Cigar lovers are often concerning about the conditions of their cigar, since that good cigar can provide a joyful experience. The quality of cigars partially depend on its tobacco leaves, but mainly on its treatment. The newly bought cigars taste no better than immature fruits, so they need to be treated and stored in a proper environment to improve their aroma and charm.
A well stored cigar would be with glimmer and a little grease. Some cigars with a very thin layer of white dust are often called prosper cigars. The storing condition of a cigar can be checked by gently squeeze it to feel whether it is dry or crushed. Meanwhile, the cigar shouldn’t be moist or wet, otherwise the cigar should be stored in another manner.
The best storage condition is constant temperature between 18-21°C and humidity between 60%～70%. If the temperature is lower than 12°C, the expected aging process will be weakened, and the cigars are likely to be cracked. Whereas the worst for cigar is high temperature. If it`s above 24°C, cigar`s aging process will be accelerated, depriving its mellow flavor. Besides, in warm environment, tobacco worm will appear, and cigar may be rot. In this case, it`s suggested that storage of cigars should avoid sunshine or heat source. Cigar can be place at the coolest place at home. It can be seen from above that cigar`s storage conditions can be very demanding on humidity and temperature. Therefore, it`s of vital importance for cigar lovers to choose an ideal cigar storage cabinet.
A qualified cigar cabinet should be capable of keeping constant temperature and humidity. By installing sensors inside the cabinet at multiple points, detecting temperature and humidity, and monitor the environment with smart algorithm, an intelligent system which can adjust temperature and humidity automatically can be built to provide a perfect conservation for cigar. At present, some cigar cabinets even use 7 sensors to measure temperature and humidity in mesh mode, so as t collect multiple data and achieve higher accuracy in detection.
Undoubtedly, in order to obtain the best performance of this constant temperature and humidity system, it is very important to choose the best sensors. French sensor HTU21D produced by Humirel is the first preference of many cigar cabinet manufacturer, for its wide measurement range, high accuracy up to 3%RH and 0.3℃, low power consumption, small size, fast response, and being lead free. Also, HTG3515CH produced by the same company can be an advisable selection.
In fact, temperature and humidity sensors can be applied in not only cigar storage, but also the whole tobacco processing industry as quality supervision device. In modern tobacco processing, it takes several procedures to change the tobacco leaves into cigarette. The craft is complex and has high requirements on ambient environment.
In specific procedures, tobacco leaves need to be first baked, redried, fermented and stored for a while after categorized. In this process tobacco leaves need to be baked repeatedly, during which the temperature and humidity in the oven need to be strictly controlled. If there are sensors in the oven, temperature can be monitored and alarms can be made if necessary.
In the following fermentation, the humidity and temperature value should also be limited. Otherwise the quality and taste of cigarette will also be affected.
When fermentation is finished, essence is added into tobacco shred before baking. The same as before, temperature and humidity in the oven need to be accurately settled, but at a different value. Therefore, sensors to measure them are also needed to monitor and make alarm. This procedure is to add special flavor for the tobacco, so that leaves from different brands smell different.
In one word, temperature and humidity are essential in quality control of tobacco shred baking. Introduction of sensors helps to guarantee the stability product quality.
