How do I prepare a new humidor?

Cigars cannot be placed into a brand new humidor and be expected to stay fresh. Why? Unless it is properly prepared, there is not an adequate amount of humidity inside your humidor. That said, here are instructions on how to prepare a new humidor.

1) Using a paper towel or a soft cloth, wipe down the entire inner surface of the humidor, including the inside of the lid, with distilled water. (It is crucial that only
distilled water be used for this since water drawn from any other source will contain bleach, calcium, chlorine and other chemicals and minerals that will clog your humidification unit and, worst of all, impart those flavors to your cigars.)

2) Dip the humidification unit in a shallow bowl of distilled water and let it soak for 5 to 10 seconds. After it has been soaked, shake out any excess water and place it on a paper towel for a few minutes. This will allow any additional excess water to drain out. After a few minutes, affix the humidification unit to the roof of your humidor (or in the case of the glass top humidors, place it to either side or follow the instructions that came with your humidification unit) and close your humidor. It should be allowed to sit for at least 12 hours.

3) After 12 hours repeat step 1. Do not skip this step. Any cigars placed inside your humidor too early will be competing for humidity with the still porous cedar
lining and will not be adequately humidified.

How do I maintain my humidor?

Assuming it was properly prepared when you first purchased it, the only real maintenance required will be to refill the humidification unit from time to time. How often this is necessary depends, of course, on the reading of your hygrometer and the condition of your cigars.

If you use only distilled water, once a month ought to be sufficient. If you are using a 50/50 mix of distilled water and propylene glycol in your humidification unit, the humidity will remain constant for a considerably longer period of time.

However, if you open your humidor several times a day or live in a particularly dry climate, more regular maintenance may be needed. Keep in mind that you will
have to be more attentive to the humidity level inside your humidor during winter months when the relative humidity inside your house may drop significantly and draw some of the moisture out of your humidor.

Besides refilling your humidification unit from time to time, the only other precautionary steps you need to take to ensure a great-working humidor are to keep it away from windows or heating or air conditioning vents. Direct contact with sunlight will fade the wood and cause the internal temperature to rise above acceptable levels, while rapid changes in temperature that may occur near a heating or air-conditioning vent may damage the humidor as well as any cigars
contained inside of it.

How do I calibrate my new hygrometer?

If you are using a digital hygrometer, it is runs on a battery and will not require calibration.

Article courtesy of: www.buyshakespeare.com

Analog
hygrometers (the round dials included in most humidor boxes) are often as much
as 20% off in their reading when brand new. This does not indicate that they
are defective, just that they haven’t been exposed to any humidity in a while
and thus need to be calibrated.

To accurately
calibrate new hygrometer humidor you will the following: a teaspoon of salt, a
shot glass, a plastic sandwich bag and a few drops of water.

Place the
salt in the shot glass and add just a few drops of water to it. Do not put so
much water in it that it becomes a salt-water solution, you just want the salt
to be slightly damp. Place the shot glass and your analog hygrometer in a
plastic sandwich bag and tightly seal the bag. Make sure you leave plenty of
air in there though, you want to create an atmosphere. Leave both items in the
bag for at least six hours.

After this
length of time, the relative humidity in the bag will be near 75% RH and your
hygrometer should read about 75% RH. If not, you can adjust the reading by
using a small screwdriver to adjust the dial on the back of the hygrometer.

Remember most
small inexpensive hygrometers are only accurate to within 3% so do not be
surprised if it reads 72% or 78% RH. It is exactly 75% RH within the confines
of the bag due to the salt paste reacting with the air, and what your
hygrometer reads differently is the amount of error.

Do I really
need a wooden humidor box to store my cigars?

Yes, you do.
Though there are many inexpensive plastic “Tupperdors” being sold these days,
none can do the job of an authentic cedar-lined humidor box. Although the
plastic devices may have an attractive price, they will not and can not provide
the air circulation or humidity regulation needed for cigars to age. At best, a
plastic Tupperdor will prevent your cigars from drying out, while a cedar-lined
wooden humidor box allows for the slow and steady release of air and exchange of
gasses created during a cigar’s maturation process. An airtight plastic humidor
will normally over-humidify your cigars and cause them to get moldy or burst
open.

My humidor
was accidentally left open for several days. Do I need to re-humidify it? How do
I do that? What should I do about my cigars?

If your
humidor has been left open for a few days and the humidity inside of it has
evaporated, simply re-prepare it as you did when it was new. (Including
re-moistening the humidification unit.) However, there is likely still a fair
amount of humidity in the interior cedar, so you will probably only need to
wipe it down once. (If too much moisture is applied, you run the danger of
warping the interior.) While you are letting it sit overnight, place your cigars
in a temporary plastic humidor or Humidi-Pak so that they don’t dry out any
further. Once the humidity has been restored to you humidor, return your cigars
to it and let them sit undisturbed until they have been adequately
re-humidified.

Can’t I just
keep my cigars in one of those cheap plastic “Tupperdors?” A friend of
mine just got one and he swears by it.

Yeah, and
he’ll be swearing at it the first time he opens it up to discover that his
cigars have burst open or they’re covered with mold. These devices will work,
as a temporary fix, when you don’t have room for a few cigars in your authentic
humidor box, but they are neither a reliable or dependable substitute for the
long-term storage provided by a wooden humidor box.

How long will
my humidor keep my cigars fresh?

If properly
maintained, there is no reason a good humidor shouldn’t be capable of storing
your cigars for the duration of your life. In fact, there have been reports of
pre-embargo cigars “discovered” in walk-in humidors that were placed there 40
or 50 years ago and they were said to be out-of-this-world-delicious.

