New v16's

[Wailin']

Has anyone tried the new v16's. They come in a much bigger box and are individually wrapped in a green sealed plastic. The label reads "barrier packaging". It also claims each reed is sealed at ideal humidity level.

A piece of adive on the insert states that the reeds should be kept at a humidity level between 45% and 70%. How is that done?

[3 Olives]

Has anyone tried the new v16's. They come in a much bigger box and are individually wrapped in a green sealed plastic. The label reads "barrier packaging". It also claims each reed is sealed at ideal humidity level.

A piece of adive on the insert states that the reeds should be kept at a humidity level between 45% and 70%. How is that done?

Finally!, a question I can answer! I also belong to a Cigar Bulletin Board and am much more knowledgeable about cigars. Buy a small humidor from Holt's - they sell scratch and dent humidors really cheaply- and add some Boveda pads at 65% Humidity. I believe Rico might sell their own Boveda pads at a lower Relative Humidity which would be better I guess.
Or, place the reeds in a plastic bag in an airtight container - Tupperware type- with a moist paper towel and put them in your fridge.
If you have any questions-PM me.

[Matthew]

I've never tried the ones in the individual sealed wrapping, but I have used the regular ones in the box. IMO, there's only a few good reeds that work well in the box (sounds familiar Vandoreon user's?) and the other reeds are usually to dull and thick to sound good. I'm planning on trying other reeds before I start using Vandoreons again.

[speyman]

65% and 70F
Check out JR Cigars, they have an article on storage.
http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=jrcu_storage

[jazzbluescat]

Has anyone tried the new v16's. They come in a much bigger box and are individually wrapped in a green sealed plastic. The label reads "barrier packaging". It also claims each reed is sealed at ideal humidity level.

A piece of adive on the insert states that the reeds should be kept at a humidity level between 45% and 70%. How is that done?
Keep'em in your refrigerator.

[hakukani]

Keep'em in your refrigerator.

...or on the wet side of Hawaii;)

[speyman]

The refrigerator is not running at 70F or at least mine isn't. Reeds need to be kept at 65% & 70F. My refrigerator runs colder than 70F so that my beer will be ready to drink. Don't keep reeds in the frig...........

[3 Olives]

The refrigerator is not running at 70F or at least mine isn't. Reeds need to be kept at 65% & 70F. My refrigerator runs colder than 70F so that my beer will be ready to drink. Don't keep reeds in the frig...........
Temperature is irrelevant unless it is very high. RH is all that matters.

[speyman]

Temperature is irrelevant unless it is very high. RH is all that matters.
Temperature is relevant to cigars and what is the difference between cigars and reeds. I guess you could smoke both of them. Check out the link on cigar storage that I have above. They call for both temp. and humid settings. I've stored my reeds in a cigar humidor for years and have no problems. The reeds require minimal wetting to get them ready for playing. I keep the reeds in boxes and reed holders.

[3 Olives]

Temperature is relevant to cigars and what is the difference between cigars and reeds. I guess you could smoke both of them. Check out the link on cigar storage that I have above. They call for both temp. and humid settings. I've stored my reeds in a cigar humidor for years and have no problems. The reeds require minimal wetting to get them ready for playing. I keep the reeds in boxes and reed holders.

I smoke cigars so I also store them. They need to age but not dry out. Cigars are much more affected by extreme Temp and/or RH - mold and cigar beetles. However, any average Temp for a home is fine for cigars. I would expect most people would keep their reeds in their house. It is the RH that matters. You can buy inexpensive devices to measure RH if you want to.

[3 Olives]

FWIW-I just moved a Hygrometer from a humidor and put it on the counter-RH is stable at 51, so you can probably just sit your reeds out.

[speyman]

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[Nitetimer]

My Javas came packaged like that. They're called the Vandoren Flow Pack.

I'm not into doing anything special like adjusting or worring about their humidity anymore but I do find a high rate of playable reeds so far.

What I don't like is the larger box that the 5 reeds come in. I can't cram as many in my SKB case as I did before. I used to put 2 of the old boxes and my mouthpiece in the mouthpiece slot but now if I put one new box in the same place there's no room for the mouthpiece or a second box.

[3 Olives]

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The RH in my home is 51% and that is within the range. Store the reeds in your house-not your car, garage, attic, bathroom, or crawl space and they should be fine.

[speyman]

The RH in my home is 51% and that is within the range. Store the reeds in your house-not your car, garage, attic, bathroom, or crawl space and they should be fine.

NS. I'll agree with that as long as your at 70F and 65%. You won't find those conditions in your refrigderator!!!!!!!!!!

[Adam]

I started using a cigar humidor a few months ago for storing reeds (at about 55% humidity), and to my surprise, it has actually helped quite a bit. Granted, I'm lucky if the humidity in my house is over 20%... If a reed dries out too much here, it actually makes an audible sound, kind of like rice krispies! That can't be good...

