Understanding Storage

[JimF]

Guys,
I thought this might be helpful for those trying to understand storage and the seasoning process. I've also added it to the seasoning sticky.

1) The Air - in virtually all cases, except a new box of cigars, air is what you have in greatest abundance. It's also the main thing we can manipulate. Air is the guard at the gate to the castle of the perfect cigar.

If you open the humidor daily, then the air s/b "fresh"?? A good thing in my book.

Guys,
2) The Cigar - assuming we keep our humidors mostly filled, the tobacco inside is the second-most impactful humidification device. Tobacco is far more porous and elastic than wood, so it can absorb and desorb vast amounts of water relatively quickly.

That's not necessarily a good thing . . your temp and RH s/b controlled so that you DON'T force the cigar to "absorb and desorb vast amounts of water relatively quickly". That's not good! Shows you temp and humidity control is not working as it should.

Guys,
3) The Wood - that Spanish cedar lining is a wonderful thing. It looks terrific, it emits a pleasant aroma and, over long periods, introduces it to the cigar, it's highly porous for a hard wood, so can hold a tremendous amount of water and it sports a native moisture content of ~74%, so it does all this pretty darn close to where we want to store our cigars.

Agree 100% . . so much so that I really feel that you can't age a cigar in plastic . . period! As I've written before, why are cigars packed in cedar cigar boxes?? . . except for cigarillos! Hey, maybe some are aging cigarillos in their plastic???

Guys,
4) Your chosen device - This of course means your beads, Boveda, Credo, Oasis... whatever, which manipulates the condition of the air, in order to regulate the amount of moisture made available to the tobacco and wood.

Same comment here . . need to control the "extremes" and not let them occur!