How to Season a Cigar Humidor
It’s a familiar situation: you have just returned from Cuba with 50 of the island’s best cigars and now need a way to store and protect them. Although you could simply place them in Tupperware with a humidification device, you decide to up your game and buy a proper humidor. After all, these won’t be the last cigars you buy and besides, when friends come over, pulling the plastic lid off something that may once have held Brussels sprouts, won’t have quite the same cachet as offering up the contents of a beautiful burl wood humidor.
While you could simply place the cigars in the your humidor with a humidification device, (or regulator), a new humidor is dry wood and in that state would draw humidity out both the regulator and the cigars. The hygrometer could read within the optimum range and with regular filling of the regulator the box and cigars would eventually settle into the right humidity, but during the process the cigars themselves would have a lost a lot of their internal humidity and in the process of regaining it, you risk split wrappers and altered flavours. Better to exercise a little patience and create an environment that will protect and enhance your cigars. These 2 methods will get the job done.
Wiping down the wood
1. Using a clean sponge soaked in distilled water and then squeezed of excess water, wipe down all the interior wood making sure to do the interior top and any shelves and separators as well. Avoid getting water on the outer lip or in the keyhole.
2. The idea here is to moisten the wood so that so that you can see it darken with the application, but that there is no standing water laying in the humidor when you are finished.
3. Fill the regulator as per the manufacturer’s instructions and lay it on the bottom of the humidor along with a calibrated hygrometer and close the lid.
4. And now for the hard part: Do nothing. No peeking! Leave the box closed for at least 3 or 4 days to allow the wood to absorb the humidity. Only after this time can you open the lid to check the hygrometer. If the reading is 65% or higher you can install the regulator and start placing your cigars. If it is lower, you can redo the seasoning process and the readings should rise. Remember it’s better to do the process incrementally because if the wood is overly humidified it may warp or over-expand, making the box difficult to open.
Some manufacturers discourage this method of seasoning as they feel it may raise the grain of the wood; even to the point of suggesting that the grain may risk damaging the cigar’s wrapper. Although there is a possibility of making the grain of the wood more pronounced, you should be fine if you apply the sponge in the direction of the grain and don’t use too much water. Do not use a paper towel as these have a tendency to leave lint that will have to be cleaned out before putting your cigars in.
Boveda Seasoning Packs
Boveda, a company that has been around for over 20 years, produces single use, humidity packs that regulate your desired humidity. These packs, which are 2-way – meaning they give off humidity when needed and absorb if it gets too high (say in the summer) come in a variety of sizes and relative humidity (RH) levels, from small 8gm sugar packet sized for travel humidors, to 60gm for 25 cigars and 320gm for larger amounts. Boveda also produces packs that emit 84% humidity and allow for almost effortless seasoning.
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Determine what size of humidor you have. Usually when purchasing one it will be stated as a 50 count, 100 count, etc. If not, guesstimate how many cigars your box can hold, bearing in mind that the industry uses the petit corona size (like a Montecristo No. 4) as the benchmark. You may have a 50 count, but if you exclusively smoke double coronas, your box will hold half that number.
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For each 25 count, place 1 60gm boveda 84% in the box. If you have a 100 count humidor, for example, that comes with a shelf, use 4 packs (2 on the bottom and 2 on the shelf.)
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After 2 weeks of the humidor remaining closed (and you thought waiting 4 days was tough!), remove and discard the packs, insert your desired humidification device and place your cigars.
This method may be the slowest but it is also the kindest to the wood, allowing it to slowly and evenly absorb humidity and minimize the risks of warping and over expansion.
Some Final Thoughts:
Some truly impatient folks advocate using steam as the most efficient way to dampen the wood by placing a bowl of steaming hot water in the bottom of the humidor and closing the lid. Aside from the over-aggression of this method and the risks of spillage, the steam tends to over humidify the area directly above the bowl to the detriment of the other parts of the box. The less said about this method, the better.
What we are shooting for here is state of equilibrium: The wood, cigars and environment should all be at the same relative humidity. Now, because we open our humidors regularly to retrieve a cigar (if we smoke less frequently we should still open it once a week to introduce fresh air), and because wood is porous and will dissipate humidity over time, we have to regularly introduce new humidity in the form of adding water, PG solution, fresh Boveda packs, etc. every 4-6 weeks, with a goal of maintaining as constant a RH level as possible. It’s virtually impossible to maintain an exact RH level, but if you can keep the highs and lows within 5% you’re doing great!
Keep in mind, if you introduce a new box of cigars to your humidor, these may be at a different level of humidity and it can take several weeks or more for a humidor to regain a state of equilibrium. If you find that over time, it is becoming difficult to maintain the same level of humidity as the past or your cigars feel drier than usual it may be time to undertake the seasoning process again.
A final note: Some humidors, such as some Davidoff models have interiors that have been treated with wax. These are not meant to be pre-treated before placing your cigars. When in doubt it is always best to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
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