What
qualities should I look for when buying a humidor?

The qualities
you want to look for in a humidor are as follows: it should be cedar lined,
solidly built with a good, tight, seal and a raised lip around the inside of
the box, and be large enough to hold at least 25 to 30 cigars.

What kind of
humidor should I buy?

That depends
on what your storage needs are.

Aesthetically,
your choice will be a reflection of your own personal sense of style. A good
humidor can be much more than a well-working and functional piece of equipment,
it can be a piece of furniture that adds charm and distinction to a room.

As far as
size is concerned, we recommend a box that can accommodate at least 50 or more
cigars. Why? Although you may not plan to keep a lot of cigars around at any
given time, larger humidors offer the ideal amount of air circulation for
properly aging cigars.

In addition,
you should not preclude the possibility of stocking up or buying a box or two
simply because you do not have enough room for them. Also, once word gets out
that you own a humidor box, you might get lucky and receive a box of cigars as
a gift from someone and it would be a shame for them to dry out because you
didn’t have enough room to store them in a smaller box.

We do sell
smaller travel humidors that hold 10 to 20 cigars but these units are, as their
name suggests, designed for travel, and not intended to be used for longer,
indefinite lengths of time. We carry humidors that can hold from 10 to 750
cigars, so we are sure to have one that meets your specific needs.

Why do I need
to use distilled water in my humidor?

Water drawn
from any other source, whether bottled, straight from the tap, or put through a
Brita system, will still contain bleach, calcium, chlorine and other chemicals
and minerals that will clog your humidification unit and, worst of all, impart
those flavors to your cigars.

What is a
hygrometer?

A hygrometer
is a device used to measure the humidity levels within an enclosed space. Most
tabletop humidor boxes include the analog variety, which provide a reading on a
small round dial. These are usually accurate within 5 or 10 degrees but they
require semi-annual re-calibration in order to keep them working properly.

I just bought
a new humidor and I can’t get the humidity to 70%. Is there a problem with the
seal?

Probably not.
If it’s a brand new humidor, you need to have some patience.

Any humidor
worth its salt will be cedar-lined and will take some time to break in. Cedar
is an extremely porous wood and it will absorb much of the water from your
humidification unit before it even gets a chance to enter your cigars. This is
why the interior of all brand new humidors need to be wiped down with distilled
water and allowed to sit with no cigars in it for at least 24 hours.

If you
immediately put cigars in a brand new humidor box, they will be competing with
the wood for the humidity that your humidification unit provides.

If you’ve
already wiped down the inside of your humidor box, and it is still not reaching
70% humidity, you may not have a humidification element large enough for the
size of your humidor box.

How do I
calibrate my new hygrometer?

If you are
using a digital hygrometer, it is runs on a battery and will not require
calibration.

Analog
hygrometers (the round dials included in most humidor boxes) are often as much
as 20% off in their reading when brand new. This does not indicate that they
are defective, just that they haven’t been exposed to any humidity in a while
and thus needs to be calibrated.

To accurately
calibrate new hygrometer humidor you will the following: a teaspoon of salt, a
shot glass, a plastic sandwich bag and a few drops of water.

Place the
salt in the shot glass and add just a few drops of water to it. Do not put so
much water in it that it becomes a salt-water solution, you just want the salt
to be slightly damp.

Place the
shot glass and your analog hygrometer in a plastic sandwich bag and tightly
seal the bag. Make sure you leave plenty of air in there though, you want to
create an atmosphere.

Leave both
items in the bag for at least six hours. After this length of time, the
relative humidity in the bag will be 75% and your hygrometer should read 75%.
If not, you can adjust the reading by using a small screwdriver to adjust the
dial on the back of the hygrometer.

The
hygrometer inside my humidor isn’t reading 70% but it’s pretty close. Should I
worry about this?

How are your
cigars? Press down in the center of a cigar with your thumb. (Make sure you
don’t press down on the head or you could crack the cap if it has gotten a
little dry.)

Depending on
the size of your humidor you may need to repeat this procedure on a number of
different cigars. Cigars in particularly large humidors can be exposed to
different amounts of humidity due to their varying proximity to the
humidification element.

How do they
feel? Cigars that are properly stored should give a little when you press down
on them but still offer some resistance. If you press down on a cigar and you
thumb goes nearly all the way through it as though you were pressing down on a
wet sponge, it’s too moist.

On the other
hand, if it’s so hard that it feels like it was mined rather than rolled, it is
clearly too dry. Although 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 70% humidity are the ideal
conditions for cigar storage, the best gauge for measuring up the effectiveness
of your humidor is the condition of your cigars.

Slight
variations from the 70/70 ideal are fine if your cigars are still in good shape
and should only be a cause for concern if they’re too dry or too moist.

Will the
different cigars in my humidor impart their flavors to one another? If so, how
can I stop this?

Since cigars
are porous by nature, they can impart flavors to one another while in your
humidor.

The best
defense against this is leaving them in their cellophane wrappers when you put
them in your humidor box. Unfortunately, this will not allow the cigars to age
properly.

If you plan
to keep both strong and mild cigars in your humidor and you’re worried about
their flavors intermingling, you should keep them apart by using the dividers
that are included in most good humidors.

We sell a
variety of humidors featuring dividers as well as trays that can be lifted out
altogether.

If you like
keep a rather large amount of cigars of varying strengths around and are
worried about their flavors intermingling with one another, we recommend a
Cabinet or Armoire humidor from Cristom Imports. These units allow you to
devote entire shelves to one kind of cigar.

If that’s not
an option, or as a quick fix in a small humidor, a layer or two of the thin
strips of cedar that come in some cigar boxes ought to do the trick.

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