“Life is too short to smoke bad cigar…..” – Zen Warrior
What an ideal quote to kick things off for us today for the fourth edition of The Beginners Guide to Cigars. Today, one of the pivotal parts of making sure that you are getting the most out of your new-found hobby and appreciation for cigars is making sure that you a properly storing your cigars in the downtime between smoking. Now, if you're a casual enough smoker where you get a cigar from your local shop to smoke that evening, wonderful! You don't have a ton to worry about in terms of making sure that your cigars are properly cared for in the time leading up to smoking, but if you're like Joe Chic and myself, and the cigar collection and possibility of smoking a variety of cigars at a moment's notice, you've got to make sure your shit is in-order! Now when you get to a point like how I'm at currently and my OCD kicks in when i can sense that something is amiss in my humidor, prompting me to reorganize it constantly with sections for Churchills, Box-Pressed, and by Wrapper color, making sure that humidor is in perfect running condition is a veteran-move that'll not only allow you to become more immersed in cigar society, but it'll make your experience with cigars in the long run next-level! Let's jump in!
First and foremost, for those of you who may not know, which is exactly the reason I'm writing this blog, a humidor is a humidified environment where it is ideal for you to store and age your cigars until you are ready to smoke them. When you walk in to your shop to pick out your cigars, you're sure to notice that you can go from a typical room-temperature storefront to a small room loaded with cigars that feels like you're stuck in sticky Florida heat, and there's a major reason for that. Aside from the obvious, a dry cigar is more likely to crack and fall apart on you, and let me tell you, that shit SUCKS, but rooms are kept in this condition to not only make sure that cigars maintain their moisture, but also because of the origins of the tobacco leaves that you are smoking are used to and flourish within these types of climates. By maintaining a level of moisture for the cigars to be transported and stored in all around the world, the ability to limit cigars from drying out or even molding is what is essential to not only the store-owners, who are usually the dopest dudes you'll ever meet, but also for when you have your own miniature cigar collection at home.
So starting things out with your first humidor, you might respond to one of those Cigars International fliers that you see that will send you 10 cigars and a plastic herf-a-dor for like $30, and I'll tell you what, if you're just starting out, jump on one of these deals if you find one! It's such a great way to try out some new, or highly-rated sticks, and also get yourself a little carrying case for you to start your collection with. Also, sidenote, these plastic herf-a-dors are essential to smoking out on the course! I have a couple of different things to store cigars in, but the herf-a-dor is always going to be my go-to. Well worth the price, or even replacing from time to time too. Here's a link to a herf-a-dor sampler.
From here once, you fully buy in to the "not addicted, just committed" mindset of buying and storing cigars in your collection, you are bound to get yourself into a bigger desktop humidor, lined with some Spanish Cedar wood because of it being porous in nature and optimal for locking in that humidity you're looking for in storage.
If you don't take anything else away from this entire blog, please for the love of God take this next section. Season, Season, Season the humidor before you throw your cigars in there. Just like a fine cut of meat before throwing it on the grill, you need to be sure that it is properly prepared before you go to work on it. I'll attach a link to Tim from Cigars Daily on how to properly season a humidor below, because he is, without a doubt, the best guide that I've found to brush up on my seasoning techniques for my once - yearly re-season.
Now granted, people have different preferences as to the humidity that they store their cigars at, as well as the level of moisture they have in their cigar. If you ask a couple of people who have been smoking for a bit, they might all tell you different ideal humidities for them to store their sticks at. For instance, I, myself, keep my humidor at home at a consistent 69%, Joe keeps his at 67%, and Dave Sands keeps his more towards 64 - 65% because that's what keeps his Perdomo's and Alvarez's where he wants them at. Now you might think there isn't a ton of difference between 5 - 6% points of humidity, but to tell you the absolute truth, there actually is, but in short it's all about finding what range you enjoy the most. Ideally, you're doing it right if you're keeping you cigars stored between 64 - 75% humidity. And again most importantly, no one can tell you how to enjoy YOUR cigar. It's completely up to you!
When you do complete your seasoning of the humidor, those little plastic humidifiers that they usually include with your humidor are decent in their ability to regulate the environment you're looking for, but let me speak honestly when I say, throw those things away and get yourself some Boveda packs. Boveda makes these incredibly useful and effective humidification packs that you can simply throw into your humidor and not have to worry about if yo have enough Distilled Water in the humidification tray at all times. It is insanely simple to keep your cigars right where you want them because the geniuses at Boveda figured out a way to give you exact percentages of humidity you are looking for in your own personal storage. These guys are a god-send. I'll link them on Amazon right here.
Finally, the last thing I really want to mention on cigar storage, and this might be the most obvious of all, keep your cigars in a spot where you can consistently expect a relatively similar temperature all the time. Now obviously you're going to keep them in your house, unless you live in a tree, then in that case, fucking figure it out Tarzan. Make sure that wherever you store your cigars, keep it away from a place that is subject to heating up or drastically changing temperature like in front of a heater or next to a window. While humidors are usually great about regulating the environment inside of the humidor to optimum cigar storage, keeping the outside environment relatively comfortable just makes that whole process run so much smoother.
So that's it. You guys and girls hopefully stuck with me to this point in the blog and read my ramblings. Be sure to check out the links included for more information and where you can get some of the things I was talking about. Now that I talked to you about managing your cigar environment, my OCD is kicking in and I need to go make sure my cigars are in order. Get out and smoke!