Cigar Humidor Best Practices
I'm Gerard from Mardo Cigars, and on this episode of Mondays with Mardo we're talking wooden humidors and how to use a humidor the right way. I pulled out two of mine to compare: a brand-new Elie Bleu I've never even used, and an old clunky one I'm honestly not sure how I ended up with. One is built to last a lifetime. The other is falling apart in my hands. By the end of this guide you'll know what separates a quality humidor from a cheap one, plus the best practices that keep your cigars in great shape.
Why Humidor Quality Matters
A humidor has one job: keep your cigars humid so they stay fresh, which means it has to seal properly. When I open my old humidor, the lid is already coming apart. The piano hinge has one tiny, loose screw where it should have several, so it pops right off. Inside are cigars they don't even make anymore, and they've dried out. That cheap humidor cost somewhere around $150 to $200 these days, and it failed at the one thing it was supposed to do. That's the first lesson in how to use a humidor: none of the best practices matter if the box itself doesn't seal.
Cheap Humidor vs. Quality Humidor
Line the two up and the difference jumps out. Before we get into how to use a humidor day to day, it helps to know what separates a good box from a bad one. Here is what I look at first:
- Build and seal. The Elie Bleu is real wood with a real seal. The cheap one is clunky and never sealed well.
- Hinges. The Elie Bleu has six screws on the piano hinge, three on top and three on the bottom. The old one has just three total, which is exactly why it came apart.
- Humidification. The cheap humidor came with green flower-arrangement foam and a waterlogged analog hygrometer stuck at 50%. That is not a real humidification system.
- Support and finish. The Elie Bleu is made in France, comes with a key and lock, an authorization card, and a booklet, and it has real technical support behind it. It's also shiny, and we like shiny things.
The hinge tells the storyThree screws on a cheap humidor is why mine fell apart. Six screws on the Elie Bleu means better precision and craftsmanship that lasts a lifetime.
Is a Quality Humidor Worth It?
Yes, a good humidor costs real money. The Elie Bleu I'm holding is $2,400. That sounds like a lot, so here's how I'd approach it. Instead of spending $200 on a humidor that breaks, save that $200 a month for the next five to ten months. You'll set aside $1,000 to $2,000, and then you can buy something that lasts a lifetime if you take care of it. Buying once is the first lesson in how to use a humidor properly. Think of it as a piece of furniture, and you even get to choose the color. I like the blue.
How to Use a Humidor: Season It First
Once you've made the investment, the first step in how to use a humidor is seasoning it, and please don't skip this. Head to www.mardocigars.com and click the Boveda tab. We've broken it down to a science, step by step, by the size and type of your humidor, whether it's wooden or acrylic. Grab a humidor starter kit, follow the steps printed on the back from step one to step two, and it walks you through seasoning your humidor the easy way.
Use a Digital Hygrometer
After your humidor is seasoned, the next step in how to use a humidor is measuring it. You'll want a hygrometer to track the humidity, and I recommend a digital one. It needs a battery, but it's far more reliable than the analog dials that come with cheap humidors. Boveda makes this easy too. You can calibrate your hygrometer with their calibration bag, with the instructions printed right on it. Just read it top to bottom, left to right, and follow along.
Boveda Packs and Holders
A big part of how to use a humidor is the Boveda packs inside it. They're a two-way system that emits and absorbs humidity to hold your humidor steady. They come in sizes like 60 gram and 320 gram, and in percentages like 65% and 72%. For a wooden humidor, you want 72% humidification. If you like, you can add a Boveda holder to the lid. You slide the pouch through the insert hole, the grid lines let it breathe, and it sits in the lid without falling onto your cigars.
| Boveda | Detail |
|---|---|
| Sizes | 60 gram and 320 gram |
| Percentages | 65% and 72% |
| Wooden humidor | Use 72% |
| Lifespan | Two-year humidity; replace when hard |
Don't Recharge Your Boveda Packs
Here's the most common mistake people make when learning how to use a humidor, and I'll admit I used to get it wrong too. When Boveda packs harden up, give them the touch test. If they're no longer soft and gooey, they're old and need replacing. I used to toss the hard ones in a bucket of water to recharge them, and a lot of people do it and swear it works. It really doesn't. When a pack is made at 65% or 72%, there's a set amount of liquid inside. Soak it in water and it absorbs whatever it can, not a calibrated amount, so you no longer know what humidity it's putting out. Over time that can over or under humidify your cigars and diminish the oils, and then your cigar won't taste right. The fix is simple: discard hard packs and use new ones.
"If your cigar doesn't taste right, don't blame Boveda. It's because our practices have diminished the oils in the cigar."
We ran the full experiment on this in our guide on whether you can recharge your Boveda packs, and the results back it up. For more on matching packs to your setup, see our guide on how to use Boveda packs.
Watch: Cigar Humidor Best Practices
Want to see how to use a humidor in practice? Here's the full humidor comparison and walkthrough straight from the episode on Mondays with Mardo:
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to use a humidor comes down to a few things: buy quality that seals, season it properly, track it with a digital hygrometer, use the right Boveda packs, and replace them instead of recharging. Do that and your humidor will protect your cigars for years. Save up, invest once, and take care of it. If you don't have a humidor yet, our guide on how to keep cigars fresh without a humidor will hold you over.
Mardo Cigars sells premium tobacco products intended for adults 21 and older. Please enjoy responsibly.
