Distilled Water vs. Tap Water

Choosing a Humidor

The purpose of a humidor is to recreate the mild, humid climate of the Caribbean, where the cigars are made. 

After you’ve had time to consider your preferences, decide on where you’d like to buy the humidor; eBay offers some great deals and you can get ripped off as well.   Make sure that the humidor is real Spanish cedar and not just the inserts are cedar or worse Maple. You do not need Spanish Cedar in you humidor for humidity control. And I know there are some on eBay that say Maple if fine. I would have to agree if you are smoking cheap cigars.  But then why not just use a Tupperware container and save the cost of a cheap Humidor.  The Spanish Cedar is used to help the aging of good cigars.  Using Maple in a Humidor would be the same as using Maple barrels to age a 20 year old Scotch. It just would not taste the same.  

If it has glass in it make sure it is real tempered glass and not acrylic (Plastic). 

It has to have a good seal or it will not hold the proper humidity.  Here is a quick and easy way to check how good your humidor's seal is.  Empty it, place an lit flashlight inside, close the lid, and inspect it in a dark room.  If there are any leaks or gaps, the light will shine right through.

If it comes with a built-in humidification, you’ll want to decide whether to keep that one or buy a humidification device. Also, decide if and what type of thermometer/hygrometer device you may want to use to monitor the humidity. 

Hygrometers

The hygrometer is a device used for measuring the relative humidity inside of your humidor. There are two varieties.

Analog - This is the standard type of hygrometer. They are the least expensive and also the least reliable. They operate with a needle controlled by a hairspring that points to the correct percentage of humidity.
Digital - Far more reliable, is the digital hygrometer.  It operates on a standard camera or watch battery and digitally reads the humidity as well as the temperature. This device is by no means perfect, but is still much more accurate than the analog hygrometers. They also give you temperature which is as important as humidity.

Seasoning your Humidor

Humidity

Finally, check the cigars and humidity regularly. Cigars need to have the air circulate in order to avoid mold from too much moisture. Lastly, keep the cigars in the humidor until you’re ready to smoke them.
Don't become too concerned about relative humidity. Cigar smoking is meant to be relaxing; stressing over your humidor humidity level is a waste of time! The goal is to keep it stable… your cigars will be just fine anywhere between 60% and 72%. In my opinion, they smoke best around 65-69%, but they are not going be harmed at a few points higher or lower. The goal is to find what you like and to maintain that level.

The Great Cellophane Debate:

Here’s the question: when storing cigars in a humidor, should they be removed from their cellophane wrappers, or not?

This is almost like asking who is the greatest baseball player of all time . . . no two people you ask will have the same answer. For example:

Many connoisseurs, including the noted experts at the Gerard Pere et Fils store in Geneva, Switzerland, campaign vigorously against keeping cigars in cellophane on the grounds that without it, cigars will “breathe” better and reach their peak of flavor.

Others, especially Hong Kong collector Min Ron Nee, whose “An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars” is one of the wonderworks ever written on the subject, are just as strident in their belief that cigars can age perfectly in cellophane – especially over longer periods – and that there is no reason to remove it.

A third view, and the one I subscribe to, is tempered by an aversion to risk in storing cigars. In specific, the danger of tobacco beetles. These pests are latent in tobacco leaves, right through the cigar-making process. However, they are most often (but not always) prone to hatch when temperatures reach about 80 degrees (F) or more. If they do, they are liable not only to bore through the cigar they are in, but to jump to adjoining cigars if they are able.  Nothing will break the heart of a smoker more than to open a box of beautiful cigars and see them reduced to dust by beetles which have run wild through an entire box. To prevent this:  Ensure, as much as possible, that your cigars are stored in conditions which are both humidity-controlled and temperature-controlled. If your humidor is not temperature controlled, at least keep it away from direct sunlight, which will heat your cigars.

Keep the cellophane on your cigars in order to ensure that if a beetle does hatch, it has an added barrier – the cellophane wrapping – in moving from cigar to cigar. This is especially important in humidors in which multiple brands are stored together.

One more reason to consider keeping your cigars in the cellophane in which they were packed is if you remove cigars from your humidor and place them in a case for travel. In some cases, cigars can be squeezed together and the jostling inside a suit pocket or in your briefcase can cause wrappers to rub against each other and possibly end up chipped or broken. This will not happen to cigars which are placed in a case with their cellophane wrappers intact.

Misc random cigar ideas

1) A great way to keep your cigar burning evenly is to rotate the slow-burning side to the bottom. I know this seems odd, but the bottom side will burn faster because the oxygen needed to feed the flame isn't being displaced by the smoke. Try it and see!
First thing to try is to gently squeeze and massage it; many times this will loosen the bunch enough to fix the problem. But if that doesn't work, go for the gusto and use a skewer or ice pick to just poke a hole through its length. Word of warning though: Do this before you light it and be very careful!

 

2) To prevent your cigar from going out between puffs, give it a couple of extra quick, short draws coupled with quick exhales before you take a long draw of smoke to savor against your palate each time. You will be amazed at how this simple practice helps to improve any difficult burning cigar.

 

3) Your butane lighter doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to? Purge it! What does this mean? Purging is simple: Next time your lighter is empty, depress the fill stem and allow the air that is trapped within the empty gas reservoir to be expelled. You will know it is properly purged when you cease to hear any hissing.

 

4) It is best to wait five minutes or so after a cigar is lit before you try to remove the band. The heat of the cigar will loosen any glue that may have come in contact with your cigar's wrapper and will prevent you from tearing the leaf as your remove the ring.

 

5) Want to relight a cigar that you left sitting for awhile? The best way to do this is tap off any remaining ash, and then gently blow through the cigar to clear any stale air. Then, as you light it, continue to blow gently through the cigar with the flame at the foot for about three seconds before you take your first draw. Doing this simple set of actions will greatly reduce any initial sour flavor from a relit cigar.