The Demo Site

Whether you spend $25 on a humidor or $2000 your humidor may experience difficulties maintaining the perfect humidity level for your cigars. If your humidor isn’t maintaining humidity like you assumed it would and now your cigars are in danger of drying out we recommend that you read the remainder of this article.

On most occassions when you buy a new humidor it does not come humidified unless the cigar shop that you purchased it from conditioned it and let it rest while it sat on the store shelf. If you are buying a humidor from an online store, it will need to be conditioned prior to use. The worst thing you could do to your precious cigars is to put them into an under-conditioned humidor.

When you buy your humidor you have to make sure it comes with the following items, if not buy them before you put cigars in your humidor:

Propylene Glycol Solution (Yea, you can use distilled water but we don’t recommend it. Using premixed humidor solution almost guarantees no mold growth or bacteria.)

Hygrometer (We highly recommend a digital hygrometer. Analog hygrometers are known to provide inaccurate readings.)

Humidifier (We prefer crystal based humidifiers over standard foam based ones. They hold moisture much better and when you notice that the crystals are shrinking you simply add more humidor solution.)

We also recommend having a clean spray bottle and int-free paper towel or cloth on hand.

Now that you have everything we listed above, you can humidify your humidor. When re-humidifying your humidor, make sure you remove your cigars and place them into humidified enviroment. Using a pre-humdified humipouch or humibag works well.

Steps To Seasoning Your Humidor

TIP - IF NOT ALREADY INSTALLED, HUMIDIFICATION DEVICES AND HYGROMETERS ARE NORMALLY ATTACHED WITH A STICKY PIECE OF VELCRO OR A METAL PLATE. NEVER CONDITION YOUR HUMIDOR UNTIL YOU HAVE PLACED THESE ON YOUR HUMIDOR’S INTERIOR LID. They WILL NOT STICK TO THE MOIST WOOD. THEY MUST BE ATTACHED ON A DRY SURFACE.

Start by pouring some of the humidor solution into the spray bottle. Just enough to get about 10-15 sprays worth out of it. Now take the spray bottle and not close, spray a section of the humidor down until the wood changes to just a slightly darker color.

TIP - WORK IN SMALL SECTIONS, START WITH THE LEFT, THEN RIGHT AND FINISH WITH THE INTERIOR LID. SPRAYING THE ENTIRE HUMIDOR ALL AT ONCE OR OVER WETTING IT MAY CAUSE THE WOOD TO WARP, CRACK OR SWELL.

You now need to wipe the section of the humidor down with paper towel that you sprayed with the Propylene Glycol Solution. Make sure it’s a good quality paper towel so it does not shread or leave lint on the wood. Rub the solution soaked wood down to dry off excess solution. Once you have completely sprayed and rubbed down the inside of humidor check it over to make sure that there are no dry spots. You want to condition the humidor so the wood absorbs moisture which will create an almost tropical enviroment to store your cigars in.

The last step is to add your humidification device. If using a sponge like humidifier make sure you saturate it with Propylene Glycol Solution to get it completely wet. Make sure you shake off any excess solution. You do not want it to drip and warp the wood. Now attach it to your humidor where you previously placed the velcro or metal magnet plates.

Close the seasoned humidor and let it rest for 72 hours. Do not place the humidor near a window or a warm spot in the house and do not peek at the humidify level or open it until time is up.

When you open the humidor, your relative humidity should be in the 70’s range. If not, repeat the steps and try again until you achieve this level. If your humidor is reading proper levels, you can place your cigars inside for safe storage. Make sure they rest comfortably, are not overcrowed and do not block any of the devices on the inside.

TIP - RE-HUMIDIFYING YOUR HUMIDOR COULD TAKE A FEW DAYS TO A FEW WEEKS. LARGER HUMIDORS MAY REQUIRE ADDITIONAL TIME DUE TO THEIR SIZE.

If you tend to open your humidor on a regular basis you will need to monitor humidity and temperature readings. You will also find yourself re-humidifying your humidor on a regular basis.

For those who do not go into your humidor, you also need to check your levels. We recommend checking them on a weekly basis.

TIP - IF YOU THINK YOUR HYGROMETER IS NOT READING HUMIDITY LEVELS PROPERLY SIMPLY REMOVE IT AND WRAP IT IN A COOL DAMP WASHCLOTH. AFTER 30 MINUTES CHECK THE LEVEL. IF IT DOES NOT READ 100%, YOU WILL NEED TO ADJUST IT OR PURCHASE A NEW ONE.

written by : cigargypsy.com