Long Term Storage and air

Thanks for the info, CC.

Very interesting. I have a vacuum seal thing that I use for meats and stuff. I'll have to give this a try, but don't know if I can last not smoking my sticks in 1-2 years. :shock: :roll:

Doc-T said:

Very interesting. I have a vacuum seal thing that I use for meats and stuff. I'll have to give this a try, but don't know if I can last not smoking my sticks in 1-2 years. :shock: :roll:

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How much was it? And, where did you get it? Would you recommend other folks get one?

I've been wanting one but, it may be just another gadget I play with for a week then, start to collect dust.

Then, an inoperable freezer or refrigerator would be a good place, as long as temp and humidity were constant?
I have been thinking about this for some long term storage. I remember reading some where that this was not the best place. I do not remember why.

Theres a lot of info and a lot of opinions floating around about how to age cigars. So far I've figured out two things. First, when I get another humidor I'm getting something with temperature control. If nothing else, I'd like to keep my sticks cool enough to keep tobacco beetles from hatching. Second, it's apparently just fine to age smokes at below smoking temp/humidity.

I'm thinking of converting a wine frigde into a humidor. They're not too expensive ($150-200) and easy to find. Hell, I can probably get one at Best Buy. I might have to hack the thermostat a bit to get it to hold at 60-65, but that shouldn't be too hard. Then I'll have a regular desktop one (or two, as it stands now) for bringing smokes up to smoking humidity.

Brenda said:

Doc-T said:

Very interesting. I have a vacuum seal thing that I use for meats and stuff. I'll have to give this a try, but don't know if I can last not smoking my sticks in 1-2 years. :shock: :roll:

Click to expand...

How much was it? And, where did you get it? Would you recommend other folks get one?

I've been wanting one but, it may be just another gadget I play with for a week then, start to collect dust.

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I got it from Costco, for about $90 (this was 2+ years ago). "Food Saver" or something like that.

I use it all the time. After I buy my meats from Costco, I seal each slice and store it in the freezer. Stays fresh for, oh, I dunno. Longest I've had a meat sealed was 2 months. I've also vac-sealed foods (lau lau, pipikaula, dried Ahi fillet, etc) from Hawaii, and it stayed fresh for 6 months (didn't have the chance to save it longer as I ate it all). I do this every year when I visit my folks in Hawaii.

Thanks, Doc. I'm going to start hinting strongly about getting one for the house. 8)

"It pays for itself in six months, honey."

Woah waitaminute!!!!

Brenda has a significant other, in the house? What and who is this???

Brenda, does this person share your cigars?

BP in other words: "WHO IS HE? I'LL KILL HIM! How dare he take our Brenda!"

zandor said:

I'm thinking of converting a wine frigde into a humidor. They're not too expensive ($150-200) and easy to find. Hell, I can probably get one at Best Buy. I might have to hack the thermostat a bit to get it to hold at 60-65, but that shouldn't be too hard. Then I'll have a regular desktop one (or two, as it stands now) for bringing smokes up to smoking humidity.

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Stay tuned... As soon as I get the arbor for my tablesaw back from being repaired I'm going to start on my second one. I'm going to document the process and reveal what I did wrong the first time.

iminaquagmire said:

Stay tuned... As soon as I get the arbor for my tablesaw back from being repaired I'm going to start on my second one. I'm going to document the process and reveal what I did wrong the first time.

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I'll be looking forward to your post(s) on this.

I'm not sure if I'll bother lining it with cedar whenever I get around to building one. I was thinking I'd just store my sticks in cigar boxes.

The thing I'm most concerned about is condensation on the cooling coils causing humidity swings and sucking all the moisture out of my humidifier. I'll have to figure out a way to keep that under control.

Perhaps using a metal plate/box as a buffer would work. Basically it'd just be a metal box around the cooling coils and the thermostat controlling them with some air space in between. That'll slow down the temp drop after the door's been opened, but the buffer plate should prevent a lot of the condensation since it would be at the slighly lower target temperature instead of the freezing cold coil temperature. The coils would cool the air in the metal box, which would in turn cool the metal and then the cigar chamer. Cooling speed could be improved with a couple small fans and some fins. I'd probably just bolt a couple $10 computer CPU heatsink & fan combos to each side of the plate. They're readily available (just don't buy them retail... major rip-off. go online) and it's far easier than making your own fins.

