Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 10/24/2008

Question
I Live in New York City and have no control over the heat in my APT. my Humidor has always worked great in the past but recently I moved to a new place and the heat is on and our apt is really dry and my humidor will not stay at a good % for more then a day I have even put Two humidifiers in my box. (it only holds like 20) do you have any suggestions thanks Ryan

Answer
Ryan,

It sounds like your temperature is higher than what you are use to. Remember that you are measuring relative humidity, that is the humidity relative the to temperature that the cigars are stored at. As your temperature goes up, your relative humidity needs to go down to properly maintain your cigars. This is the chart I use:

temperature   relative humidity
70      69%-70%
71      68%-69%
72      67%-68%
73      66%-67%
74      65%-66%
75      64%-65%

There is no reason your humidor wouldn't work as well as it did before, even if the air in the apartment is dryer, because the sealed humidor should still maintain the same moisture level. I'm willing to bet that your humidity is fine. Unless you are seeing your cigars begin to dry out, you should be ok. I'll be happy to e-mail you a detailed explanation of humidors, humidifiers and cigar storage if you'd like. Just write me at b.finck@finckcigarcompany.com.

Thanks,
Bill