Expert: James Yee - 7/25/2010

Question
MR Yee

I only recently started smoking cigars, and have been picking them up a few at a time, with no need for even short term storage. i deployed to afghanistan in may, and am having some decent torpedos sent over. just having bought my first humidor, what do i need to do to prep or "cure" it. i know a bit about humidification, and have a decent settup, but i have no idea what is needed, if anything to prep the box. would greatly appriciate any advice you could provide on the matter.

thanks much
david

Answer
Hi David,

"Seasoning" your humidor is very easy to do and can be done with a few household items that you may already have.

To season your humidor, you will need the following:

- 1 clean, sterilized sponge (preferably brand new)
- 1 clean, sterilized spray bottle (preferably brand new)
- 1 bottle of distilled water or bidest water (double-distilled water)
- 1 sheet of plastic food wrap or a small, clear plastic bag such as a sandwich bag
- The humidor’s hygrometer (if possible, upgrade to a digital hygrometer)
- The humidor’s humidification unit
- 50/50 pre-mixed humidor solution or Propylene Glycol (optional)
- Humidor seasoning brick (optional)

Please note that only humidors with a porous wood interior can be seasoned.  Humidors with an acrylic, laminate wood, glass or ceramic interior can not be seasoned.

To season your humidor, first take all your cigars and relocate them to a Ziploc bag or Tupperware container.  Next, use the spray bottle and spray the entire interior of your humidor with distilled water.  Make sure you spray every inch of the humidor including the trays, dividers, drawers and/or compartments.  Now allow the water to set for a minute before wiping up any excess with the clean sponge.  (Don’t worry, this won’t warp or damage the wood.)    

Next, take the humidification device and fill it with distilled water.  If you have a bottle of 50/50 pre-mixed humidor solution, you can use that instead.  Place the now charged humidifier in your humidor.  Take the sponge and saturate that with distilled water and let it sit in the middle of your humidor.  Let the sponge sit on a sheet of plastic food wrap or a plastic baggie to prevent direct contact between the wood and the wet sponge.  Close the lid now and let the humidor sit for 24 hours.  After 24 hours, check your humidor. If either the sponge or humidification device has lost a lot of moisture and feel somewhat dry, recharge them with more distilled water and repeat the seasoning process.  Once the sponge and humidifier can sit overnight without losing much moisture, your humidor will be ready to use.

Alternatively, most cigar stores will sell moderately priced "seasoning bricks” which you just leave inside your humidor overnight and your humidor will be automatically seasoned.  These are usually designed to season a humidor of a certain size so if you decide to use this method, you will need to check the packaging’s fine print and make sure it’s right for your humidor.  Otherwise, you may need two or more seasoning bricks.  Using the spray bottle method that I mentioned however, is inexpensive (especially if you already have all the necessary tools) and allows you to be more thorough with the seasoning process.

Once your humidor is seasoned, all you need to do is add distilled water to the humidification device whenever the humidity begins to drop or whenever the humidification device feels a bit dry.  Check your humidor's hygrometer periodically to monitor the humidity level.  If the hygrometer displays a humidity level or 65% or less, refill the humidification device with distilled water.  If your humidor's humidity level is too high (75% or higher), you will need to add a 50/50 dosage of distilled water and propylene glycol (PG) to the humdification device and this will balance the humidity at exactly 70%.  If you're already using a 50/50 mixture and the humidity is still high, fine-tune the mixture by adding more Propylene Glycol to the humidifier.  PG goes a long way so a few small drops onto your humidification device should be enough.  After adding PG, the humidity may dip and peak wildly for a week so just be patient.  (NOTE: PG can last a long time in a humidor so you only need to add it once.  Once you acheive your ideal humidity level, do not add any more PG.)

Your humidor should now be properly seasoned and ready to be used.  With a properly seasoned humidor, you may only need to refill the humidification device with distilled water once every 4-8 weeks but it's important to remember that your humidor will react accordingly to the natural environment.  If the weather is very hot in the summer or there's a dry heat in your home during winter, the humidity in your humidor will deplete faster so be sure to monitor your humidor often.  (In winter or really hot and dry summers, it's not uncommon to refill your humidification device every 2-3 weeks.)

As a much easier and user-friendly alternative, you should consider upgrading to an electronic humidfier such as a Cigar Oasis that automatically maintains the desired humidity level with little or no supervision.  Also, electronic humidifers will have a larger water reservoir do not require 50/50 PG mixtures.

I hope this info helps!  If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James