Moving soon, any precautions I should take?

[CamoSutra]

I'm preparing for a move to another town 50-60 miles away in about a month. Naturally I intend to transport my cigars personally by car.

Does anyone have tips on anything special I should do to keep my cigars (in desktop humidors) safe during their travel to our new home? All three humis are pretty full, and if anything they'll be fuller by then. I'm thinking they should be okay as long as I weight the humidor lids with other items to keep them from bouncing open. (I might even wrap the humidors with plastic wrap, just to be safe.) And of course I'll let the humidors rest undisturbed overnight or longer once they're installed in my new home office, in order to recover from any temperature and RH changes during the trip.

[TreySC]

You should be fine. Like you said keep them from bouncing around, maybe even throw a little bubble wrap in the humi if it isn't completely full.

[bluenoser]

I'd definitely put some bubble wrap or something inside to make sure they don't move around inside the humi while travelling, bout all I can suggest.

[CamoSutra]

TreySC and bluenoser, thanks for the bubblewrap idea. I may do that, but I'd rather just pack them the rest of the way full of cigars. I can hit the Devil Site a time or two, and bid a profitable farewell to the local B&M; then I'll put a couple of days' worth of favorite cigars into a 15-stick traveldor, fill the desktops to the gills, and put any overflow into my other traveldors and/or a tupperdor.

Another thought came to me: I think at least two of the desktop humidors will fit into the 36-quart Coleman I already have in anticipation of making a coolerdor. Bubblewrap to cushion/fill, and they may not even notice a change in temperature while they're traveling.

I'm actually much more concerned about getting the cigars there safely than I am about the TV, stereo, computers and other electronics. Of course I want everything to survive the trip; buying replacements would seriously cut into my cigar-buying money!

[OnePyroTec]

If you were to host a HERF at your house before you moved, you wouldn't have to worry about anything

[CamoSutra]

If you were to host a HERF at your house before you moved, you wouldn't have to worry about anything

I just might do that. Or at least take an assortment to the music store down the street where I hang out (and gift cigars to the proprietors and instructors) for an after-hours herf. I've been meaning to take my Jazz Bass in for a new bridge and a good setup anyway, and I need to do that soon.

[Browns7213]

Bubble wrap inside the humi is all you need. And I think it goes without saying transport them yourself don't let movers or friends assisting you as movers handle them. No one will treat your stash as well as you not even your significant other.

[CamoSutra]

Update: After today's delivery from The Devil Site, I may not need much bubblewrap in my humidors, except to fill the space inside the lids. All three are stuffed to the gills, with overflow in five- and fifteen-stick traveldors.

Can't wait to get relocated. The second bedroom in the new apartment is going to become my office/study/workroom, and home to the cigars. Over time it may become a full-blown man cave, leaving the living room fairly neat for guests and the bedroom ... well, you know.

[Deke]

I would just smoke them all and restock after the move....

I did the same thing a few years ago -- mdke sure humis were in a place they couldn't go flying if I had to brake suddenly.

[CamoSutra]

I've tried to put it off as long as possible, but it looks as though I'm going to have to bite the cigar -- uh, bullet -- and make a coolerdor before I move to the new place.

It's so dry here that all three desktop humidors have been losing humidity faster than I liked, one of them much faster. Last night I painter's-taped them, and that fixed two of them right up; they're holding moisture nicely again. One of them is actually so tight that I may have to remove the tape when spring arrives and the humidity rises. But the third one, a 50-count I've had for more than ten years, still had a loose lid after applying a layer of tape. So I laid down a second layer, and the lid's still loose. This is also the only one of the three where the lip is on the box-part rather than the lid. Much as I would like to keep using it (as a humidor), I don't see how I can; besides, I don't really need three desktop humidors, I just need decent storage. (I'm thinking the good 50-stick box will go into the living room, the 100-count into the office.) So the leaker will become a catch-all box of some sort, and its contents will get a new home.

For the time being I suppose I could get by with tupperdors; I already have the containers, plenty of Bovedas and Spanish cedar sheets to go into them, and even enough digital hygrometers (taken from the bad desktop and a couple of tightly sealing traveldors) to put into three of them. But I have more cigars on their way to me, and will probably buy at least one more time before I vacate this address; all of those, along with the contents of all three desktops and the two stuffed traveldors, might fill a cooler enough to get started. My first thought was to do the admittedly trivial work of transforming the cooler and then empty all the cigars directly into it; but depending on the size of the cooler it might be better to place the two good desktops (still full) into the bottom of the cooler, transfer the new arrivals and everything from the bad desktop into tupperdors, and then fit as many of these into the cooler as I possibly can -- a humidors-inside-a-humidor approach, with whatever's handy stuffed around them to prevent shifting or bouncing during the trip.

I'll also order more Heartfelt beads from David when I "get serious" with the coolerdor, and I'm thinking the 70% variety might be better for aging. I'll keep the 65% beads for use in the two desktops, since they'll be holding cigars that are ready-to-smoke. Maybe the good 50-stick box for the living room, and the 100-count for the office.

The cooler I have on hand now is a 36-quart Coleman, one of those with the thick walls and claimed "multi-day" insulation. This may become a permanent coolerdor, simply because it's available. The additional insulation is overkill in my opinion, and the thicker walls steal space I'd rather have for cigar storage, so I may just buy a new cooler (with a good seal but thinner walls) and save this one for picnics and fishing trips.

Comments and better ideas are welcome. Is there any good reason why I should make the coolerdor now instead of using this cooler just as a second-layer insulated airtight container? Are there any real advantages to the Coleman's extra insulation in an air-conditioned home? Is it possible to have a desktop humidor that's too tight-closing, as long as I can still open and close it and the seal doesn't force wood apart causing leaks elsewhere? Anything wrong with padding the 'dors inside the cooler with T-shirts and socks (laundered, of course), old newspapers and other miscellaneous packing materials for an hour's drive? Are politicians who smoke cigars substantially more trustworthy -- or perhaps less un-trustworthy -- than those who don't? Regardless of its actual colors, didn't that dress look better in white and gold? Boxers, briefs -- or Depends?