My 5 Vagas and filipes are not staying lit. They draw good but unless I continually puff on them they produce little smoke and eventually after a great deal of huffing and puffing they get hot and bitter and not worth smoking. They came from CI but have been in my hum for @ 4 weeks. 65-70%Smoked a Perdomo lot 23 last nite and had no problems, bought it from a local shop. Please help:-):-):-)
[Reply]

They're too wet.
[Reply]

Hygrometer may be off a bit. Reading lower than than humidity actually is.
[Reply]

Sounds like they are still too wet! Try "dry-boxing" (place them in dry humi for several days- no moisture source) a few for a week or so, then trying them. CI sticks are well known for shipping very wet, and taking some time to get back down to smoking humidity. Also, I find my sticks smoke much better between 60 and 65%, and actually prefer my humi to stay right around 62-63% range.

Good luck
[Reply]

X2. It could take several months for a very wet cigar to come down below 70% when kept in a humidor. Put one cigar in any kind of non-humidified container (provided you don't live on the coast where humidity is above 70%) for a couple days and then try it out.
[Reply]

X2

Try to drop it down to 62-65%
[Reply]

Thaks to you all. Will unsleeving speed the process or should I leave them wrapped up?
[Reply]

Heh, that would be DRY boxing... Hot boxing is something completely different. :-)
[Reply]

:-)
[Reply]

It will by a marginal amount.
[Reply]

Leave them in the cello. What type of humidification are you using, what Rh? There are several threads about cigar storage that you can research here. :-)
[Reply]

Unless you just have a preference you don't need to unsleeve them
[Reply]

:-) Oh college.
[Reply]

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... I knew that, but got caught up in the rest of the post and forgot to go back and change it!! :-)
[Reply]

Deluxe Humidor. Got it as a gift from Cigar.com with the 5 vagas ten pack.
[Reply]

If they're real wet and you take the cello off and drybox them, they tend to get hard as a rock, while the inside stays too wet, and they burn and taste like crap.
It's best to get your humi down to around 60% and bring them down slowly, cello on. That can take months, but it is what it is.
There's no reason why you can't try it the way you mentioned. If the results meet your liking, then there ya go. It'll still take more than a couple days though. I'd think a week or two.

In any event, you know your problem is "too wet". There's all kinds of ways to remedy that. Keep trying suggestions till you find what makes you happy. :-)
[Reply]

Thanks, I took my meter out yesterday to check the room hum and it was @ 60% so I have opened the box and I am checking the reading on a regular basis to see how much it changes. I'll let you know how that works
[Reply]