Humidor 101: The Humi-Do’s and Humi-Don’ts

 This entry gets us back to basics and I thought storing of your cigars is a must or why bother with them at all. Before I begin this entry, let me state once again that I am just a regular guy, I do not represent a cigar company or a cigar store and by no means am I an expert, this blog is about myself and my friends adventures in cigars and the things we have learned along the way that we thought we could share with others to help them along. As with anything new it can get overwhelming with experts and others pushing and pulling you in all sorts of directions. That being said, let us kick this pig and get down to the regular guys look at Humidors, with Humidor 101.

Step 1: Size matters

 My opinion when it comes to humidors and cigar storage it comes down to this, if you are new start small.

 My thought for the beginner is think small, a 25 or 50 count wooden box humidor; you don’t want to go hell bent for leather and get a 150 count or bigger until you get the feel of how to keep or where to keep it and what to keep in it. So step one is to decide size, and I recommend you start with the easiest one and that is the 25-50 count Humidors.

 Step 2: For here or to go?

Will you be using it for storage at home or will you just need one for traveling?

  I recommend the standard at home model despite that there are a whole line of travel humidors. You will not learn what you need to know about caring for your cigars and how they react to certain things like humidity and travel and storing them with different brands.

 They make several styles and colors and what you want in that regards is all personal taste, there are glass top ones, domed ones, cherry, oak, and maple and, plastic the choices are almost endless. The specifics however in my experience come down to this, you want a hard wood humidor that is cedar lined. It can have glass and such if you like, but hard woods make the best humidors. The second thing you want to make sure is it comes with a humidification device (Step 3) and a Hygrometer (Step 3), they should always come with them or do not buy that model; they are essential to caring for your cigars.

Step 3: Care and feeding of your Cigars

 Cigars need humidification or they are just dried up leaves that will taste like yard clippings on fire and smell like Uncle Brian’s BBQ grill when it catches fire at a cook-out.

 Most humidors come with a humidifier which is a sponge of sorts or glycol crystals or beads that hold liquid (Distilled water or “Juice”) when wet they give out humidity in your closed cigar humidor, your cigars need 70% humidity and to stay at an average of 70% degrees Fahrenheit (21.1 degrees Celsius) to be at their best smoking goodness.

 Most will also come with a Hygrometer which is a device that reads the temperature and the humidity inside your humidor. Now not all humidors come with these, but they are necessary to care for you cigars, so I would stick to the models that provide both the humidifier and the hygrometer.

The other the two things you need to know about step 3 is. First the humidifier, I recommend you use distilled water instead of the “Juice” product. The Juice is a product that is a chemical in nature and if you use that in your humidifier you cannot go back to distilled water, it will not react the same, you can use it in tandem in a different humidifier, but I would just tell you as a beginner to use the distilled water it is inexpensive and can be bought at the local grocery store. Always use Distilled water never tap and for god sake never toilet water, it will turn everything blue and taste like crap (so I have been told, Insert laugh track here) Tap water and spring water have minerals that can act up with the taste or your cigars and can promote mold, where as distilled water is boiled water vapor, it is pure of all minerals that could damage your humidor and cigars.

The second thing is the hygrometer, you have many choices, digital for a precise reading or analog for an average reading, both work great and are a matter of preference.

The last thing to know about the humidifier is when you wet it you want it moist and to suck up as much water as it is able to, you do not want a pool of water or be over wet because when you put it in there it can make cigars to moist or the excess water will just drip all over everything and that is not good.

Step 4: Location, Location, Location.

 The real estate your humidor will occupy can affect your cigars as well so you want to pick a nice spot for it, not in direct sunlight so no window seat for your cigars, they do not need a room with a view. Some say it needs to be located in a cool dark place, however I disagree, and any room will do so long as it is not in a window. Being in direct sunlight can cause the temperature inside to become too warm and it turns the cigars to soggy sticks and then when the sun goes down it dries them a bit and eventually the cigar just breaks apart on the ends and that makes them trash.

Step 5: Add Cigars and Stir

 The last step is simple add your cigar of choice and enjoy the fact you can just go to your own humidor and get one at your whim.

So as we review our 5 steps to cigar storage and enjoyment is goes like this.

1.    Size of your humidor of choice

2.    Home or travel humidor type

3.    Humidifier and hygrometer set.

4.    Where to put your humidor

5.    Enjoy!

Those are the basic steps to Humidors, check it once a week and if you think it needs water according to the hygrometer then add a little if it is too wet then open the humidor for a very small amount of time (15 minutes). You will get the feel for it and discover your own way of maintaining your humidor and cigars as you go.

 Many humidors come with instructions as well and if not there are online sites that will help or people like myself you can ask.  Remember a Happy Humidor is a full humidor

B.O.T.L. Thank you for reading

~Cigar Ash~