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Humidors

Home Page 1 Page 2 Dunhill Humidors Travel Humidors

Here is some information on humidors. Please use the links to the left to see our selection.

 

Humidors
Cigars are delicate products that develop and mature if stored in the right conditions, their flavours becoming rounder and mellower with time. Furthermore a cigar must be in perfect condition at the time of smoking otherwise it will burn badly and taste very harsh. Therefore it is essential that cigars be stored correctly right up to until the moment of smoking. To keep cigars properly they should be stored at between 16c and 18c and in a relative humidity of 65 to 70 percent.
Placing your cigars in a humidor that is designed to provide the correct level of humidity is the best way to look after them. 

  Checking the condition of your cigars.
Nearly every day we get customers who are worried as to whether or not their cigar humidors are working properly. When you buy a new humidor it will usually take a month or two for the humidor to stabilize. The new cedar wood will adsorb extra moisture for the first few weeks. Once the humidor has stabilized, less water is needed for the cigars. On the lower priced humidors the humistats are not very reliable. A simple and reliable way to test the condition of a cigar is to hold it between your thumb and index finger and squeeze gently. If it feels firm but springy then it is in good condition; hard and brittle means too dry, soft and spongy means too wet. If you notice your cigars are bulging and even splitting, this is also a sign of too much moisture. Another problem you may encounter with wet cigars is a very tight draw. This is a problem which is harder to cope with than a dry cigar. The best thing to do is to take out the moisture unit and leave the humidor open for approximately an hour a day, bringing the humidity level down slowly until the cigars feel, and draw OK.

Another point worth mentioning is that to make your humidor function correctly it must be opened often. This creates air movement, without this movement of air your cigars will not take in the moisture. So if you are not a regular smoker just lift the lid and have a peek at your cigars and check their condition as you pass by your humidor, after all Rudyard Kipling said "A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke" Sorry ladies! Sometimes you may find 'bloom' on your cigars, this is like a white mould, which will form on the wrapper. This can be caused by excessive moisture but is nothing to worry about and will not impair the flavour of your cigars.

The best way to remove the bloom is to brush down the length of the cigar towards the open end with a soft bristle brush. (A badger shaving brush is ideal for this purpose)