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All about Cuban Cigars
There are many perceptions about how to determine the strength of a cuban cigar. Often people look at the wrapper for the answer. This method is misleading.
Wrappers are only about 1% of the total content of the cuban cigar, so a dark wrapper will have little, if any effect, on the strength of the cuban cigar.
So how can you tell the strength of a cuban cigar without lighting it? Well, its in the name! Cuban Cigar Brands are designed with their own particular flavours and strengths, with the variety of leaves from different tobacco plants making up their individual characteristics.
The following Cuban Cigar Brands are classified as such:
Refined (Extra Flavour) Cuban Cigars
Cohiba and Trinidad.
Strong, Full Flavoured Cuban Cigars
Bolivar, Partagas, Cuaba, Por Larranaga.
Medium Strength And Flavour Cuban Cigars
Montecristo, Diplomaticos, Fonseca, Jose L. Piedra, H. Upmann, Juan Lopez, Flor de Cano, Vegas Robaina, Vegueros, La Gloria Cubana, Sancho Pana, Quintero, Belinda, Cabanas, Rafael Gonzalez, Romeo Y Julieta, Statos de Luxe, Troya, San Cristobal de La Habana.
Mild Strength And Flavour Cuban Cigars
Hoyo de Monterrey, San Luis Rey, El Rey del Mundo, Ramon Allones, Quai DOrsay.
All About Humidors:
Here are some notes on how to set up your Humidor. Probably kept in the 68 to 70 degrees Farenhiet range is best Also that is the best range for Humidity as well
you really don't want to be any higher as you can tell by the fuzziness on your Cuban Cigars.
How To Setup Your Humidor
When most people get their new humidor home, they are anxious to fill it up with their collection of smokes. If you do this without first re-humidifying the wood, you may ruin your cigars. Why? The wood has not had a chance to reach its equilibrium. So when you put your Cuban Cigars in, the wood will absorb their moisture and you will be left with dry useless cigars. Not exactly the reason you bought a humidor, huh? To solve this problem, all humidors should be re-humidified before their first use.
Re-humidifying your humidor is easy, just follow these simple steps:
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Place a shallow container filled with distilled water in the humidor
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Place calibrated hygrometer inside humidor
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Charge your humidification device
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Place humidification device inside humidor
- You have to check the relative humidity every day. Depending on a number of factors this can take a few days to a few weeks. When you get in the 70 72 humidity, range it is safe to store you Cuban Cigars inside. As long as you constantly recharge your humidification device you will never have to wait to store your Cuban Cigars again.
How To Calibrate a Hygrometer
To calibrate your hygrometer you will need table salt, a see through container such as a Ziplock baggie, and a small shallow open container, like a bottle cap.
Place a teaspoon or so of salt in the shallow container and add a few drops of water to get it wet. You don't want to dissolve it, just get a good damp pile of salt in your container. Remember, you don't want a salt water solution, just damp salt. Place the shallow container in the baggie along with the hygrometer.
Seal the baggie with some air trapped inside (so it is not tight against the hygrometer) and let it sit. Allow this to stabilize for at least 6 hours (don't rush it). After it has stabilized, check the hygrometer reading without opening up the baggie. It should be exactly 75%. If not, you can simply adjust the reading by turning the dial on the back of the hygrometer with a small screwdriver.
How To Charge a Humidifier
To fill or charge your humidifier, you should remove it from the humidor and dampen the humidifier in a 50/50 solution of distilled water and propylene glycol (PG), usually referred to as activator solution. You are not looking to soak the humidifier, just get it damp, usually a few squirts of activator solution will be enough to keep it charged for a few months. This procedure should be repeated when your Cuban Cigars start to get dry or when your hygrometer reads the humidity as being lower than you prefer.
Simply, PG is a hydroscopic substance. It absorbs moisture from the environment (like a salt shaker does in humid weather). The distilled water evaporates until the ambient humidity approaches 70%. At that point the PG won't allow any more moisture in the air. Conversely, if there is too much moisture in the air, the PG solution absorbs the excess, bringing the system down to 70% as well.
Some people figure that instead of buying distilled water, they will simply use tap water, or even filtered water. Filtered tap water is full of all the dissolved minerals which will ultimately plug your humidifier. The PH is balanced in tap water with chemicals which may interfere with the PG and cause variations in your humidity.
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