Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 5/12/2008

Question
Hi,
I have accumulated quite a collection of cigars over the years ( all Cuban ) and have always taken the cigars from their boxes on arrival and put them in my own humidors. I keep all brands separate from each other and all varieties within the brands separated but in the same humidor. I do not ever keep cigars in their original boxes.
I have recently come back from Cuba with quite a few boxes and have kept them in Zip-lock bags for the time being. Would you keep them in their original boxes within a humidor, or would you take them out and keep them loose in a humidor ? I know this sounds an odd question coming from someone that has been keeping cigars for a while, but the answers to this vary and although I feel that I can control my cigars a great deal more easilly when they are out of their boxes and in a humidor, I may be wrong and would be grateful for some advice. By the way. I keep all of my humidors at 68-70% humidity and temperature except the holding humidor where I put my new cigars first to get a feel of them and decide whether to moisten them up a little or let them dry a little to my taste.
Thanks so much for your help.

Answer
Justin,

Assuming these cigars are all kept in desk top humidors, I think you will find it harder to maintain humidity if you keep them in the boxes. The boxes themselves will absorb quite a bit of humidity and most desk top humidifiers cannot produce enough humidity for the boxes. I think that you will find in time that the cigars will start drying out a bit.

However, if you are storing the cigars in a larger cabinet type humidor with electronic humidification, the cigars should be fine in their original boxes. I have a 30 box humidor in my office and nearly all of my cigars are stored in their original boxes. The advantage is that the boxes help protect the cigars from damage and help keep them orderly. I am able to store boxes stacked on top of each other without the different brands of cigars actually touching each other.

I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know and I will try to be more specific.

Thanks,
Bill