How Long Is Too Long?

Many here will smoke a smoke ROTT. I'm certainly one of them. But this time I didn't have the foresight to consider when I was ordering, which was the Saturday prior to Memorial Day, which meant my sticks would be in limbo a bit longer if they indeed left on Sat (ordered first thing AM).

These were out for 6 business days plus the weekends and holiday. A fair amount of time (11 days if sent that day).

As I've not come across any measurable issues previously I'm wondering if this time it more likely.

These were ordered from CI and the singles, kept in a ziplock, had a humidity pack of some sort in it, but what I'm focused on was not. No telling what RH they are kept at prior.

I've smoked a lot ROTT and a little after that I thought were too wet, but I've never had one I thought was too dry. In this case a few days extra transit might have let them dry out a little more which might not be a bad thing IMO.

I usually let them sit for a month or two (or three), but lately I've tried a few sooner after they've been in my humi for just a week or two at 65% with no problems. Honestly it's made me wonder if my first-couple-week-smoking woes were more due to my 70%+ storage conditions back when I first got into cigars, and less to do with retailer storage conditions.

Either way, I've gotten less concerned about it the last few months than I used to be. YMMV.

Except for Small Batch the other places I order from have the sticks in transit for a long time at least 7 to 10 days and I have never had them come in dried out. Usually they are still too wet for my liking. I've also been known to take a smoke out of my humi and forget about it only to smoke it 2 weeks later and they are just fine still. I think the drying process takes more time than I think. My sticks are coming out of the humi on the lower side anyway(62) so it's not like they are wet and have more humi to bleed off. The ambient RH is usually around 45% in my house.

I couldn't help myself as I was talking to an old friend and grabbed a 5 Vegas Series A Anomaly. Awesome smoke and so glad I swapped it! Thanks @NeverBend ! These are some great Maduros! No way I'd suspect them of being med-full.

I had an order of the forbidden sticks that were about 4 months in transit...I checked RH after they arrived and they were still in the low 60's and had no visible issues. They were as tasty as if they had gotten to me in the normal amount of time. I wouldn't worry about a few extra days in transit. They usually package them fairly well.

most places store in the high 60s to 70RH. i go by it usually takes a week to acclimate so im personally never worried with shipments because if anything its helping get them to a lower RH which is where i store at. i just cant see cigars dropping 6-8%RH in a week if they are in a plastic bag with no humidification

You have to remember that the sticks are in cello, in a bag, in a box and are stored at the vendor quite wet to lessen the chance of damage during shipment. Unless they are exposed to extremely low RH just sitting out for 4 or 5 days, I would not fret over a few extra days in transit. I've stored sticks naked in a ziploc bag on a shelf for months at a time with no ill effects.