Vacuum Success?

[Ἰωάννης]

Hey all, I am just a guest here and was blown away about the info on vacuum sealing boxes. I am curious of trying this myself and was wondering if you guys had come upon success yet. Did it work? I PM'd someone here already to find about his success but I would like to hear about others.

Also, what is the best way to start. Do you recommend that you leave your box unsealed in your humi for a month maybe more to adjust to the temp/Rh before sealing it?

One question I have does the food saver suck the moisture out with the air?

Thanks for the info

[Mad Dawg]

You've read the thread in the LCDH room - tons of good information there. TO your specific questions:

- It is absolutely essential that you get your cigars stabilized at the humidity level you want to age them before you seal them. I would recommend going a little on the dry side, around 63-65% RH. If they're too wet, you will guarantee mold growth. How long that takes with any given box of cigars depends on their starting RH, your target RH, and the size of the cigars. I always allow full boxes 3 months of coolerdor time to get stabilized before sealing them.

- The sealing process only takes a few seconds, and you really don't change the composition (i.e., RH) of the air as that happens. In other words, no, you're not sucking the moisture out of the air that stays behind. It's important to know that you're not removing all of the air from the box, just most of it. If you did pull it all out, you'd certainly deform the box, and you could possibly crush it flat. Not good, unless you want to generate expensive pipe tobacco. I use a sealer with an instant seal button, so I can control the process and cut off the vacuum before the box deforms too much. I didn't do that with the very first boxes I sealed, and I would up..."enhancing"...the box press on those cigars.

Vacuum sealing is fundamentally a way to radically reduce the amount of oxygen that comes into contact with the cigars as they age. It does not stop aging, but it does change it. Oxygen destroys the fragile aromatic organic compounds that lend at least some of the subtlety and complexity to the smoke. Preserving those compounds is a good thing, if your tastes run to those kinds of elements.

Finally, remember that vacuum sealing is a long-term proposition. If you're shooting for less than 4 or 5 years, it's probably better to get yourself a cooler and age use that. Coolers do a pretty good job at reducing air exchange with the atmosphere, as long as you're not digging into them all the time.

[Ἰωάννης]

Originally Posted by Mad Dawg

You've read the thread in the LCDH room - tons of good information there. TO your specific questions:
I always allow full boxes 3 months of coolerdor time to get stabilized before sealing them.

Hey Mad Dawg, thank you for all your help. I'm excited to get started. I have a good number of boxes that I want to try this with. My target time is about 10+ years or more. I did seal some last night but I think I will open them and let them rest/stabilize more in the humi, since you suggest three months before sealing them. Thanks for all your help. I hope to hear from you when you decide to break into one of the boxes you have been putting away for some time.

Thanks,
Curt

[mealstrom]

Great info Mad Dawg. I have some smokes I need to vacuum seal. The problem I'm running into is that I have some boxes that are way too big to fit into one of my Foodsaver bags. What do you use to seal those?

[Mad Dawg]

The 11" roll Foodsaver bags will handle everything up to 25-count dress boxes of Churchills and piramides, and 50-count cabs of PCs. Anything bigger than that and you'll need to break them up and seal them without the boxes.

If you go that route, you may want to put some Spanish cedar in the bags (like the thin sheets that wrap some cigars or line the inside of some tubos), and you will definitely need to be extremely careful not to crush them. An "instant seal" button is crucial for that kind of work.

[rockace521]

Since I'm late to the vacuum-sealing game, what is the benefit of the process? Kind of repeating the 8-9-8 varnished Party's type of aging? Keeping other cigar characteristics floating around the humi from creeping in? Or, hmm, I guess you can store them without worrying about the ups and downs of RH from opening and closing the humi? Or is it actually necessary to store them in a humidor when vacuum-packed?

Interesting concept, I'd love it if I had extra boxes I didn't expect to open for years. I am so far from that point it's not even funny.