What Does A Humidor Do?
Most cigars are tropical creatures – grown, cured, aged and manufactured in tropical climates (Nicaragua, Cuba, the Domincan Republic, Honduras, etc). So they “grow up” being used to a certain temperature and level of humidity. Once they get shipped to your country and home, it’s important that they are stored carefully in a certain environment.
If they get too dry, moisture and the oils that pack a lot of flavour begin to evaporate from the cigar. It will get dry, brittle and hard. If you smoke it in this condition, the wrapper will probably unravel and the dry tobacco will burn hot and fast and have little flavour. Any house that has heating is likely to quickly dry out a cigar. Even if you live in a humid climate (like Queensland), our homes tend to have airconditioning running which reduces the humidity.
If cigars get too moist, mold starts to develop on the tobacco. You can wipe it off in the early stages, but if it’s left unattended, it’ll take over the cigars, and moldy cigars taste like musty basements smells. The cigar will also swell and split wide open from the excess moisture.
If cigars get too hot, the moisture will evaporate, drying out the cigars (so don’t leave them in your car). Most cigars also contain microscopic insect eggs which will hatch if they get too warm and the resulting bugs will eat your cigars. Fortunately, Perdomo puts all of our cigars through a special freezing process that exterminates all of these eggs, so that isn’t a problem our customers need to worry about. However, you still want to keep your cigars cool.
Don’t let them get TOO cold, though, because that can also rob them of their moisture.
So the rule is to try to keep your cigars cool (around 21º C) and humidified at just the right level (about 70% humidity).
And that’s where a humidor comes in handy.
Humidors come is all sorts of shapes and sizes – beautiful wooden boxes, zip-sealed bags, plastic boxes, and even closets.
There are lots of humidors available online on places like Ebay, but as a general rule, I recommend investing in a good quality humidor to store your cigars. After all, if you’re going to spend $400 or $500 on a box of cigars, you don’t want to store them in a cheap, low-quality humidor that could allow them to be ruined. A good humidor will be made with thoroughly kiln-dried or air-cured cedar. If insufficiently cured, the cedar will ooze resin and become spotty and ugly. It’s possible to use other woods as liners, but cedar is by far the best. It’s very porous and helps control the humidity inside the box by absorbing excess moisture but also giving it back to the air if the humidity inside the box starts to drop. It also adds a very slight but pleasant cedar aroma to the cigars as they sit in the box.
Also pay attention to the thickness of the walls of the humidor. If the humidity inside the box is 70% but the humidity outside is 10%, the moisture variation is likely to warp or crack the lining unless it’s made with something like thick cedar.
Another test of a good humidor is to raise the lid about three inches and let it drop. If the box is crafted well enough to create a tight seal, a “whoosh” of air will escape and precent the lid from slamming loudly.
Most premium tabletop humidors come equipped with a humidifying element and a hygrometer, which is a gauge that measures the relative humidity in the air. It’s usually a small, simple gauge – digital ones are usually better than dials, because you can fit more technology into the digital kinds, making them more accurate. It’s important though to make sure you check your cigars regularly using the “pinch test” – lightly pinch the cigar between your thumb and index finger, it should feel firm but not hard – don’t trust your hygrometer totally.
There’s a lot more we could say about humidors, but for now let’s finish by re-stating the important points:
1. It’s VERY important to store your cigars carefully.
2. Keep the temperature around 21º C and the humidity around 70%
3. If you’re going to be investing regularly in premium cigars, consider investing in a premium humidor.
For more information on how to use a humidor, we recommend getting the following book:
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