Humidor 101

Do I really need a Humidor?

Well that depends, do you want to smoke a dry stick or a nice moist cigar? If you don't care much for the sticks, then the answer is YES! You will need a nice wooden humidor to keep your cigars nice and moist and ready to smoke at any given time. Once your cigar looses it's moisture, it becomes a non-enjoyable cigar in as little as 48 hours. You will always want a humidor that is cedar lined. Nothing short of that. No plastic, glass or titanium. Just a nice wood humidor with a cedar lining will do the trick, but you should really start with at least one that will hold 200 cigars.

Now if you really take care of your humidor, that means keeping the temperature and the humidity at it's optimal levels, your cigar will not only stay fresh, but as it ages, it will get better. If you really want a great smoke from your cigar, then you should store them for at least 2 years before you smoke them. your best bet here is to ask your local cigar shop if they have room in their humidor for you. Of course there will probably be a fee!

After storage you may notice a white powdery substance on your cigars. Don't panic. It is just the starch in the leaves oxidizing in the air as it ages. You will find these cigars are better as the starch helps in the fermentation process of the leaves. Even after your cigar has been rolled and stored for sometime, it still slowly fermenting while in storage. This is a natural part of the aging process that results in a finer cigar. So if you see the white dust looking crystals, it's ok. It's not fungus.

Fungi's are usually green or black. The treatment is very simple. Throw everything out. Yes that is right. EVERYTHING! All the cigars and the humidor too. If you get a fungus in your humidor, your entire cigar stock that is in there contaminated as well as the humidor. If it can live on the tobacco leaf, then it will be hard to kill in you humidor. There is no fix, no cleaning methods, no way at all.