How do we "DO BETTER" with new shipments?

We received a lot of questions on Instagram regarding our post saying, "... cigars arrived. They will hit the shelves Friday. We let all new arrivals rest for a minimum of 2-3 days before opening sales to ensure the best smoking experience possible."

So, Why? Why do we rest the cigars and what is the benefit?

Well let us tell you how and why we do things differently at SMoKE. It's all because we want you to have the highest quality cigar we can hand you. Now this doesn't have to mean some crazy high dollar cigar, made with the tears of unicorns, and sprinkled with pixie dust. No, when we say the highest quality we mean that it has been stored properly, inspected for defects/damage, and brought to the proper temperature/humidity.

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Everyone wants to be the first shop to get a cigar out on the shelves and the first to start selling. They can go ahead and do that but SMoKE will always be the first shop to give you the cigar when it actually ready to be smoked.

The first thing we do with any and all shipments is to open every single box of cigars and inspect each individual cigar. Not all damages are the fault of the manufacturers. These cigars are transported on dirt roads through a third world country, handled by airport employees throwing luggage and then the worst of it is when they are placed on a UPS truck and driven through the roads of Philadelphia, that are worse than those of a third world country. We have all seen a cigar crack from dropping a cigar, so imagine what the delivery process could do to your cigar. So, if you have seen some of our Facebook postings or our Instagram stories you've seen us doing this on a number of occasions. We are looking for any area of damage that could affect the smoking experience. Cracks present anywhere on the cigar, flaking on the wrapper, mold, beetles, beetle holes, soft spots, etc. the list can go on and on. Anything that presents damage will be set aside and will not be sold.

Cigars go through a variety of rapid changes in their environment during shipping. Shipping the cigars from all over the country and sitting in different warehouses exposes the cigars to varying levels of temperature and humidity. The changes that this presents can cause minor to major issues with cigars if not properly tended to before placing a cigar out for sale. In the following we will explain what we do to ensure the best smoking experience for our customers. Primarily discussing over and under humidified cigars.

Temperature is fairly easy to solve, slowly allow the cigars to come up or down in temperate. This is a fairly quick and easy process that is solved in the first few hours that a box of cigars arrives at SMoKE. Now for the more complex issues to solve. If the cigars become too humid during the shipping process then during your smoke, the cigar will constantly present burn issues, foul sour flavors, as well as dank musty and off-putting aroma. When smoking an over-humidified cigar the tobacco has become swollen with the extra moisture, which can also cause an overly tight draw.

The only solution to an over humidified cigar is drying the cigar out slowly. Now you could just chuck those boxes in the humidor and wish people luck, basically what most people will do. Or you can hold the cigars in a low humidity area for 1-2 days to slowly allow the cigars to wick away that extra moisture and come back down to proper internal humidity. Then once the cigars are stabilized move them to the humidor for an additional 1-2 days to allow the cigars to level off in the new humidity and ensure that they are ready to be smoked before selling anyone those cigars. In extreme cases this process can take up to and over a week to ensure the quality requirements are met.

Alternatively, if the cigars arrive under-humidified the cigar will burn too hot and too fast, presenting bitter flavors and a lack of any good flavor. So if the cigars arrive under-humidified, or to the extent of being dried out they need to be carefully brought up to humidity. If introduced to humidity to rapidly the cigars will only absorb humidity into the outer leaves, the wrapper and binder. This will cause tunneling issues and cracked wrappers, that crack apart the more you smoke. Essentially the cigar hasn't been given enough time to adjust to humidity. In order to bring a dry cigar up to humidity it is a similar process. The cigars must be introduced to humidity much more slowly though to prevent damage to the outer leaves.

The cigars are first given a day to rest at low humidity in order to slowly introduce moisture back to the cigars. Next they are placed in the humidor with the boxes closed to again slow the introduction of humidity. After this step the boxes will be propped open to allow the cigars to come to proper humidity, with excessively dry cigars this process can also take up to and over a week to ensure we are handing you the cigar at the perfect condition for enjoyment.

SYNOPSIS FOR THE LAZY

Cigars at SMoKE are individually inspected to ensure the highest quality is met before selling any cigar. No cigar will be sold unless it meets rigid temperature, humidity, and visual inspection requirements. Everyone wants to be the first shop to release a cigar, we want to be the first shop to give you that cigar when its actually ready.