You don't have to line it by any means. I'm going to meerly for asthetics and so I have a way to mount shelves more securely than the original plastic groove things.

You can buy a thermoelectric fridge that relies on a peltier cooler, fans, and heatsinks father than a compressor. I'm going to reuse my current wine fridge that runs on a compressor (not plugged in for humidity reasons) but install a thermoelectric unit I built myself. Its the same thing they put into these fridges, except I'll just have to cut a hole for it.

Quag, I have one of those. It's an igloo refrigerator, thermo electric. Makes almost no noise, light as a feather, and keeps everything at 55 degrees without a compressor sucking the life out of the air inside.

Big Paintbrush said:

Quag, I have one of those. It's an igloo refrigerator, thermo electric. Makes almost no noise, light as a feather, and keeps everything at 55 degrees without a compressor sucking the life out of the air inside.

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OK, talk to me about this thermoelectric igloo. I do not know much at all about cooling systems so bear with me. I have an igloo "coolor" I use for road trips. it plugs into the wall or an auto power plug. Is this like what you are talking about? This unit has fans in it though, so I assumed that is would circulate air from outside the unit, thus making it impossible to regulate the RH inside the box... I am so confused... :duh: :dunno: :duh:

CastleCrest said:

I had read a lot of different views on this -
From what I can tell - the people that really store boxes for years
I'm talking 5+ years want as little air flow as possible.
One person I know vacuum seals his boxes in those flavor savor shrink wrap deals.

It also been said that tubed cigars age better sealed tight.

Now this goes for boxes aging many many years.
cigars will age faster with a little air flow so if were talking 1-2 years
a little air flow is good.

I should add one very important thign is constant temp & RH
stability is impotant!

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Does that shrink wrap breathe at all?? It was my understanding that if there is no fresh air exchange, aging cigars give off gasses that can make the cigars smell and taste like amonia. That is why aging in breathable wood humidors is best. Just curious.

Spider66 said:

Big Paintbrush said:

Quag, I have one of those. It's an igloo refrigerator, thermo electric. Makes almost no noise, light as a feather, and keeps everything at 55 degrees without a compressor sucking the life out of the air inside.

Click to expand...

OK, talk to me about this thermoelectric igloo. I do not know much at all about cooling systems so bear with me. I have an igloo "coolor" I use for road trips. it plugs into the wall or an auto power plug. Is this like what you are talking about? This unit has fans in it though, so I assumed that is would circulate air from outside the unit, thus making it impossible to regulate the RH inside the box... I am so confused... :duh: :dunno: :duh:

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BP, 55 degrees? Not much difference inside and out. Mine says 50 degrees between the hot and the cold side. But I haven't been able to test it yet...

Spider, that's what BP is talking about. Mine is just the element that will go into my fridge. Either way it works. A thermoelectric unit is basically a plate with opposing voltages that creates heat on one side and cold on the other, a heatsink (a conductive metal block) on each side, and a fan on top of each metal block. The fans on your cooler are not for cooling but rather for drawing heat/cold away from the element. The hotter the hot side gets, the colder the cold side gets. The fans on your cooler should only blow air around not out.

I'm not sure why BP's cooler is so warm but normally they would be too cold but you can buy a thermostat that brewers use for storing their lagers and ales while fermenting. These thermostats control mini fridges. I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work on a cooler though.

Sorry if this sounds all disjointed but its early and I haven't slept. :lol:

I personally would never vaccum seal a box of cigars. I store all of mine in one cabinet. The temp is set at 65-67 degrees and the humidity is at 58-62 percent. My tubed cigars are stored as they come in their boxes. All of my other boxes and cabs are opened for inspection by the vendor and when I get them they go right into the cab as they are.

My cigars age and smoke very well at these levels.

thermoelectric igloo work very well with a few mods. I've been using one for about a year. I have some info on my web site. If you want more information just ask



http://home.att.net/~jsestak/cigars.htm