For all you cigar afficianado's out there, we came across this informative Wiki on Reddit today. Given its popularity in the Cigars sub-reddit, we figured we'd share it with you, our friends and customers, here at BuyLeaves.com.
- BuyLeaves.com
Storing Your Cigars
Storage Types
Depending on where you live cigar storage can be very important. No one wants to go through all the excitement of picking a cigar, paying for it, and saving it for just the right occasion just to find it's gone stale, gotten t0o damp etc. There are several different ways to store your cigars and each method will appeal to a different type of cigar smoker.
- Ziplock Bag - This is the perfect method for trying your first cigar or for those of us who don't collect, but will buy a cigar or two and smoke them within two weeks. In order to keep a couple cigars fresh, cut a piece off a sponge and get it fully damp (distilled water if you can). Keeping your cigars in a ziplock bag with this sponge (not touching it) in a temperature constant, dark place, where they will not be tampered with will keep them fresh for a good week or two, a month at most.
- Tupperador - By far the cheapest solution. On a budget? Get yourself a decently sized humidor, a digital hygrometer [only necessary if you are not using a two-way system like beads or a humidipak], a humidification device and you're all set. Unlike their cedar brethren, tupperadors will hold humidity perfectly. This means if you buy a 65% boveda pack, it will hold at 65%. (Usually, boveda packs will hold a humidity of a few percentage points below their listed humidity.)
Coolidor - The coolidor is the best form of cigar storage for 96% of cigar smokers. The coolidor is larger than most (affordable) humidors, it's much cheaper, and it works better than most (affordable) humidors. One can be built for approximately $60 and can fit hundreds of cigars in it. Here are the steps to a very basic coolidor:
- go out and buy a cooler, rule of thumb is no less than a 48 qt (always go bigger than you think you'll need)
- order some humi beads from heartfelt. (we recommend: 65% RH beads)
- the page will tell you how much a half pound will effectively humidify so do some quick math and order the right number (more is better than less).
- calibrate your hygrometer with a salt test
- wipe down all the plastic inside with distilled water and let it dry out. (repeat until the plastic smell goes away (or until you decide the amount left over is ok)
- find an open top container or two for your beads and place those in the cooler (if more than one try to keep them on opposite ends to humidify the whole area equally and they should come with directions for how much distilled water to get on them so follow those instructions).
- place hygrometer in coolidor
- place cigars (if not boxes ziplock bags are nice)
Humidor - If you can afford a nice Humidor or if your just too much of a stickler for the classic look for a humidor here are some things to look for:
- Size: Most sites will give you a cigar count, ignore this number they are using an unusually small cigar to find this number, when comparing two humidors look for the actual dimensions of the boxes and compare those. Always go bigger than you think you'll need, trust us. *Lining: If you're paying for a humidor make sure it's lined with Spanish cedar.
- Seal: If you can physically look at the humidor before purchasing it make sure it has a nice seal. The lid should not close on it's own, you should need to push it closed. *Price: Don't get stingy buying a humidor. You don't want to skimp out on a storage method only to ruin all your wonderful cigars, but don't get ripped off either.
Wineador - A step up from the coolidor is the wineador. This is similar to the coolidor, but instead of converting a cooler, you convert a thermoelectric wine cooler. This works similarly to the cooler, but allows for temperature adjustment, typically provides better circulation due to built in fans, and it looks a lot nicer (some think it looks better than a traditional humidor). For a great guide on this, seeWatzee's comments in this post
Traveldor (or Herfador) - The traveldor, or herfador, is an air tight, padded and plastic container used to transport cigars safely from one location to another. When traveling by air, remember to get one that has a pressure release valve on it. Otherwise you'll never get it open!
Mixing Cigars
The obvious thing here is to not mix your flavored, or "infused", cigars with the rest of your cigars. Why? Because storing cigars will allow all flavors of the cigars to marry with each other. Some people go as far as separating origin of tobacco so that Cubans, NC, DRs and others all sit in more "ideal" humidity environments. Or you can set aside some cigars for aging, while others might be ready to go. How you decide to sort your cigars is up to you. However, just remember to occasionally check your cigars so that you can keep an eye out for mold.
Cellophane, Boxes & Tubos
Storing cigars with or without their cellophane (cello) is a personal choice. If you are going to take off the cello on your cigars, be aware that it's there to protect it from movement or cigar tetris damage. If you leave the cello on your cigars, it will slow down the aging process a bit. Some find that cutting off the fold from the cello is the best of both worlds. Cigars in tubos need to be put into your humidor. Most prefer to take the cigar out and keep the tubo in case they want to transport the cigar. Some simply take the cap off the tubo and toss it into their humidor. Personal preference again. Finally, when you start buying boxes of cigars, it's best if you can toss the entire box in your humidor if you have the room. Collectors tend to leave the plastic on the box (it breathes like cello), while some who just want to lessen the marriage of flavors from other cigars in their humidors take it off and toss the entire box in.
Mold vs Plume/Bloom
Sometimes it can be difficult to spot the difference between plume (or bloom) and mold. A good rule of thumb? It' usually mold. Normally plume looks like a fine coating of very faint crystal powder (if you ever were an ent, it looks like someone dipped your cigar in kief)
Here are some images of plume vs mold
Seasoning Your Humidor
There's no real wrong way to season your humidor. You can choose to use a no wipe, wipe or seasoning packet method. YouTube has some great videos on each. Here are a few.
No Wipe Method
Wipe Method
Using Seasoning Packs
Humidity & Humidification
Types
For a general overview of different types of humidification devices read this post. Generally, you want to toss the floral puck that comes with your humidor and buy beads, humidipaks or an active humidification device like the Oasis. It comes down to the size of your humidor in terms of what's best for your space. Normally, if you have a desktop humidipaks and beads are your better options. Larger humidors and small furniture humidors can use beads or active humidification devices. Large cabinets need the active humidification devices.
Humidity Levels for Cigars
What's the "ideal" humidity level for your cigars? There isn't really a magic number. Too high and you risk anything from bad burns to mold. Too low and you risk bad burns, cracked and dry sticks. So is there a safe zone? Yes. 70% is safe, but usually too damn high. The tobacco's country of origin and/or the type of tobacco will vary the "ideal" humidity level for your cigars. For instance, Cuban and Nicaraguan tobacco tends to like lower humidity levels. So does broadleaf, corojo or ligero (think full strength cigars). Dominican and Honduran tobacco doesn't really matter. If you're looking to age your cigars, try to shoot for an even low to mid RH%. Many of us prefer to keep our RH% around 65%.
If you notice your humidity level shoot up over 70% or can't for the life of you get it lower, don't sweat it. Just dry box your sticks before smoking them. Dry boxing is simply a term used to describe the act of taking cigars out of your humidor and putting them in a "dry box", or a box without any humidification devices. Depending on your ambient RH% this can be done for a few hours or a few days without any harm to your cigars. Using an old cigar box works well for this.
Thanks go to /u/misterbastahrd for most of this. He is the keeper of cigar knowledge well beyond his years.
Hygrometers
Digital and analog hygrometers. Which to choose? Easy. Digital. Every time. They are cheap, easy to replace and are usually more accurate than the cheap analog that comes with entry level humidors.
Salt Testing
Here's a guide on salt testing written by /u/speedgeek on Leaf & Flame. You can also buy a humidipak calibration kit if you really want to take the easy route.
