Cigars??

JimBear How'd you like that LaPalina maduro? I enjoy them.

 

I really liked it, I hadn’t had one yet, I bought a 5 pack & they have been resting for about 2 months.

 

I had some free time with our recent snow so I was going thru all of my humidors & coolers to check & rehydrate all of my humidification packs.

I got to my last Clevelander & was rotating the shelves when I saw a bunch of white stuff on my Cohiba Red Dots. I freaked out & took them all out wiped them down & segregated them in bags. Then it dawned on me that maybe it was plume, which I believe it was.

My Red Dots didn’t have cellophane on them & were in a tray with the Macassars, only the Reds had the white stuff; none on the Macassars even though they were in contact with each other. None of the other cigars in the Clevelander showed any signs of white stuff.

The Clevelander has maintained temps of 63* - 67* & I have 3 hygrometers in each one & has never exceeded 67% that I have ever seen.

I have rotated the trays monthly & the cigars have been in there since around April.

The “white stuff” came off easily, wasn’t sticky/gummy, didn’t smell nasty, didn’t stain the leaf; in retrospect didn’t really look like mold.

I believe I was just over reacting thinking I was going to lose a whole coolidor full of Cohibas.

So I believe I have had my first experience with plume on a cigar.

 

I reacted the same way years ago. I remember when I first saw the white on the cigars...."damm" Glad I didn't go with my first instinct to throw them out. It just brushed right off without any issues.

I think they were on 5vegas maduro and they were very good when smoked afterwards. There is one guy that I gave cigars to regularly that got one of those. He called me up one evening out of the blue and said he just had the best cigar of his life! It was one of the maduros....

 

I had an early morning trip yesterday with more windshield time than I am used to. 3:30, mug of coffee, and two cigars. One of the perdomo 2 mistakes maduro and and one la traviata maduro for the return trip.

As much as I like the la traviata maduros, I have to admit that I enjoyed the perdomo more.

 

Taught me something new Jim. I had never heard the term "plume" before.

 

I have read that some people call it “bloom” also. I am just thrilled it wasn’t mold & that I must be doing something right, at least in that cooler anyway.

 

I had this one tonight, they are ok but probably won’t buy them again.

 

Yeah, for sure. I've never had a mold situation, but I only use Boveda packs and we're dry out here too. I was going to try the bead things you use, but hadn't got around to doing that yet.

 

A guy I know tried those a few years back and really like them.

I use an old container (sour cream size) with a saturated sponge in it.

 

I hadn't looked into them till Jim mentioned them. I like the Boveda's for simplicity, but it does get spendy at times.

So, you literally wet a sponge and put it in a sour cream container and it holds the humidity even and in a good spot? Or, is there more to it than that? How big of an area does that work for?

I'm beginning to feel like a sucker for using the "easy" method. Lol

 

Those Java Mints are ridiculous, I would like to snag a few for long term storage but not at those prices.

I snagged a box of LaPerla Morados for $39 tonight. I am trying to buy some Punch’s also, I think I will have to buy another cooler to accommodate these though…

 

Just make sure & use distilled water.

A lot of the humidifiers have that green foam/sponge stuff that florist use.

 

I have had a couple of these & really liked them, so I am trying to acquire some more

 

I use a cooler for my humidor...."coolidor". Years ago, I read somewhere about using them for humidors. I think it is a 48 quart; so its a pretty fir sized cooler and holds quite a bit of cigars.

Like Jim says, distilled water. I soak the sponge that I cut in half and lay it in the container that has maybe an inch of water in it. Too much humidification? I also put some cat litter in a tied off sock that would soak up "excess" moisture. According to my analog hygrometer, the humidity is usually around 70%; and of course during the summer months a bit higher (not much). All of these tips were from what I found on the good old interweb.

Word search "how to make a coolidor" and different options will come up.

 

I got the Punchs for $21, not great but not bad either.

Thompson’s has a sale on them for a box of 18 robustos for $104, I snagged 20 of them for $42 plus a bit of shipping & tax.

 

I've seen the coolidors, when I first started looking into cigars. I was spending so much in cigars (I'm not quite Jimbear rich ;-), but it was a lot for me) and I was afraid of screwing them up. So I never tried anything else, but Boveda's.

I only have one of the glass top 100 count wood humidors and a 300 ct wood Havana Foot Locker humidor.

I'll have to try a different method. Saves quite a bit of money not using the Boveda's, it seems.

 

I was looking for some chainsaw stuffs on flea bay & an old search came up for cigar coolidors so I perused thru the offerings nothing remarkable from reliable sellers so on a whim I went to 1st class humidors & found this with free UPS shipping.




I have nothing but good things to say about mine after the 6-8 months I have had them. They seem to hold the temp & humidity steady.

The trays are great, better than the shelves in other coolidors of this type.

The only thing that needs improved is the doors have to open almost 180* to get the trays out. The doors can be switched to open either way though.