Expert: James Yee - 10/16/2010

Question
Hi James i hope you are well,you advice me in the past so i have more questions (1) i have porcelain jars,for example Partagas P1,i want to know for long time aging should i put distilled water and close the lid firmly or should i let the cigars breath (is there any possibility that the cigars will swollen over time?).(2)I use standing humidors 80 boxes capacity each both are full with cigars that i will not smoke just collect them a) should i rotate the boxes and how often b) currently  the humitity is maintained at 70% by reducing the humidity to around 65% will slow down the aging process any idea how can i achieve that.
Thanking you in advance.Best regards GP  

Answer
Hi George,

For long-term aging, you can use glass or porcelain jars but it's important that you leave the lid closed but loose.  As you mentioned, cigars can indeed swell and split if stored in an airtight container with a humidification device so it's important that you constantly let the cigars breathe.  Instead of putting distilled water in the porcelain jars, it's best to just keep the entire jar in a humidor cabinet or store just the cigars themselves in your humidor.  Putting distilled water in your jars can cause mold to form quickly.  Though it's possible to use them for long-term aging, cigar jars were not really designed for this purpose.  If you can store your cigars in a traditional humidor instead of a jar, it would be best.

For your standing humidors, it's ideal to rotate your boxes once every 4 months.  If you're using a passive humidification device (such as those with foam-based elements), you can acheive 65% by adding propylene glycol to the humidifier.  Normally a 50/50 mixture of Propylene Glycol and distilled water (1 equal part water to 1 equal part PG) will generate 70% humidity so you will need to add more Propylene Glycol and this will lower the humidity.  A few small drops of PG should be more than enough.  PG can last a long time in your humidor (on average 2 years) so you only need to add it once.  After that, simply add distilled water to your humidifiers when needed.

I hope this helps.  As always, if you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James