| Even the most solicitous and devoted cigar aficionado | | | | develop mold, and ready to burn evenly. Cigars that |
| occasionally runs into a little trouble. Taste spoliation; | | | | are well-taken-care-of will stay this way. |
| a cigar humidor dial gone wonky; an infestation of | | | | Mold. You don't hear a lot about cigar mold, but it |
| tobacco beetles; mold; even the occasionally | | | | does happen--and unlike uneven burn or weak |
| badly-made cigar from a generally reliable premium | | | | construction, it's something that can happen to any |
| cigar factory--any and all of these little mishaps can | | | | cigar no matter how brilliantly-made, because it has |
| blight the cigar stashes of even very careful and | | | | much more to do with the way the cigar is stored |
| attentive premium cigar smokers. In these situations, | | | | and kept than with the way it's originally put |
| as in so much of life, information is key, and an | | | | together. Let's say you've bought a great sampler of |
| ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let's | | | | discount premium cigars: some Camachos, some |
| take some relatively common problems one at a | | | | Macanudos, a Montecristo, an Alec Bradley Maxx, |
| time. | | | | even a Gurkha or two. You've given proper thought |
| Uneven burn or poor construction. Of course, the | | | | to the selection of the cigars you smoke--but for |
| best way to avoid these is to order premium cigars | | | | whatever reason you didn't exercise the same care |
| from a reliable source. But let's assume you're already | | | | in selecting a humidor, and now, when you open it up |
| doing that, and that your supply--not to mention your | | | | to find a good evening's smoke, your favorite Cohiba |
| taste in smokes--is not what's at issue. Even | | | | (the pick of the litter!) has little whitish spots. (Cigar |
| excellent cigars, carefully shipped, need tender loving | | | | mold, like most forms of common household mold, |
| care. | | | | tends to vary between white, off-white, blue, green, |
| When new cigars arrive, take a good look at them. | | | | or some combination thereof in terms of its color.) |
| (If you order by the box, this is especially easy to | | | | Here's the first thing you do: take that moldy cigar |
| do--just grab one out of the box.) Two things to | | | | and take it out of the humidor. It's a bad influence |
| look out for at this point: excessive dryness; | | | | now. Mold spreads quickly. Now, after verifying that |
| excessive moistness. If a cigar seems a little parched, | | | | none of your other smokes are moldy, find out how |
| or, on the other hand, a little moist, the solution for | | | | humid your humidor is. (If your humidor doesn't come |
| both situations is the same: make sure your humidor | | | | with its own hygrometer, one of these can be |
| is set to its proper | | | | bought separately.) Any reading over seventy-five |
| nt-relative-humidity default, and let your new cigars | | | | percent relative humidity is too much, and you need |
| settle for a week in the cigar humidor. That's their | | | | to dry out the humidor by adding a half-and-half |
| home, after all. | | | | mixture of Propylene Glycol plus water to the sponge |
| Another thing to keep in mind: if you're keeping your | | | | that keeps the box humidified. Toss the bad cigar, |
| cigars in the humidor over a long period, it makes a | | | | and stow the other ones when your humidor reaches |
| lot of sense to rotate them every few months. | | | | seventy-four percent humidity or lower. (On the |
| Moisture doesn't diffuse itself perfectly, and every | | | | other hand, don't let that figure dip underneath |
| humidor will have places where the dryness is greater | | | | sixty-seven percent, either.) |
| than normal. Make sure no one cigar has to bear | | | | But now here's the good news. Premium cigars have |
| being in one of these "dead zones" for too long. Also, | | | | also been known to secrete a grayish, granulated |
| avoid packing them in too tightly--they need air--and | | | | substance that some cigar aficionados take for mold, |
| try not to allow any big fluctuations in the humidity | | | | but which is actually known as plume, and is totally |
| level of your cigar humidor. | | | | harmless. It's given off by the oils in the tobacco |
| All of these practices will help to avoid problems | | | | leaves. If the cigars in your sampler of fine discount |
| setting in with the filler tobacco, which is where the | | | | premium cigars are developing plume, it actually |
| taste comes from, and with the binders and | | | | means they're aging well, and will give off a fine, |
| wrappers, which keep the cigar together. An | | | | tasty plume of smoke whenever you get around to |
| ideally-rolled cigar is firm with a bit of give, too moist | | | | smoking them. |
| to taste parched when you smoke it but too dry to | | | | |