quality cigarsPerhaps the movies are to blame. All those scenes where the powerful businessman or politician says to the ingenuous hero, "May I offer you a cigar," then - without missing a beat - brandishes a gold-embossed quality cigars case. A case with no humidity controls. A case that is not a humidor.

Whatever the reason, many casual smokers of quality cigars - and even fairly committed lovers of premium quality cigars - don't realize how important it is to store your quality cigars in a humidor.
In fact, if you're like many smokers, you're asking yourself what a humidor is, and why you should use one. A humidor is, basically, a box that's designed to maintain your quality cigars at a certain level of humidity (near seventy percent) and a proper temperature (seventy degrees or below) when you're not, you know, smoking them. 

Humidity is your ally in that battle. The tobacco plant has evolved to thrive in an environment near seventy percent humidity - the condition in which you'll most often find it in nature - and if you can replicate that humidity, your quality cigars are in good shape. The best humidors use Spanish cedar or Honduran mahogany to trap that moisture, and they have a hygrometer - a device that controls and allows you to monitor moisture levels.

Now that you know why you need one, here are some tips on the care and feeding of humidors. First of all, new humidors need to be "seasoned." When you buy your humidor, before using it, wipe the interior wood with a moist cloth, then leave a small, closed container of water inside the humidor for 12 hours. After those twelve hours are up, check to see how much of the closed vial of water the humidor has "drank." If it's nearly empty, then repeat the process for another twenty-four hours. Repeat this process until the water stops evaporating; now the humidor is ready for your quality cigars!

You'll also need to fill the hygrometer (the device controls humidity levels). Use distilled water - or a humidifying solution (the humidor should come with instructions regarding this choice). Let the excess water drip from the hygrometer into a sink, and wipe off the outside of the device. Put it in the humidor.

Another recommendation: don't keep your humidor near any home appliances that tend to affect home humidity, or any places in the home where these appliances tend to be stored. These might include heaters, air conditioners, vents, fans, and windows. Keep it away, also, from sustained direct sunlight; pay attention to the way that sunlight exposure changes throughout the seasons, too, because some "safe places" in your home might be less safe during the summer, when the sun's rays creep further in and stay longer.

And lastly, know what to do if, in spite of all your preparations, your quality cigars suffer an attack of tobacco beetles. This irritating species preys on tobacco and, in some cases, can bore through a humidor. First of all, remember not to let the temperature in your humidor go too high - tobacco beetles flourish at temperatures over 75 degrees. (So a tobacco-beetle infestation means you haven't monitored that humidor carefully enough!) Take out your quality cigars that have been infested and keep them in your freezer for 48 hours. Refrigerate them for another day after that. Now they should be safely returnable to the humidor - which, in the meantime, should be thoroughly cleaned, checked for structural integrity, and if necessary, replaced. Spanish-cedar humidors, by the way, are slightly better for keeping these nasty beetles out in the first place.