Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

To Properly Season A Humidor:

In regards to seasoning, it's pretty simple. Most people think that you should wipe down the interior with water and you're done but I DO NOT recommend this for two reasons. 1.) It does not provide enough moisture to properly season the humidor 2.) It can warp the wood in the humidor.

New wood will draw moisture until it reaches its saturation point, so to properly season your humidor, simply place a large bowl of distilled water into the humidor and keep it closed for 7-14 days. This will allow the dry wood to absorb as much moisture as it can hold. By doing this, you will have a more stable environment for your cigars and reduce the chances of the dry wood absorbing moisture from your cigars. Patience is key to ensure that your new humidor is properly seasoned.

While your waiting for the humidor to season, purchase and calibrate a digital hygrometer. You'll save yourself some headache in the long run.

I hope this helps and happy smoking!

~Mark

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Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Great thread! There are a ton of ways people suggest to season a humidor, but you break it down to the basics: The why of seasoning.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I bought a humidor about a month ago and followed all of the instructions for seasoning that came with it, but the hygrometer is still hovering around 52%. It never got higher than around 62 - 65 when I was calibrating it, and the instructions said it should read 75%. I suppose I should try again? In the meantime, what's the best way to store my cigars while it's seasoning?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

A tupperware container should keep your cigars fine for a short time w/o added humidifcation, or indefinitely with.

Is your hygrometer analog or digital? The analog hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

What was the procedure they suggested for seasoning? Many times, they simply say to wipe it down with a sponge but that is not nearly effective enough and if don't improperly, could lead to a bad seal on the humidor.

Like Ice suggested, if using an analog, you'll want to salt test it to make sure it's calibrated (that goes for digital as well for that matter).

Since the hygrometer is our only visual indicator for what the exact RH level is inside the humidor, I recommend calibrating your digital hygrometer twice a year and replacing the battery annually (weak batteries can give a false reading as well).

Most hygrometers are off, typically +/- 2-4% by sometimes by as much at 10-12%.

1.) How to Test and Calibrate a Hygrometer:

A. Fill a small container with salt (milk bottle cap or ketchup cup works well)

B. Add a few drops of distilled water. NOT enough to dissolve the salt, just enough to moisten it. You want the mixture to be thick and pasty.

C. Put the cap inside of an air tight zip lock bag or plastic container along with your hygrometer. Then seal the bag or container. (Tupperware works well).

D. Wait 24 hours, then check the reading on your hygrometer without opening the bag or container (or quickly open the container and check if the container is not clear).


If the reading is 75%, then your hygrometer is accurate and no adjustment is required.

If the reading is not precisely 75%, then you will just have to remember to add or subtract the difference between the test reading and 75%, in order to determine the actual humidity level inside of your humidor.

For example, if your hygrometer test reading was 80%, then subtract 5% from the readings you get when the hygrometer is inside of your humidor to determine the actual levels of humidity.

(e.g. a reading of 70% inside your humidor equals an actual humidity
level of 65%).

Writing the +/- percentage on a piece of tape or small post it note and
affixing it to the hygrometer works well.

2.) Properly seasoning your humidor is critical. If the new wood is not properly seasoned, it will continue to absorb moisture from the RH Beads until the wood has reached it saturation point. To properly season, simply place a bowl of distilled water in the humidor and leave it closed for 7-14 days.

3.) Performance may also depend on your ambient humidity, how frequently you open and close you humidor, how well the seal of the humidor is and how often you add new cigars (drier ambient humidity introduced into your relative environment may reduce the RH level temporarily and new cigars may absorb some moisture if at a lower RH level than that of your humidor).


I hope this helps

~Mark

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Very good tips. Thank you.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Mark, the instructions that came with my humidor were pretty much the same as what you told me, except they said to use a shot glass instead of a bowl, and didn't specify an amount of time (I did it for about a week). I started re-calibrating my hygrometer last night around 11:00 pm. It's been stuck at 60% since about 7 this morning. I guess I'm going to have to go digital. For the amount of money I paid for this thing, I expected perfection. :( Thanks for your help!

