Best Value Cigars

How To Purge Your Cigar

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by .

This is quite a neat trick to keep your tobacco fresh when smoking it.  There are two different types of purges that you can do.

The first is the dry purge that is mostly done after you toast the end of the foot, usually before your first couple of draws on the cigar.  The purpose of this dry purge is to really expel any of the not completely burned tobacco particles.  So that you are getting a more full fresher draw when you do start your smoke.  It is also a good idea to do a dry purge every so often when you are smoking your cigar.

How you do the dry purge is basically blowing out after you toast the foot, through the cigar.  You don’t really have to do it that long, just a couple seconds.

There is another method of doing a purge called a flambé purge.  This is usually done when you have been smoking for a little bit and you want to get rid of any particles.  While you are purging (blowing through) you will want to toast the foot again, look for a colorful flame.  If you are getting a multi-color flame keep going until that seems to disappear.  You want to see a flame that is not multi colored, but just a standard looking flame.

You can get multi-colored flames when you have a lot of ammonia in the cigar.  So try to get as much of that out as you can.

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What To Do When You Purchase A Humidor

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by .

First off congratulations, welcome to the world of real cigar aficionados.  Now that you have a humidor it is time to put this piece of fine art to use.   Well before you just start throwing those cigars in the humidor there are some steps that you will need to do prior to just filling it with your nice collection.

The reason that you need to do some prior work before you just put your cigars in your humidor is because it is not ready for them yet.  The wood which is more than likely Spanish cedar is going to be really dry.  It is going to be reallly dry because it has been sitting somewhere in a warehouse probably or just got done being shipped to you while being in a lot of heated places….UPS truck.

What you are going to need to do is called “calibrating the hygrometer“.

When you do this what you are doing is a couple of precise steps.

1. Use one teaspoon of salt and put it into a empty jar lid (pickle jar lid) and then drop a couple drops of water on the salt, but not enough to really dissolve the salt.  Make it wet but not too wet as it is floating in the jar lid.

2. Take the hygrometer and the jar lid in a zip lock bag with a little bit of air left in there, enough so that the hygrometer can read the moisture in the air.

3. Leave it over night.  You want to see if  it gets to a range of 65-75%, shoot for 75%.

Next step in the process is to “charge the humidifier”

1. Take distilled water and dampen the humidifier.  Making sure not to leave any excess water in the humidifier.

2. Now rub the inside of the humidor with damp cloth that is soaked with distilled water.  Making sure not to get it too wet, just damp enough.

3. Place a shot glass filled with distilled water inside of the humidor, close it and let it sit over night.  Check the next day to see if the water has evaporated. If so repeat the process until the amount of water that you place in the shot glass doesn’t evaporate.  The importance of this is to make sure that the moisture levels have stabilized in the humidor, making it safe for your cigars.

Once all of this is completed you have a humidor that is ready for the cigars, make sure not to do this anytime prior if you want to get the full intended flavor from your cigars.

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How Important Is A Good Humidor

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by .

This is one of those questions that really make us kind of cringe when asked.  The reason really has to do with the fact that maybe not enough research has been done on the part of the smoker to know that it is a very vital part of being a real cigar smoker.

You wouldn’t want to go out and get a Ferrari and park it in the driveway would you?  Same goes for this situation.  You are usually spending good money to get an excellent cigar.  Sometimes you will not be smoking it for years to come ( if you have that kind of discipline).

So now that we have gotten over that part of why it is so important I’m thinking you might be curious as to what to look for in a humidor.

Well there are a couple of very important things to mention.  First make sure you don’t skimp on it.  It is probably one of the best investments you are going to make towards your cigar smoking hobby.  Cigars come and go, they are perishable and you will buy more.  But the goal of getting a humidor is to make sure that you are not having to purchase one for a very long time to come.

One of the first things you will want to consider is how it will look.  Is it going to be a free standing humidor or a desktop one?  If it is either, you will want to make sure it goes with the decor of your home.  If your home has a lot of wood finished furniture then you are in luck as it will be easier to find something that will compliment that.

The other most important thing to take into account is the Hygrometer.  A hydrometer is what regulates the temperature inside of the humidor.  Cigars need to be kept at a constant temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Then as well as the temperature you need to make sure that the humidity stays at a 60 to 74% humidity level.  This is vital, you don’t want your cigars to dry out or grow mold.  That would be large waste of money.

The last important factor is that the insides of the humidor is lined with either Spanish cedar or Honduran Mahogany.  Which will not be a problem at all if you buy a quality humidor as they will have one of these linings.  The reason for these types of lining is that this wood is very porous and will absorb and release moisture inside of the humidor.

Besides that you are pretty much going to just go with your personal taste on the handles and such, there is really no way to make a judgement call from a real authoritative position.  This comes down to personal taste.

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