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Hi and welcome to another episode of Mondays with Mardo. This week, we're going to talk about wooden humidors. But before I get going, I need you to click on that subscribe button, click on a bell to be notified every single week of a new episode of Mondays with Mardo. Today, we're going to talk about wooden humidors and what is the difference between them.

Right off the bat, we have an Elie Bleu and then we have, I don't know what, it's from China. It looks really nice, I've had it for probably about 15 or 20 years. This right here is a brand new Elie Bleu that I've never even used. But I can tell you just from the exterior finish on both of these humidors, this is higher quality. This is definitely not higher quality. I've hardly ever used this humidor. I still have some cigars in here that they don't even make anymore, they have dried out.

I never really use this humidor. I'm not even sure how I even got this humidor, but it's really clunky and I've never really used it. And I'm going to tell you exactly what's going on with it. Here's something to witness for you guys. As soon as I open the cigar humidor the lid is already coming apart. I can't believe that. The screw is very loose on the piano hinge. It's a very small screw. There's only one. There should be one on the top, and also one on the bottom. And again, I've hardly ever used this thing. That is just not...now it came apart. It should not be doing that. Anyway, as you can tell, this is why I've never used it. And it also came with this hygrometer, that is definitely waterlogged.

It's got flower arrangement foam, that green stuff that they use to make flower arrangements. It's in there. That's just not really a good humidification system. And then the hygrometer is an analog, and it's stuck at 50% something humidity. It doesn't even work. Even though I've calibrated this before. I did try to engage this cigar humidor, but I just kind of gave up on it. I just never really use it. And you can see why. So it is wise to make a much better choice and invest in a wooden humidor. Yes, they do cost a lot of money. These things are an apparatus. It's something to keep your cigars humid and it needs to be sealed right. So we're going to throw this aside, basically calling it trash. And that thing probably costs about $150 to $200 nowadays.

That's a lot of money. I would rather have you save $200 for the next five months to 10 months. You're going to accumulate anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 in your savings. And then you can come in and buy something like this, an Elie Bleu. Yes, it is $2,400. But this is going to last you basically a lifetime, if you take care of it. It's a piece of furniture. It's real wood. It has a real seal to it. There's actual technical support behind this product. As you can tell the hinges right here, this one doesn't have one right here directly on the bottom, but this has three screws on the top portion of the piano hinges. You have one, two and three right here. And then three more on the bottom part of the hinge of the piano. So it has six screws where this older one right here has 1, 2, 3.

That's why it came apart. So right off the bat, you can see that there's better precision and craftsmanship here. And then everything is much more shiny. We like shiny things. This is made in France. I've never used this. It's beautiful. It has a beautiful key with it and you can lock it. It has the authorization card with it. The little booklet makes it very fancy. Now it does not come with instructions or anything like that. I don't believe so. And this I believe is the humidification system. But I'm going to go over that. And I'm going to show you guys some good practices on how to humidify your humidor. So, you've made the investment on a very expensive piece humidor, which I believe is going to be considered a piece of furniture, and you can choose different colors. I like this blue. It's beautiful.

But if you did buy something like that, the next thing you're going to do is go to www.mardocigars.com and we have a tab on the actual splash page. It says Boveda, you click on Boveda, and it'll take you to step by step on what to do, because we have it broken down to a science, per size of humidor. If it's a wooden humidor or an acrylic humidor, whatever kind of humidor it is. In this case, we're talking about a wooden humidor. This is a humidor starter kit, with very big letters. The steps and the instructions are in the back. You can simply go from step one to step two, and it tells you exactly how to season your humidor, makes it very simple. Once you have your humidor starter kit set up and you are seasoning your humidor, you're definitely going to want a hygrometer. And I definitely recommend a digital hygrometer.

It does need a battery. But Boveda has made one more step very easy for you. You can calibrate your hygrometer with this bag, with the instructions clearly written from top to bottom, left to right. You just read it, follow it. It makes it very easy. Now, if you want to invest in a Boveda Holder. You can put these holders on the lid of your humidor. You can go ahead and do that. This one comes with an analog one. I didn't see that when I was showing you guys in the video. But I would ditch it. Maybe it's a good one, but I like digital. Anyway, if you want to go with a smaller one, you can go ahead and do that. You can place it over here. Now, how do these holders work? With Boveda, you basically take the pouches that they make, and you insert it through this insert hole right here, and it holds it.

And it has grid lines in there. So therefore it emits and absorbs humidity as this is placed inside your lid. And it sits like that. And this just goes right inside and doesn't fall. Now we all know, and I'm guilty of it. Whenever these Boveda humidor packs harden, you give it that touch test. If it's not soft and gooey anymore, and it's getting hard, they're getting old and they need to be replaced. Now, these are for two-year humidity. It emits and absorbs. And they also go by size. You can go with 60 gram, 320 gram, that's the size of it. And it also tells you the percentage, if you want to go 65% or 72%, if you're a wooden humidor, you want to do a 72% humidification. Go to www.mardocigars.com, click on the Boveda tab. And it gives you a step by step explanation on how to use this stuff.

Back to me talking about being guilty of a practice. So this video is basically on good practice. I've done it before, when these things harden up, I just basically throw them in a bucket of water for them to recharge. That is not the best practice to do. The reason is, you can take Bovedas and throw them inside the water and they recharge, and you can do that over and over. And I know many people who do it and they've been doing it for years and they say, "It works just fine." It's really not. What's happening is, when they make these at 65% or 72% or 69%, there's a certain amount of liquid inside the pouch. When it gets harder and you submerge it in water and it recharges, it's not being recharged in calibration. So it just recharges itself, as much as it can absorb water. And you really don't know the percentage of humidity it's going to emit.

So you don't really know the content amount within the Boveda anymore. So it will work, you can put it in your humidor. But, somewhere along the line, if your cigar doesn't taste right, don't blame Boveda. It's because our practices have diminished the oils in the cigar. You may over humidify them or under humidify them. So yes, it is best practice to always discard these and buy new ones to make sure you are getting this 65%. So if your hygrometer is not working to what you want it to be when you first seasoned it, it's because you're putting those things in water, submerging them, and they're not really working properly. We're not practicing what we're supposed to be practicing. So, I hope that clears up a little bit on how to have best practice for humidifying your cigars in a wooden humidor.

I'll see you guys next week. Other than that, before I get going, I do want to hear your comments, your opinion, your way of how you keep your cigars humid, but this is what I would recommend. I'll catch you guys next week. Remember to follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook. And remember, tell your friends to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Peace out.