Improper storage, part one

Not that this will necessarily be a long-term series, but I expect I'll find more examples of improper storage in the future.

I believe the above cigar is a good example of over-humidification. Some smaller shops have no room for humidor cases so they instead humidify the entire shop (no, I'm not going to name names here). There's nothing wrong with this except that maintaining a consistent level of humidity with the store's entry door opening and closing all day can be difficult. To compensate, shop owners will often set their humidifiers much higher than the ideal 70%. Most of the time this is no big deal, except in the case of cigars NOT wrapped in cellophane located near the humidifier.

Such appears to be the case with this JFR maduro. Over humidification leads to difficulty in lighting since the exposed filler in the foot, as well as the wrapper, take on water first. Once the light is finally established, the burn tunnels through the dryer center leaving the moister wrapper behind until the cigar finally and prematurely extinguishes itself.

This is all easy enough to fix, though. If you suspect over humidification, just age the cigars in your humidor for a couple of weeks until the moisture level returns to the ideal 70%. Then you'll be golden!