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

What Mark states above is very true and accurate! The only thing I might add is if you want to speed up the seasoning process alittle place a new, clean sponge (one that is wrung out with distilled water and place it on a saucer in the humi. This will give you more surface area for the water to evaporate. The sponge should be fully saturated. After that throw in your humidification device(s) and enjoy!

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Hell, I didn't even use a sponge. I just folded up a paper towel and stuck it in the bowl of distilled water. Worked just fine, and a lot faster than just a bowl of water.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Does one need to season a humidor after a certain amount of time, or is first time all?
I bought my humidor within the last two years. Winter seasons see me having great difficulty maintaining humidity in it. I have a rather large humidor for a beginner (around space for at least 1000 cigars) but will only have about 60 in it within a week. I use the gel capsules and find in winter I really struggle to keep it at 70% and normally find me dropping in the mid to low 60s... how can I fix this?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Two things:
Too much empty space can make it difficult to maintain a set RH. For only 60 cigars, a 1000 count humidor is way overkill. A smaller humidor or lots more cigars would help to achieve a more stable humidity reading.

Second, low-mid 60%RH is great. You'll probably find that your cigars burn better and have more pronounced flavors at the lower RH.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

One would be to get more cigars. Cigar help maintain an even, constant humidity. Seeing as you fill only about 6% of that humi, the other 94% could be filled with cigar boxes or spanish cedar to help buffer it a little.
Winter has been notoriously bad for me with humidity. Keep your humi away from windows and doors, as the change in ambient temp can make your RH fluctuate.

Also, do you have any glass tops or door to your humi? Humidity can leak through the seam between the glass and the wood.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Ok, 65% is very consistent for me in winter, and 70% is more consistent in summer... This makes me happy!
More cigars will be added very soon. 50 coming back from Cuba, and at least another 50 for XMAS.
And yes I do have both a door and glass all around. But if im around 65% and thats normal I think my seal is solid. Should in the future the seal be weak, how does one fix it?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Blue masking tape! :tu


Seriously, it depends on the type of seal and how it's leaking and where (door or glass for example). There are lots of different possibilities and combinations there, so I'd say cross that bridge when and if you get to it.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I am so happy I found this website! I was thinking far worse than that lol. You guys and gals are life savers!

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

An easy way to check your seal is to open the top about 3 inches and let it go. You should hear a "whooshing" sound as the top closes. If it slams shut with a bang, then you need to check your seal. Put a dollar bill(or whatever goofy money you use up there :D) between the top and the bottom in several places. If you find a spot where it slides out easily, then use the magic blue(painters)tape to seal. :2

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Make sure to use paper money and not any of those dollar (or two dollar) coins :)

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Sounds good, will do that tonight for sure!

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

So checked the seal of the door, no leak, but when checking the seal of the glass, there is a possibility of leaking as I can get a receipt in and moving around.

Blue masking tape is the way to go I guess? On the outside of the humidor I suspect is where I do the tape job?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I personally like to use Silicone sealer around the glass. The catch with this is that you need to empty your humidor while you are doing this and give it a few days to air out. Then you need to (re)season your humidor.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Seeing as I dont have much (60 cigars max in a large 500-700 cig humi) but more coming soon, do you recommend this now before I have more? How many days do I go without it? Re-seasoning is not a worry. I would rather have it done right than a problem for a long time to come,...

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

That is the best attitude to have!

Most silicone sealers take a day or two to set, then another few days to air out the "vinegar" odor -- gotta make sure that odor is all gone, as you don't want to taint your sticks.

All-in-all figure a week or so to be safe.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

ok perfect.
Again I assume it is done on the OUTSIDE of the humidor. Also, I assume I can just take out all shelving to avoid extra stink time. Thirdly, just store my current cigs in a cooler with the humidification stuff I am using until then?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Opinions vary on the inside or outside of the glass application. I personally believe that if you use a silicone sealer that is non-odorous when dried, ie; GE Silicone-II, then it doesn't matter, so use it on whichever side you prefer as "better" for you based on aesthetics and ease of application.

