Plastic Wrapper On Your Cigars
If there is one very common question posed by those who enjoy buying and smoking high-quality cigars it is “Do you remove the plastic wrapper when storing in a humidor?” This is a question that does not have an authoritative answer. Many experts will simply reply that it is a matter of preference, but there are some benefits in placing your cigar in your cigar humidor and leaving the cigars in their wrappers while inside the well controlled environment.
Let’s start by looking at cigar wrappers in general so we can understand how they can be of tremendous benefit to a true cigar aficionado. Firstly, most cigars in plastic is material known as cellophane.
This has the feel of plastic, with the exception that it is actually a porous material which has the ability to breath. Cellophane can prevent the actual wrapper or leaf of the cigar from sustaining damage.
For instance, if you leave a cigar in its wrapper outside of a controlled-environment it will go stale and be completely ruined in only a matter of days. This is because the air and moisture of the environment can travel in an out of the pores of the wrapper and leave it open to moisture loss unless it is put into a cigar humidor with proper humidity, 65-73%. 62-68F
So providing that your cigars are in cellophane and not plastic my personal opinion is to leave them in the cellophane while storing them inside your cigar humidor. If you are unsure if your wrapper is indeed cellophane remove the wrapper while storing/ageing.