i have had consistent issues with cap flakage. one way to help keep the cap from cracking, flaking, or comming off is to make sure it is fairly moist before clipping it. I use a punch to cut most of my rounded end cigars and i make sure that its pretty much wet before i cut it. this also applies if you use a double guillotine cutter on the parejo shapes.
torpedoes i do the same thing only i use a double guillotine cutter.
i would still recommend re-salt-testing your hygrometer (couldnt hurt could it? )
All that being said, I still have some cigars that "pop a cap" when I punch them even though I know that they are at the right humidity.
To answer your other questions, the whole wrapper on most of the cigars are dry, not just the cap.
In the humi I have a mix of the following:
5 Vegas Classic
Montecristo Platinum
Erin Go Bragh
Oliveros Classic
Padilla Obsidian
Punch
Graycliff 1666
Zelo De Cuba (yeah... I know... but they make a decent golf cigar)
I cut them with a 3 week old Xikar XI2
EDIT: It never got below 40%, so it seems to be off by at least 15% (based on current humidity). Time to recalibrate! Thanks again!
the question was about how you could tell that the cigars were dry. the cap cracking is a symptom of cigars being dry. but there are others. if that was the ONLY symptom and you had a hygrometer that was reading 72% RH then it was probably not a moisture issue. it would have been a cutting issue, or a pre-light ritual issue.