Monday, November 29 1999
Q. I keep my cigars (all
Flor de Oliva) in their cellophane wrappers. However, a few are unwrapped, and after a couple of days the
wrapper leaves begin to peel away. The
hygrometer shows 80% humidity. What is going wrong?
- Terry B. in Florida
A. What's going wrong is your humidity is WAY too high. You need to get it down - and fast. Assuming your hygrometer is pretty accurate, remove the humidifier and check the hygrometer daily until the RH gets down to about 68%. High humidity can cause all sorts of problems, among them being, wrappers unraveling and very squishy cigars.
Let the humidifier dry out while you're reducing the humidity, too. Once you replace it, keep an eye on the hygrometer reading. You may have to go through the process again until you reach a more acceptable RH level.
Finally, make sure you don't overfill the humidifier when it's time to do so. Sometimes you only need a little distilled water (or solution) to bring the RH back to the desired level.
