the army planned a trip to Iraq for me and i have a couple of cigar related concerns.

1. is my initial traveling i can buy 1 of those hard cased travel humidors not a big deal. but what am worried about is temp control which i don't think will be a problem long term.

2. Is getting cigars shipped to me from home and while the humidity isnt such much a problem since i can get them humi bags for shipping. but once again its the temp control.

so basically am wondering is how long does it take the bug to hatch? when am traveling from place to place its not going to be a big concern since its going to be inter still. but shipping can take awhile at least it did when i was in Afghanistan.

3. not so much a concern but i was wondering if i could order Cubans to my APO. i heard there are places in Iraq/Kuwait you can buy em but never been so no idea. this question is kind of geared for the men/women that have been there and know.(am sure ill be in Kuwait for maybe a week or more so am sure i get some Cubans before heading into Iraq)

I didn't really get into smoking cigars regularly until after my first deployment so any tips or experiences are more then welcome and thanks in advance.
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I just got home and here is my advice.
1. save a cooler and get some humidity beads. They worked flawlessly over there. I used the 65% and after a few weeks I didn't even have to bother checking the hygro since I knew the beads were dead on. Don't try the green foam humidi's or any other types as they take too much work. The beads were set and forget for a few weeks and all I had to do was add bottled water. While it wasn't distilled it worked for the year I was there and I bought new beads when I got home since I left the cooler, the remainder of the cigars I was sent and the beads to the unit that replaced me. They appreciated the generousity as well and I felt good spreading the wealth.
2. Most of the buildings there now have AC and never get too hot. At least where I was so temp really was not a concern like I thought it would be.
3. If you order online cigars ship in about 7 to 10 days. Holts and JR's took 6 days to arrive and CI and Famouse are not any further so that gives you a few choices of places to order from.
4. The BOTL from here were so generous and sent over a couple of cigar bombs to me while I was there and that just about filled my cooler that I supplied all my troops with so make some good friends here and maybe they will give you the same horrible treatment and wreck your office with a few bombs like they did mine. It took me days to clean up the mess but seeing my battle buddies smile just about every night we were there for an hour made the mess worth it.

Just my :-)
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did you buy the cooler over there or did you bring it?
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Brought it. We had it at the MOB station then packed it in the connex and shipped it over. There were some coolers available in theatre and if you are nice to your supply NCO a little birdy told me he can order the nice big marine coolers. :-)

If you want to PM me the area your going to I might have some local info for you for things like cigar clubs and CC's

Keep your head down and stay safe.
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Invest in Pelican Cases.

You'll be going back and forth for the rest of your career.

How do I know?? Been doing it since Desert Shield.
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Check around your supply depot. I recently picked up an old night vision case that is the same size as the Pelican 1500, good for 100 or more cigars in fivers. :-)
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Cohibo's yeah, not Cohiba's. I've seen the pics
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i have a Pelican case i got on my last deployment. But its a little big/awkward to be hauling around place to place. but i guess i could throw it in a connex and use it for a humidor later.

ill wait until i get in country before i look around for a cooler. i could probably find 1 someones leaving behind but am sure it will be pretty nasty and wont want to store my cigars in it. if worse comes to worse i can get friends or family to send me a cooler with a bunch of goodies in it. i sent you an IM of my future AO.
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all fakes huh?
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Empty .50cal and 40mm ammo cans work great too and should be rather plentiful. Just wash them out well and drop the cigars in. You can also bust up a few cedar boxes to line them if you are so inclined. They seal so well that you might not even need a humidifier in there and you will need to open them periodically to avoid mold.
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From the pics I have seen, and the stories I have heard from the guess that did their tours, yeah.
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Pictures say a thousand words...(and for those who've seen the photos, bear with me, the old guy is helping the new kids)

The hooch -

Image

The cases -

Image

Then again, what do I know?

:-)
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As others have already said pelicans are your friend. I have a .50 cal can I used for the truck and kept a bunch of smokes in when i would be away from the FOB for a few days. In the hootch had my pelicans and coolers and never had too much of an issue with humidity (thanks to beads). As far as shipping dont worry too much about the temps as long as your mail guys are on it. Best bet is to still let them rest a few days before smoking. As to your CC question I never tried to have them shipped there. I prefer to let my CCs nap for a bit so if I needed more I had them sent from my stash stateside and then backfilled fresh ones there. Any more questions please feel free to PM me. Thanks for your service. Best of luck and be safe.
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