• Written by Alain Sassine
• Tagged as cigars, humidors

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Australia’s climate is slightly different to Cuba, storing your cigars in a humidor is the only good way to keep them fresh and tasteful.

The basic idea is that Cuban and New World cigars have to be surrounded by humidity between 68% and 72% (which is the climate of Cuba). The most ideal temperature is 21C; this could be tricky in Australia, but I guess the bottom line is that it’s important that temperature doesn’t fluctuate more than 5-7 degrees, otherwise the cigars will dry up and lose their charm and taste.

Let’s start.

So you’ve purchased your first humidor, great first step, here are the next few steps that you need to follow to make sure your humidor is seasoned and ready to use.

Step 1: Clean it.

Using any damp cloth (you can buy them from Woolies or Coles), wipe down the inside of the humidor. Make sure the cloth is slightly wet (not soaking wet as too much water can damage your interior cedar).

Step 2: Fill the humidifier.

Most humidors come with a small humidifier (the black small box), buy yourself some distilled water (also available from Woolies and Coles under the name dehumidified water for washing machines), they’re about $2 a litre. Fill a small plate with distilled water; place the humidifier upside down inside the plate. Leave it for a few minutes, let it absorb the water. The idea here is not to overfill the humidifier; instead we need to ensure it absorbs the water.

After 2-3 minutes, remove the humidifier from the plate and wipe off any excess water using a dry towel.

Place the now-dry (on the outside) humidifier inside the humidor, close your humidor and wait 24 hours.

Step 3: Monitor.

After 24 hours, open up your humidor and check the humidity, it should be between 65% and 75%. It is important to store the humidor in a room-temperature environment, keep away from the sun or fridge etc.

Close your humidor and wait another 24 hours.

Step 4: You’re ready!

In most climates, it takes 1-5 days for your humidor to properly absorb the humidity and reproduce it in an efficient way. In Australia, if you buy a Spanish Cedar humidor (by far the best), your humidor should be ready within 48 hours but it’s best to monitor daily until the humidity is set to anywhere between 68% and 72%.

Once you reach that milestone, you can place your cigars safely inside your humidor.

Final notes

Remember to always check your humidifier and repeat step 2 (above) whenever it gets dry. Alternatively, you can buy a Boveda pack (or packs) depending on the size of your humidor.

For a humidor with a capacity of 100 cigars, I usually recommend 60g Boveda pack (only 1) but you can use more than 1 if required.

Disclaimer: this blog is written by Alain Sassine, an employee of Übercigar Delivery and can be contacted on 0433 771 832 or via email: a.sassine@ubercigar.com.au

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