Expert: James Yee - 6/22/2007

Question
I have a humidor and I have noticed that the cigars that are not in plastic wrappers are becoming spongy.  They are very soft and I try and keep my humidor at 70 but for some reason they are not keeping up their rigid state at which I bought them.  thanks

Answer
Hi Johnny,

The first thing you should do is check to see if your hygrometer is still properly calibrated.  If you have an analog hygrometer, it’s possible that the calibration may eventually become off-sync over years of use.  If your hygrometer is digital, check to see if the battery needs replacement.  Sometimes when you have overly spongy cigars but your humidity level appears fine, it’s because your hygrometer is giving off an inaccurate reading.  

If your hygrometer is properly working, the next step is to check your humidor’s current humidity level.  The acceptable humidity range is 68-73% humidity.  (The perfect level is 70%.)  If your hygrometer is working properly and your humidity level is within this range, your cigars are fine and in no danger at all.  They may be spongy but they’re within the proper humidity range and properly humidified.  If your humidor humidity is more than 74%, then what you should do is add a 50/50 propylene glycol/distilled water mixture (50% PG, 50% distilled water) to your humidification device, which will level the humidity to 70%.  Add this mixture only just once (Afterwards, simply add more distilled water to the humidification device when needed) and move your humidor to a less humid room in your home.  The home environment can influence the temperature and humidity in your humidor so it’s important to keep your humidor away from direct sunlight or hot indoor lighting and overly-humid rooms and this will increase the temperature in your humidor and increase the humidity.

Also, be sure to periodically rotate your cigars every few weeks.  Overly spongy cigars sometimes occur when cigars are not rotated.  When this happens, cigars closest to the humidification device or on the top layer in a pile will absorb more humidity and become spongy than other cigars in your humidor.

Hope this answers your question.  If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I’ll be glad to help.

Regards,
James