This subject always cracks me up when I compare what most of us do with our humidors to what my dad did in Cuba.
Today we have such sophisticated equipment available to us.
I use an Aristocrat with a set and forget system.
He used a night table, with no seals of any type, with a sea sponge moistened on a small dish.

Well, on 3/13, I bought a couple of Padron 1964 35's.
I placed them in my trunk.
I left the plastic bag zipper half way opened as had pulled some other purchases out of the bag.

By luck, I happened to find the bag last night, while searching for something else in my trunk. I totally forgot about them for nearly two weeks.
If anyone has been following South Florida weather, it has been very dry for the last two weeks and very hot.

I just lit up one of them and it smokes and feels no different than any other '35.
So much for my sophisticated humidity storage system and some credibility to the antiquated ones.
Maybe it is because it involved the finest little smoke of that size one will find, IMHO of course.
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I believe that we need sophisticated methods, due to the fact that it's probably illegal to import Cuban sea sponges :-)
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Never had a Cuban sea sponge, are they any good?
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:-)
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when they aren't plugged... it's frustrating when you cant get them to soak, but if you get one that soaks good... fuheddaboudit
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The question is...if the embargo is lifted, how many smokers would buy more Cuban sea sponges? Personally...I've gotten used to the results I've gotten with Dobie Pads. :-)

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Nicaraguan sea sponges are better.
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I seriously hope the embargo is not lifted. My cuban sponge budget will need to triple! Then what will my local B&M shops do when they can legally sell cuban sponges? They probably will stop saying they are inferior and have "more then just spongy material in them". Also they will stop saying the cuban sponge makers are not up to the same hygiene code as the Nicaraguan sponge factory workers are.
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I use a sea sponge to wash my car. Though I am unsure of the provenance of my sponge. Good thing I'm not sending it to anyone...
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Have you been paying any attention to what Jaques Perdomo and Don Jose Cousteau have been turning out lately? I'm telling you brother, with all the sea sponge farming advancements that have occured down in Nicaragua in the last 12-15 years, they have long since surpassed Cuban sea sponges for quality and durability. There is just no comparison.
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Great story. I agree, we tend to over think things. 70/70, how often is it really 70/70 in Cuba, Nicaragua, DR, Honduras? I'd think most of the time it's above on both. Just goes to show you how simple this hobby really can be.
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I will still use hcm beads instead of KL though. No matter how simple someone tells me it is. I like my cigars at 65/65. It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling knowing they are safe.
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Lol this was cracking me up but thanks Wade for bringing it back around.
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Check this out:

http://www.yahew.com/customs_seizes_...0_sponges.html
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Hard as H3ll to keep lit, though - constant tunneling, etc. :-)
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Sea sponges sold by on-line retailers are of inferior quality compared to those sold at your local B&M.
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Not to mention... 95% of those sponges are fake.
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I always heard you should age the sponge for 3 years before using them...
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I heard at 3 years anymore aging will diminish the quality of the sponge.
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