[3 Olives]

Keep'em in your refrigerator.
Cat's right - My fridge holds at 52 RH, so the fridge should be fine.

[Hurling Frootmig]

I believe that reeds really should be at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity. Just like books.

I like the idea of the Vandoren reed humidor but when I first saw it at NAMM they indicated it wouldn't be out for awhile. My solution was to get a humidistat of eBay and use a plastic zip lock bag. It was just a matter of getting the right amount of reeds in the bag to keep the humidity where I wanted it.

By doing all that I found that once I had a reed prepared the way I like that it played the way I liked longer. I also found that I didn't have as many reeds go from being just right to not right.

The advantage of the plastic bag is that it easily fits in my case or in my sax bag.

[Wailin']

Keep'em in your refrigerator.


This refrigerator concept is new 2 me. Someone explain this please. Wouldn't want to lose precious reeds to experimentation in the refrigerator.

[dpmusic]

This refrigerator concept is new 2 me. Someone explain this please. Wouldn't want to lose precious reeds to experimentation in the refrigerator.



since the temperature is lower in your refrigerator compared to the air in the room that contains the refrigerator, moisture will condense when the air goes from outside to inside the frige...therefore that air will always be more humid than the air in your house. since virtually everyone has a refrigerator, it's an easy way to have an always humid enough atmosphere for reeds.....
that being said, i've never tried this personally so i can't vouch for it....
it makes sense though. even if it doesn't work, it's definitely not gonna hurt your reeds.

[Frank D]

I'm into cigars as well. I keep mine in an airtight cooler, the kind you use for taking beverages to an outdoor event. You can by a hygrometer (humidity guage) at Radio Shack for about $10. Regulate the moisture by putting a piece of that green styrofoam like stuff that's used in the bottom of flower vases. You can pour water on the foam to add humidity to the cooler.

Never thought of putting my reeds in there, though.

[Wailin']

Should humidity be a concern for those of us who live at sea level?

[Steve P]

Actually, its not a flow pack. Vandoren is now packaging ALL of their reeds this way. Boxes of 5 (Tenor, Bari, Bass Clar etc), and all boxes of 10 are all individually wrapped now.

[speyman]

Maintaining your Humidor
Add distilled water to your humidifier when the relative humidity begins to dip. After the humidor has been stabilized, this dip should occur slowly and steadily... 69%, 68%, 67% and so on. Typically, I add distilled water when I hit 64% or so. Remember DO NOT saturate the Credo, but only moisten it! This is the biggest error most new humidor owners make. Keep in mind that a Credo not only raises the humidity to 70% RH, but it also lowers the humidity when it exceeds this level. Therefore it is essential that there is room left within the Credo's volume to absorb the excess moisture if necessary.

Only use distilled water. Tap water has chemicals and minerals that you do not want in contact with your cigars as they age. Also, tap water contains organics and is prone to developing mold. Distilled water is the only readily available water that is free of both mineral and organic impurities.

Do not be anal retentive about the RH humidity. Any number between 64% and 72% is fine; truth is, every cigar smokes differently. Some will be best at 68%, while other less-tightly-rolled cigars will burn better at 72%. Some people like their cigars even drier and try to keep them closer to 60%. Ignore what everyone tells you about 70/70 and experiment with slightly drier and wetter humidity levels until you find what you like best. Personally, I prefer 65%-67% RH as the ideal relative humidity.

Temperature control is not nearly as critical as the humidity. Any temperature between 50-75 degrees is fine. A couple of notes though; at the lower temp, the aging process slows down, while at the higher temp, the hatching of the dreaded tobacco beetle is a potential risk. More importantly, always keep your humidor out of the sunlight - being bathed in the sun's rays drastically escalates the internal temperature within the box. Also, never place it on a television set or near a stereo system, as any such electronic device will generate considerable heat.

Totally DISREGARD any table or advice explaining that the ideal humidity for storing your cigars changes depending on the temperature. This is a myth that sadly has been published in some otherwise respectable publications. It is based on the principles of absolute moisture content and not relative humidity. 70% relative humidity is 70% relative humidity regardless of the temperature (hence the term "relative").

[WorldIRC]

Actually, its not a flow pack. Vandoren is now packaging ALL of their reeds this way. Boxes of 5 (Tenor, Bari, Bass Clar etc), and all boxes of 10 are all individually wrapped now.

We must still have a too much stock on the old stuff in our warehouse since I haven't seen the new 5's and 10's individually wrapped...I think that's an awesome idea though!

[Mactenor]

Has anyone tried the new V16s.....are they new or are they just packaged differently? If new, how do they play?

[WorldIRC]

I've tried the V16's within the flow pack..they are just like the other ones...nothing big to speak of...