​ Cigar Humidors: Everything You Need to Know

Cigars elevate smokers to a sophisticated level of a few as only 4.5% of smokers in the US smoke cigars. Before you venture into smoking cigars, you need to treat the whole process with respect.

One thing you'll need to learn about is proper cigar storage, which means understanding what a humidor is and why they're important to cigar-care. Read on to learn everything you need to know about cigars and cigar humidors.

What Are Cigars?

You obviously know the basics of what a cigar is if you’re looking at cigar humidors, but having a slightly deeper knowledge of what they are will help you understand why you need a quality humidor.

A cigar is an organic product made when a roll of dried or fermented tobacco leaf is wrapped in larger tobacco leaves. Unlike cigarettes, cigars have unique characteristics that cigar smokers should endeavor to preserve, such as flavor and aroma. Therefore, a cigar needs a particular type of storage to keep them from drying out. 

If you have some cigars or are getting some that you don't plan to smoke in the immediate future, a humidor is crucial as they need to be kept at a proper and relatively consistent temperature and moisture level. 

So, you’ll need a high-quality humidor to preserve the flavorful notes of your best cigars.

What Are Cigar Humidors?

Cigars need special treatment; it is no wonder why many cigar smokers aren't every day or even weekly smokers, but reserve the ritual for special occasions. But however you like to enjoy a cigar, if you want them to last for a long time and even become more refined, you need to prioritize cigar storage. 

A cigar humidor is a container used to create the ideal environment for storing, preserving, and aging cigars. Cigar humidors are usually airtight and often made from simple materials such as wood.

The tobacco in cigars is grown and flourishes in humid conditions. Similar conditions are imitated to preserve their natural state and allow further aging. A cigar-humidor will serve this purpose and ensure that the cigars retain a form as fresh as the day they were made.

Why You Need a Cigar Humidor

Other than preserving cigars, humidors also have the following benefits on your cigars. You’ll find that they not only protect but also improve your cigars over time.

If you're getting one or a few cigars to smoke over the weekend, then no, you really don't need to worry about storage, it's not like leaving a perishable food item on the counter. A cigar won't dry out after a few days out of a humidor. But most cigar smokers buy cigars to have at their disposal, perhaps bought by the box to pull out when the situation demands the punctuation of a good smoke. In addition, many attest to the benefits on giving their cigars a little aging time before lighting up. 

Improves With Age

Think of it like wine. We know wine is supposed to get better with age, but if I uncork a bottle and leave it out for the night, that's not goin to make for a very nice glass of bubbly (in fact, at this point I don't think it's fair to call it "bubbly" at all). That's all to say, these things age well with the stipulation of proper conditions. The aging process occurs on a micro-biological level, in which an appropriate and consistent environment changes the nature of the cigar, wine, or whatever it might be, without spoiling it. 

Maintaining Burn Temperatures

As alluded to earlier, cigar humidors regulate humidity levels. You need to ensure that the cigars are not in an environment that is too damp or too dry. When smoking cigars that are dried out, they can burn hotter and faster leading to an acrid and unpleasant taste. This goes back to one of the most important things crucial to understand for those coming into cigar or pipe smoking—it's the simmer of the leaf that imparts flavor. Media representations of smokers puffing plumes or a big red ember crackling in a pipe are all for the visual effect. Naturally, a bit of moisture helps regulate the combustion. 

On the other hand, a cigar that has been left in too humid of an environment can impede the burn and lead to an uneven smoke. Cigar humidors, therefore, assure cigars smokers a quality smoke. 

Protecting Essential Oils

People fancy cigars for their distinguished aroma and flavor. The essential oils present in tobacco leaves are highly volatile and can easily be affected by adverse weather conditions.

Cigar humidors protect the cigars and preserve the essential oils in the tobacco leaves by providing ideal steady temperatures and dark environments.

Types of Cigar Humidors

There are many types of humidors depending on size, style, and use. The following is a list of the different types of cigar humidors.

Walk-in Cigar Humidor

A walk-in-humidor is a room that has mimics and regulates humidity levels of the perfect tobacco growing environment. Cigar shops usually feature this type of humidor.

