Does a Humidor Come Pre-Humidified?

Humidors are among the most important cigar accessories you’ll buy. Your lighter ensures the right burn, your cutter ensures the right cut but, without your humidor, you won’t even have a cigar that’s worth smoking. Your humidor will not generally come pre-humidified. This shouldn’t be thought of as a bad thing. Preparing a humidor will give you even more appreciation for the cigars that you smoke!

The ideal humidity for a humidor is usually between 68 and 72 percent humidity. Achieving this percentage of moisture in the box requires real skill and a bit of patience, to boot. It starts by making sure you pick a humidor that you’ll keep full or nearly full. Empty humidors can dry out fast. The smaller, box-style humidors are usually great for beginners, and in many cases, you’ll end up getting many years of use out of the device.

The humidor has to be prepared. You’ll use a humidifier and, no matter which kind you have, you’ll have to wet it before you use it. Some humidify glycol solutions. These constitute the sponge-style humidors and they’re very popular choices. There are also humidors that use distilled water. Only use the liquid called for by the instructions. Tap water, for instance, can end up leaving a residue behind and some of the substances in it can ruin the flavor of cigars.

Most of the time, you’ll season the wood on a humidor before you use it. This involves wetting it with distilled water and leaving it for a few days with a glass of distilled water and a closed lid. The distilled water is imperative. Humidity is literally water droplets in the air and, if they’re contaminated, that contamination is going to get on your cigars. Distilled water moistens the wood so that it doesn’t suck up the humidity from the humidifier but doesn’t add any impurities to the air inside.