Cigars come in various shapes, sizes, and forms and need to be stored in a place with perfect humidity levels.
Cigars are generally stored in wooden boxes called humidors which help maintain the required humidity levels. This keeps cigars or the tobacco inside cigars in the right control. There are various kinds of humidors one can choose from table-top, personal, travel, or a cabinet humidor. Cigar aficionados typically purchase humidors based on their requirements – for example, a cabinet humidor can hold up to 5000 cigars whereas a personal one can store up to 100.
So, what is the art behind storing cigars in a humidor? They say keeping handmade cigars outside without proper casing is almost criminal. A true cigar aficionado would know that cigars generally breathe, and thus pick up odors of food and beverages in their surroundings. This ends up interfering with the unique aroma and flavour of a cigar, leading to ruining its original taste. To preserve a cigar’s health, people use good quality humidors. Humidors also protect cigars from being attacked by insects like the lasioderma that preys on cigars stowed away in damp and unhygienic places.
Caring for Your Humidor
Cigar Health: To maintain your cigar collection’s health, it would be wise to invest in a good humidor. To ensure that cigars remain in perfect smoking condition, your humidor needs to be replenished every few days. A good habit is to replenish every four days on an average and clean every fortnight with a damp cloth or serviette. Shuffling the cigars inside the humidor will also have perfect control over each cigar.
Replenishing the Humidor: There are a couple of ways in which a table-top humidor can be replenished. One way is to place the jacketed oasis on the tray of shallow-filled water for about 45 minutes. The other way is to place the humidor’s limestone separately in a glass of water for about 30 minutes. The trick is to clean the jacket before putting it back into the humidor and ensuring that the limestone does not absorb excess water. It is best to use distilled water for the humidor and not tap water.
Ideal Humidity: The ideal humidity within a humidor should be between 69 and 72 degrees, with the humidor being stored in a cool, dry place (~18 degrees) and away from any direct sunlight. If you live in a place where the humidity levels are towards the higher side, you may notice a little white powder being formed on your cigar upon longer storage. This powder is called bloom and fortunately does not affect the flavor of cigars. It can be carefully wiped off the cigar.
Other Best Practices: Always check if your humidor is clean and hygienic. Since a humidor helps keep cigars moist, there should be no dampness in it. Bugs can thrive in damp humidors, and this could affect the entire pack of cigars.
Maintain hygiene when it comes to using a humidor and storing your favorite cigars. Find out more about cigars, cigar etiquette, and humidors on Cigar Conexion.
