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~

Cigar-Fest 2013

I promised a few of you that I would share with you the photos from out Hillbilly version of Cigar-Fest last summer. so we started out small with about 12 of us, we will see what we end up with this July.

 So without further yapping here are the photos.

 

Johnny V's Cigar Review

Johnny V has picked out for his first Cigar Review a hidden treasure that many Cigar lovers have not discovered yet. One of Drew Estate's Lesser known cigars and very reasonably priced, Isla del Sol. Going with the usual Drew Estate feel it does have a flavor and stands up to the usual scrutiny of Drew Estate quality.

Cigar Stats

_________

Cigar: Isla del Sol
Company: Drew Estates
Wrapper(s): Sumatra
Filler(s): Nicaraguan
Origin(s): Nicaragua
Size: (Ring Gauge): 5x52
Style: (Robusto est..) Robusto
Price at the Time: (box & Single): $30.99 a Box & Singles are around $2.00 - 3.00
Smell: Sweet with a hint of Coffee
Ash: (Good, Bad, Weak, Solid): good solid ash
Taste: Mild smoke with a sweet tip
Strength: Mild - Medium
Construction: (good, bad, est..): good construction
Rating: (1-10) 9

Review Questions

1. Did you like the Cigar? Yes
2. Would you smoke it again? Yes
3. Was the Cigar worth the money? Definitely
4. Would you recommend it to others? Yes
5. Best time to smoke this particular Cigar? Anytime … I think it would be perfect as an after dinner treat
6. Any particular drink that would go with this Cigar? I enjoyed this cigar with a Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier today but a cup of coffee or a whiskey would compliment it beautifully.
7. Anything else you would like to say about the cigar? This cigar has been a consistent favorite for me, I have yet to be let down by this cigar. I plan to make it a regular in my smoking selection.

Canoeing Its not just a boat

A fellow cigar smoker asked me a question about his cigar burning more on one side than the other. I told him it was canoeing. Being a Newbie, he gave me a look like a dog would give you when you ask him a question, he tilted his head to the side and sort of whimpered. He recovered from the puppy look and asked me more about canoeing and this is what I told him.
You can not prevent canoeing 100% due to so many uncontrollable variables such as plant grown, humidity while drying and construction, however there are things you can do to cut down on this issue after you get them into you possession.
If your cigars are over humidified (over 70%) they have a tendency to canoe. If you have a good supply of cigars and they sit for more then 2-3 months on one side in your humidor they can also canoe. If you light your cigar and do not light it in the middle or do not rotate it while lighting it, it can canoe. Lower end cigars have a tendency to canoe as well, due to lower quality of leaves, construction and inexperienced rollers.
As I say anything hand made can canoe it is impossible to account for all the variables like sun-light, construction, humidity, quality of leaves etc. so if you rotate your stock every few months by a half turn or a flip and keep your humidity between 65-70% and rotate your cigar when lighting you should cut down on the percentage of cigars canoeing.
good Luck and Happy smoking.
Cigar Ash

When Size Matters

People today, in my opinion, are far to concerned about what fancy, shmancy, name brand cigar they want to smoke and are not putting enough thought into what size they should be smoking in that particular time frame or situation.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good fancy shmancy cigar just as much as anyone else. What doesn’t make sense to me is when someone picks a 60 ring gauge, Churchill and is only going to the corner store, wasting half the thing to the great cement ashtray in the sky. It can be the greatest cigar in the world but if you throw away 3 dollars of a 7 dollar cigar how good could it really be? If you put so much thought and pride on what great name brand cigar to smoke, why not put some of your time into thinking about what size cigar to smoke in the time given to you?
Now I have found through out the years that it is not so much the ring gauge but rather the length that helps me makes my decision. Now of course a cheaper or less desired cigar always runs the risk of being wasted no matter what size, before a more expensive one, there are still some standards I like to smoke by. For instance, if you’re going out for a short period, like on your lunch break, a 4.5 X 50 Rothschild or a 5 x 50 Robusto is perfect. If I’m traveling in my car and have an hour or so to kill a 6 x 52 Toro, or a 6.5 x 52 torpedo are always good choices. And on the days when I have all the time in the world, sitting around with some friends, drinking coffee or some good whiskey and all I have to worry about is just how many cigars I can smoke before I have to shave my tongue; a 7 x 52 Churchill always hits the spot.
Maybe I’m just an old fashion guy, or maybe I’m just an ass, but don’t come bragging to me about your 12 dollar stoge, waving it around like it’s a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and throw half of the thing away once you had your fill. To me there is nothing more revealing about someone’s actual love or seriousness for smoking cigars then this simple, little gesture of waste. If this is your style, and you know who you are, do your self a favor, think before you smoke. Or you could always just blow it out your smoke ring…

Tommy Wang

Thinking outside of the Box

Some of on The Cigar Stop team have multiple *humidors and a few have decided to think outside of the box and opt for a *Cigar Jar instead. I also have one of these Cigar Jars and I have to say they work fantastic. They are great for traveling, just about unbreakable and are relatively inexpensive.
Most *Brick and Mortars carry them as well, as well as almost every Cigar Web site and E-Bay sells them. The cost of a Cigar Jar usually ranges between $19.95 to $24.99, which as a buck goes these days is extremely reasonable. The Cigar Jar comes with a *Humidifier attached to the underside of the lid and holds between 20 to 25 *sticks depending on the *Ring Gauge. Most Jars are 91/8" high x 5" in width.
The Jar is a great starter for a new Cigar smoker or anyone who does not have an over abundance of *stock or for those that do not have the room and patients for a regular humidor. Got Flavored Cigars? You don't want those tasty treats to invade your regular premium sticks. The Cigar Jar is a perfect solution. The Cigar Jar is air tight, washable, compact and easy for travel.
We hope this blog has helped some of you out there or at least given you another option for storing your cigars. Remember your questions and comments are always welcome.
Happy Smoking
Cigar Ash

*Stick (s): Cigar or Cigars
*Stock: all your Cigars
*Ring or Ring Gauge: Thickness of your Cigar
*Humidor: A box (usually wood and lined with kiln dried cedar) with a humidifier to store and keep cigars and in climate control area for freshness.
*Humidifier: A device made with either Glycol, foam or a sponge like material to keep Cigars at 65-70 degrees & 70% Humidity.
*Brick and Mortar: Your Local Cigar location
*Cigar Jar: An acrylic jar with a humidifier to store Cigars.