Furniture Cigar Humidor

You can craft specific furniture such as cabinets and tables to store cigars.

Mostly, you will find cabinet-humidors in bars and cigar stores, but of course, there are those aficionados that like to keep well stocked with options, so it's certainly not uncommon for these folks to have cabinet humidors in their homes. 

Personal Cigar Humidor

Personal cigar humidors offer convenience by being readily available. As a cigar smoker, you should consider this type of cigar humidor whether you are a beginner, semi-regular smoker, or avid collector.

Personal cigar humidors can hold between 20 to 80 cigars, while others have slightly more. Since these cigar humidors are for personal use, you can keep them in areas proximal to you, such as your office desks or at home.

Travel Cigar Humidor

Travel cigar humidors are portable; hence you can carry them along during your travels. Travel cigars humidors are small and can only store a few cigars.

Temporary Alternatives for a Cigar Humidor

Cigar humidors are an investment; if you don't store your cigar in regulated humidity levels, it will lose its aroma, flavor, and essential oils within 2 to 3 days, reducing smoke quality.

Below is a rundown of temporary fixes for preserving your cigars.

Use a Cooler

The secret to preserving your cigars using an ordinary cooler lies in the humidity levels that the cooler can regulate. Coolers make for a decent make-shift humidor because they have decent seals. Just as you don't want to let the cold out when using the ice box for its intended purpose, it can do a decent job of with staining the internal humidity. But of course, there's the matter of manufacturing that humidity. 

For this, you'll want to make a couple modifications to really convert the cooler to a coolidor. You have a few options for introducing a humid environment to the cooler—a humidifier, humidity control packs, and a few other ingenuitive devices such as Brigham's Crystal Jar can be affective. 

Any one of these options will get the job done, you just want to make sure you also equip your coolidor with a hydrometer. This is simply a meter that will measure the humidity level in the coolidor. Because these humidifying devices may have to be replaced from time to time, it's important to be able to check the humidity so you know when you can determine they are losing their efficacy. 

What to Consider When Buying a Humidor

Having learned about the different types of humidors and their uses, you now need to identify one that will meet your requirements. Buying a cigar humidor can be tricky because of the variety available, and therefore you need to research the qualities that a good humidor should have. When buying a cigar humidor, consider the following factors.

• The size of the cigar humidor – make sure you buy a cigar humidor that can accommodate your cigar collection.

• The material used – the best cigar humidors are made of Spanish cedar; however, there are different kinds of materials that can suit your storage needs, such as acrylic or metal cigar humidors.

• The cost of the cigar humidors – Even though you want a budget-friendly humidor, consider its benefits and how long it will last. Ensure that you take your time and set aside a good amount of money to secure yourself a quality cigar humidor.

• What type of accessories accompany the cigar humidor? – You need to consider whether the cigar humidity control is built-in or as a separate accessory and which is more convenient for you?

• Buy a cigar humidor with a tight seal – The seal condition makes or breaks a cigar humidor; make sure the seal properly insulates.

Maintaining a Cigar Humidor

The maintenance of a cigar is also known as Seasoning. Before storing cigars in your cigar humidor, you should conduct Seasoning.

This process works by enabling wood cigar humidors to absorb moisture while preventing cigars from drying. Below are the steps you should follow to ensure the proper humidity level is maintained.

1. Wet a cloth with water and squeeze out the excess
2. Place a plastic bag in the cigar humidor and the wet cloth on top of it and close the cigar humidor.
3. Leave the cigar humidor closed for approximately 24 hours.
4. The humidor's hygrometer should read between 72% and 73% before you place cigars in it. If the humidity level is lower, add water to the cloth and wait for 24 hours more. Otherwise, if the humidity level is higher, wait for another 24 hours.
5. Add your cigars to the cigar humidor once the humidity levels are between 72% and 73%.
6. As a rule of thumb, ensure you maintain the cigar humidor at a humidity level of 70% at roughly 70°F. This rule is also known as the humidor 70/70 rule.

Where To Go From Here

Now that you have learned about the different cigar humidors, consider what’s best for your needs when buying them and their maintenance. For a range of quality cigar humidors and other tobacco needs, check out our shop at Tobacco Pipes.