Cigar Tips: Storing Dry-Cured Cigars

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I smoke a few different kinds of dry-cured cigars on a regular basis: Davidoff Demi-Tasse, AVO Classic Puritos (I believe these are dry-cured, though I may be wrong) and cigarillos from CAO, Dona Flor and The Griffin’s, just to name a few. These smokes require some slightly different care and handling than their fully-humidified brethren. I have found that when I store dry-cured stogies at a full 70-72% humidity, they tend to get spongy, plugged and weird-tasting. Unpleasant as this result is, the other extreme, storing the sticks at room humidity is equally unappealing: the smokes rapidly lose any semblance of moisture, leading to brittle wrappers which tend to crack upon lighting - or even when simply being handled! - and they burn really fast, obliterating subtle flavors and reducing the overall pleasure of the experience.

So, what to do? Here are a few tips to keep dry-cured stogies in peak condition:

• Lower humidity makes a big difference. I find that keeping my dry-cured cigars at around 65% humidity goes a long way in maintaining both smokability and taste without the cigars getting so wet they become spongy.
• Plastic bags are your friend. A Ziploc bag actually works pretty darn well to maintain a given level of humidity. If you go through dry-cured cigars pretty fast, a quick stay in the humidor to freshen them up, followed by storage in a plastic baggie (away from non-dry-cured sticks) can help keep your cigars in perfect shape.
• There is no substitute for attention. Just as you can’t trust even the best humidor to keep your stogies in optimum condition without occasionally opening it up to eyeball your smokes and give one or two a squeeze to stave off dried-out wrappers, you can’t just drop your dry-cured stogies into a drawer or into the humi and expect to have them in prime shape when you pull them out six months later. Dry-cured cigars require some slightly different care than other sticks, and until you figure out the perfect regimen, expect to check in on them every couple of days to make sure they’re not getting too much or too little moisture.

Of course, the best way to know your dry-cured sticks are being well-preserved is to smoke a couple every now and then. So just in case you needed one more reason to light up a cigar, now you can do so assured that when you do, it’s all in the name of advancing the noble science of cigar storage.

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