by Kinjal Bali

Created on: September 14, 2008

You purchased a box of your favorite cigars, and now you would like to store them. The box they came in will not do. Whether you are on the headstart of cigar smoking or you have been smoking for years, you may want to build your own cigar collection.

1) Investment - Determine how much you would like to invest. If this investment is for cigars that cost you less than $20, you would definately not like to spend $500 on a humidor. But if you are investing it on high quality cigars, you will surely want to spend reasonably a good amount of money to keep that flavor.

2) Humidor, box or a plastic bag - Now depending on your cigars, decide on a plastic bag, box or a humidor. A humidor is a cedar lined box. The cedar holds moisture well and keeps the cigar fresh. For a plastic box, you can use Rubbermaid or Tupperware, and for plastic bag you can use a Ziploc. If you would like to build a cigar selection seriously for a life time, go for humidor that fits your needs. But if you just want to adore a special occassion gift or want to keep it fresh for few days, you can use a plastic bag or a box.

3) Temperature - Cigars should be kept in warm and very humid environment. Now once you decide where to store your cigars, set the temperature. For your best smoking experience, keep the cigars at 70% RH and 70 degrees F. If you are using humidors, they should always be tightly closed. This will keep the atmosphere inside at a constant level.

4) Humidity - With your humidors, you should purchase a humidifier. Along with this, you also need a hygrometer to measure the humidity of the humidor. Your cigars should be at a relative humidity level of 68 to 74%.

How to use a humidifier -

a) Charge your humidifier
b)Place the calibrated hygrometer in the humidor.
c)Keep a shallow dish of distilled water in the humidor.
d) Place the humidification device in the humidor.
e) Now check the humidity every day this way, when it reaches 70%, its time to put your cigars in the humidor.

How to calibrate you hygrometer -

a) Place the salt in the bottle cap.
b) Mix the salt with water.
c) Place both, the hygrometer and the bottle cap salt in the ziploc bag and seal it tightly.
d) Keep it like this for 8 hours.
After 8 hours, the hygrometer will read 75%.

Your humidor may take some time to stabilize if you live in a dry area, or the humidor is not sealed properly, or the wood is very dry.

- Be sure to expose your cigars to fresh air every two weeks. This way you can enjoy that 'heavenly' flavor of your cigar.

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