60% of the time, this rule works everytime :-)
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Cool experiment - one I've thought about doing but don't have the time. If nothing gets through the cello, then why do we fuss with humidity levels?
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I leave mine on and I'll tell you why:
When you handle cigars, incidentally, the cigars handled can get trace amount of bacteria, fungus, etc. on them. The human hands are generally the dirtiest pieces of flesh. Staph, strep among candida and other bacterias and fungus thrive on human hands. A cigar without the wrap is exposed every time you handle. Several times I've dumped unwrapped sticks that had contamination that grew into an unidentifiable substance. If all my cigars had been unwrapped, there's no doubt these 'contaminated' sticks would've spread their funk to the rest of them.
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...and the 100 to 200 pairs of hands that handled the tobacco in your cigar and the finished product prior to cello being applied were all run under a UV sterilizer and swabbed with germicide before touching it... :-)
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Werd! I heard Nick Perdomo once say it can be upward of 400 pairs of hands.

Also, if you are concerned, please do not touch money or door knobs. :-)
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For the vast, vast majority, leaving the cello on or taking it off will have absolutely no consequences and is a complete non sequitur. If the sticks are quite wet or if they are to be stored for 15+ years, then the on/off argument starts to have some bearing.

But y'all have fun now, ya hear. :-) :-) :-)
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Dont forget the water fossett in public restrooms... :-)
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And don't forget the ones that scratch their @ss . . .:-)
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I always take the cello off; never liked em.
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Sorry I got upset before, I guess I was having a bad day and was a little touchy.
After giving it more thought however, I'm a little hesitant about leaving the cellophane off for fear of a more rapid loss of the tobacco's volatile oils. It seems to me that cigars that are un-wrapped loose that "factory-fresh" smell and oily sheen a lot sooner that those with the cellophane left on. I have noticed that cigars that are over-humidified seem to loose their extra moisture really, really slowly if the wrapper is left in place, if at all. I'm curious how others handle wet cigars, do they seem to eventually reach a proper humidity level with the wrapper on after a long(er) period of time? Perhaps clipping the end of the cellophane offers the best of both worlds: protection from handling, reduced air flow and loss of volatile oils and decent moisture flow.
For those who were wondering, I used cigar-wrapper cellophane with a bit of cellophane tape in the experiment.
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How long did you conduct the experiments? Moisture exchange is a very slow process, but cigars will eventually reach equilibrium with their environment - even if they're individually wrapped in a closed box. Patience. The process can take months.
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