What happens if your humidor is too humid

What is the best way to store cigars for a long time? The correct humidity level inside a humidor What to do if the humidity level in the humidor is too high? Why use only distilled water to humidify the humidor? What to do about mould in the humidor? Humidification of the humidor The Hygrometer Cigar storage and ageing Smoking a cigar Lighting a cigar. Exceeding the recommended atmospheric humidity level in the short-term is not a cause for concern and can often be caused by higher external temperatures during the summer.

Analogue hygrometers are very sensitive to vibration and should be calibrated regularly. Leave the humidor open for a few hours and the humidity level will fall again. Humidity peaks during summer and falls during winter.

Humidity also varies greatly depending on location. During the summer, humidity there can reach 90 percent. Inclement weather is also a danger. As little as five minutes in a rainstorm is enough to ruin an otherwise fine cigar. When cigars become damp, the tobacco leaves swell and it becomes difficult to draw smoke through them.

The excess moisture also affects the burn rate. Cigars might start out light, become rich, then earthy, or nutty, or spicy as the more of the cigar is smoked. When tunneling occurs, your draw becomes uneven. Instead of a rich, multifaceted experience, your smoke become one-dimensional and dull.

A damp cigar also emits considerably more smoke than one with proper moisture. The thicker smoke not only clings to you more strongly, stinking up your clothes, but it can overload your sense of smell. A good smoke relies as much on your nose as it does on your taste buds. Cigar maker E. Carrillo considers the two to be inseparable.

Your taste buds are only capable of detecting four different flavors — sour, salty, sweet, and bitter. Everything else is detected by your nose, and the two work in harmony to provide richness to everything you eat, drink, and smoke. When your olfactory senses become overloaded, your ability to enjoy a cigar is effectively deadened.

You can tell if your cigar has been damaged by excessive or insufficient humidity by rolling it between your fingers. Dry cigars are very brittle, so if you hear any cracking, then you know the cigar is too dry.

Cigars should feel firm and resilient, similar to how your finger feels when you squeeze it. A good cigar will have a smooth, slightly oily texture. Other obvious signs cigars have been exposed to excess humidity are white mold or holes left by tobacco beetles.

Mold grows in cigar humidors only when conditions are damp and overly humid. Tobacco beetles hatch in the exact same conditions, so if you find evidence of either, throw the cigar away. If you got them from a humidor, it it needs to be cleaned out and its humidity levels reset. Exposing your cigars to extreme conditions shocks them. When cigars expand or contract too quickly, their construction is hindered.

Exercise patience. Give your cigars enough time to acclimate gradually to changes in temperature and humidity. Here are the best ways to bring your cigars back to a healthy equilibrium. If the humidity is too high in your humidor, remove the humidification device for a day or two. Record your hygrometer readings. The humidity should gradually fall.

Opening the lid completely is not recommended because a gradual dissipation of humidity is preferred. Shift the cigars from the bottom rows to the top and vice versa. One of the safest, easiest ways to remove excess humidity from your cigars is to add strips or sheets of cedar to your humidor or the environment where your cigars are stored. Most premium cigars are packaged in boxes with layers of cedar in between the rows. Cedar naturally absorbs humidity and it will impact the flavor of your cigars positively as you and age them.

You can add cedar strips to a traditional humidor, coolerdor, or even a Ziploc bag to absorb excess moisture. Dry-boxing cigars is simply storing them in an empty wooden cigar box for a day, or a few days, to draw out excess humidity.