How do you dry out your freshly rolled sticks?

[WLJayne]

Hi guys,

I'm getting more confident now, but I'm curious about something. Generally I leave my new sticks to dry out in the humi for about a month until they feel as firm as my bought sticks. Is there a way to safely accelerate this? Can I bake them in the kitchen oven for a short while or something just to take off most of the excess moisture? Any idea what temp and for how long would be safe?

I may just need to continue being patient, but I thought I would ask .

Will.

 

[webmost]

Patience enhances the savor.

Every few days, in an idle moment, pull out your handiwork to admire. You don't want to miss that by hurrying.

 

[Gdaddy]

I've used a food dehydrator on the cigars and then, once dried, put the wrapper on. If you dehydrate with the wrapper on it gets dry and wrinkly looking. Then into the humidor to bring them back to proper humidity. Have since stopped doing this.

After all the experiments I now lay the finished cigars out on my rolling table in the room that's 54% rh for about a week. Then place them in the humidor. I roll more than I smoke so now I have a nice supply of cigars that have been resting for over a year or more.

It would be a benefit to roll the cigars with filler as dry as possible. The wet wrapper will dry in a day laying on the table.

 

[WLJayne]

Great tips, I thought leaving then out in the room for a few days might be a good way to dry them. I try to keep my filler as dry as possible now, not so try as to crack but not damp or leathery to the touch.

 

[hawk45]

All my filler is low case (moisture) to the point where it's just about crackable. The binder has a bit of case to it just so it's not going to crack, but it's not near the case of my wrapper which allows me to spread the leaf fully open w/o wrinkles. As mentioned above, I'm just letting my fresh roll sit out overnight to allow the wrapper to dry then into a 65RH tupperdore separate from all my factory cigars. They should be smokeable in 1-3 days.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Hi guys,

I'm getting more confident now, but I'm curious about something. Generally I leave my new sticks to dry out in the humi for about a month until they feel as firm as my bought sticks. Is there a way to safely accelerate this? Can I bake them in the kitchen oven for a short while or something just to take off most of the excess moisture? Any idea what temp and for how long would be safe?

I may just need to continue being patient, but I thought I would ask .

Will.

Just learn to roll in as low a case as possible , and then time . I don't humi my sticks right away. I will check them first couple days and then maybe ziplock bag them post-roll for at least a week before putting them in a humidor. Our house is very arid,70* and 50% rH.

 

[MarcL]

I'll rotate the sticks in the mold until they loose some moisture and, have a certain feel.
Leave them out for a little while after wrapping.
I have a few staged tupperware containers with dry scrap to wick away moisture.
I'll aerate the containers and, re-dry the scrap if need be.
If they dry to fast the wrapper cracks.

 

[juan carlos]

i leave mine out overnight. 8 months of the year here it is cold as f*() and dry as a popcorn fart. after a night out they go into a cedar drying box for a week and then into a ziplock.
once in the ziplock they seem to vapourize...maybe i should put some of those silica beads in or something

 

[WLJayne]

Seems the general theme is to let them rest out of the humi a while, makes sense !

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I humidify my humidor with freshly rolled cigars. There's some mini boveda packs in to keep it stable. If it's drying out, and you can tell by feeling the boveda packs, I just have to roll more.

 

[tampadave]

For what it is worth:

1) roll at the lowest case possible. Living in Tampa, Florida, that mostly means leaving the leaves out to enjoy our high humidity. The wrapper needs help, but the binder needs very little added moister, and the filler leave — none.

2) I've got a humidor large enough to provide a separate "staging" space for freshly rolled cigars. I put them in there, and they seem to be good (enough) in a few days (3-6). Being in Tampa, Florida though, we have the ideal weather conditions for making cigars, so this experience likely does not apply to other places. (?)

3) Make more than you smoke and/or give away. I'm just learning, so I make more cigars than I'm going to smoke. I'm giving cigars away to family and friends, for feedback and friendship. Not to many, just a few, and that has helped me learn from my mistakes (oh, let's see: too loose, too tight, too loose and too tight, ugly wrap job, ugly caps, ...) The point is now that I'm past my first batches of cigars, I have plenty of cigars to smoke, and they are good.

4) I like keeping my cigars in the (wood) humidor because it breaths, and the moisture content of the wood provides an equalization to the humidity of my cigars, giving and taking humidity from the ambient humidity of the box. Plastic does not do this. Mind you, I live in Tampa, Florida, which is very friendly to cigars and tobacco. I do not like the idea of tobacco having contact with plastic, because it DOES NOT breath, and can harm your cigars.

If you're going to keep cigars in a plastic box, because that is the best means of preserving them (very low or very high humidity), put them into wooden cigar boxes, and put the boxes into the plastic. Wooden cigar boxes are cheap and sturdy, especially considering the time and trouble put into making your cigars.

Most importantly: don't overly wet your tobacco in the first place. Only the wrapper needs significant moisture, for elasticity. That drys quickly.

David