The preservation of cigars only needs to pay attention to 2 points:
1. Moisturizing: 70% humidity is the most suitable
2. Temperature control: 18~20 degrees Celsius is the best
As long as the storage environment meets the above requirements, any storage method can be used.
When storing a variety of cigars, cigars with other items, and Cuban cigars and non-Cuban cigars, it is best to separate the cigars in sealed bags to avoid odors.
Cigar bug: An agricultural pest whose favorite food is cigar tobacco. Once it's fully developed, it can eat a whole box of cigars in no time. The tobacco leaves of machine-made cigars have been treated with pest control during planting and post-processing, so there is no need to worry too much. Although not every cigar will have cigar worms, cigars are usually stored together, and if one of them has a worm, it will also bring disaster to the pond fish.
However, high-quality handmade cigars are planted in a green and non-polluting way. There is no chemical pesticide to deworm, and no chemical deworming treatment is carried out after harvest. It is inevitable that there will be parasite eggs in the tobacco leaves. The temperature for egg development is required to be above 25 degrees. Therefore, controlling the temperature for storing cigars at 18-20 degrees can prevent the development of insect eggs and effectively protect cigars.
Cigars are alive.
Cigars have a continuous fermentation process during preservation, just like the aging of white wine and red wine. 18-20 degrees Celsius and 65-70% humidity are the best storage conditions, that is, the most suitable conditions for fermentation.
Aging of cigars: The cigar leaves will be rolled into cigars after a certain amount of fermentation. Between the five different tobacco leaves, it takes a certain amount of time to continue to ferment in order to make the taste more mellow. Therefore, high-quality handmade cigars, especially cigars with strong flavors, need to be aged for a certain number of years after purchase to make the taste more mellow. Many Cuban cigars, known for their full-bodied flavors, change surprisingly well with age. Most machine-made cigars are only suitable for 1 or 2 types of tobacco leaves, and spices are added (represented by European machine-made cigars), so there is no value and necessity for aging.
When cigars are in the best storage state, if they are aged for too long, the taste will become light, and finally tasteless and worthless. A few individual full-bodied cigars can be aged for ten years to achieve the best flavor. Most cigars are aged The best taste can be achieved in 2-5 years. But the 50-year-old cigars reported by the media have no taste, and have no tasting value except for collection value.
Humidity of cigars: The best storage humidity is 70% humidity at 18 degrees Celsius. If the humidity is too high, the aging process of cigars will be shortened, and cigars will be prone to clogging, oblique burning, and extinguishing after being lit. If the humidity is too low, the flavor of the cigar will be lost.
Over-humid cigars can be placed in the standard environment for storing cigars and slowly adjusted back to their optimum condition. But over-dried cigars, even if placed in a standard environment, are difficult to return to their original state.
It is recommended that newcomers must understand the storage environment of cigar dealers when buying cigars. It is not recommended to buy from stores that cannot provide professional storage environment for cigars, such as airport duty-free shops. Because over-dried cigars are equal to death and will no longer be fermented and mellowed, the quality of the purchased cigars is far more important than the price.
Under normal temperature conditions, cigars can be stored for 1-2 weeks. As long as there is no mold and insects, cigars can be returned to the original best condition after being adjusted for 1-2 months under the best conditions. But if the environment is too dry (especially autumn and winter in the north), the outer skin (wrapper) of the cigar may burst.
