How To Fix The Seal On A Leaky Humidor

The entire point of buying a cigar humidor is to protect your cigars from drying out and to ensure that they age well. Whether you have a desktop humidor or a larger one, if you notice that your cigars are drying out inside the humidor, then the first thing you need to do is to check the seal. Many people think that just because the humidor makes a good “whoosh” sound when closed that the seal is good. This is not necessarily so.

First, you need to make sure that it really is the seal and not some other issue. There are other problems that can seem like a leaky seal but are something different altogether. There are several ways on how to fix the seal on a leaky humidor. Checking humidors for leaks is pretty simple. The flashlight test is a good one to try, though there are many others out there as well. The dollar bill test is popular, and there is also the tape/plastic wrap test as well. Each of these can help you determine if you have a leaky seal and, if so, how badly it’s leaking.

There are several things that you can try to fix the seal. One is to use an odorless, colorless, tasteless wax, such as beeswax, to reinforce the seal. However, this will have obvious drawbacks. A better solution is to find out where the humidor is leaking. If you have a Plexiglas lid, then you need to actually replace that with real glass. If the wood of the unit is not Spanish cedar, then you really need to just buy a new humidor, as inferior woods will not hold humidity as well. There is a reason that Spanish cedar is used in quality humidors.

Another potential issue that can cause leakage is if the wood of the humidor is warped. The only real way to fix this is to have the wood replaced. You can take it to a professional woodworker and have them rebuild the unit for you, or you can try to do it on your own.

However, if you do not have the experience and the tools to do the job, then chances are good that you’ll not see the results that you want. If you are unable to repair the leak, the best option is just to replace the humidor. However, if it is a small desktop unit and you want to keep it, you can place it inside a larger one to solve the problem.