Some people will go as far as to pull the wooden retainer strip/trim on the backside of the glass, lift the glass out, run a bead on the outside lip, then reset the glass and run an inside bead before finally reinstalling the trim.

Yes, just go ahead and move your cigars and humidification to a tupperware container or cooler while you wait for the repairs to complete - depending on what you are using for humidification, you might need to keep an eye on the RH if things are going to be in there for a long time.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I see no harm in lightly wiping the inside of a new humidor with a moist sponge, towel etc. because if for nothing else, you are removing the dust/micro wood particles etc. The wood is not going to swell if it's not soaked, and IMO wiping down the inside does help speed up the seasoning process.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Agreed. Sometimes I just take it out back and run a waterhose over it for a few minutes.:sw

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I think you should sticky that technique under humidor seasoning :xxx

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

While a light wipe down might not put you at risk for swelling and warping the wood, any kind of a wipe down can risk raising the grain of the wood resulting in a cosmetically unattractive rough surface that can easily tear cigar wrappers.

If you want to wipe down the wood to remove dust, you should just barely moisten a clean lint free cloth and wipe it with that. A barely moistened cloth will not leave any water behind or moisten the wood, it will just trap the dust particles.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Excellent advice Adam!

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

To me the most effective way of naturally imparting moisture to a humidor is with natural evaporation. Use a damp sponge or paper towel. The key to a well seasoned humidor is time.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Thanks for the great information :D

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Quick question here, I have a small (100) decorative humidor that I keep sitting on my bar and it has always been locked on 64%. I moved last year and over the winter it dropped into the high 50's so I added some cigarjuice to the humidification device. This worked fine during the winter, but now the thing jumped up to 78%. I emptied the smokes into my larger humidor, but is there any way besides just letting it air out and reaseasoning it to get it in line?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Reseasoning will not bring the RH down. First, calibrate youe hygrometer to make sure you really do have a problem. If the RH is high then keep your sticks in the other humidor and let the humidor air out -- and hour or so at a time.

Also, get rid of the cigar juice and switch to beads to manage your RH.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Im seasoning a 120 count Cuban crafters humi right now its been going for like 3 days with a damp sponge in it but ever since i first closed it my freshly calibrated digital hygrometer is reading 73% Rh? Ive read posts that say to let it season till the hygrometer reads 70%? Will the rh level out or should i stop with the seasoning after 3 days?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Did your hygrometer propery calibrated read 75%? If so then 73% would be accurate. If not, then subtract 75 from 73 and you get a 2 difference. So 73% would technically be 75% calibrated. I know my digital hygrometers are off a few % but I write on them with a small piece of tape the difference. Your humidor may not be fully seasoned yet. I'd give it 7-14 days like Mark has suggested and in the meantime re-calibrate your hygrometer. It can't hurt. :2

Does your humidor have cigars in it yet? If not that could be an issue as well as cigars regulate humidity and "even" out the humidity.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

During the seasoning process... and once saturation is achieved... would I have a humidity reading in the 90% range (or, what would a humidity reading look like once you've seasoned the box for a week or so)?

At that point it would be safe to assume the wood has saturated itself, take out the dish of water AND humidification device ... let it sit EMPTY for 24 hours, check humidity reading... let it sit 24 hours more, check humidity...

IF it stayed within 1 to 2 % points... it's safe to assume you're good to go, add your humidification device AND sticks and away we go?

Does that sound right?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

So is it really that easy? Lemme get this straight...after you get your new humidor home you just open it up, put a bowl of distilled water in there, close it, and leave it shut for a week?

Then a week later when you open it up, poof your all set?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

You have to have some type of humidification device in it, preferably one that gives off and absorbs humidity, ala shilala or Heartfelt beads. With a calbrated hygrometer you keep tabs on when the humidity stabilizes at your desired level. So, "poof"? No, not exactly.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Can I rent some space in your 1000 # humidor? I started with 1 humi & now have 7!
You have a lot to look forward to. Cigar count can only go up.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I am essentially lazy. I bought Boveda humidor seasoning packs (84%). I put 5 of 'em in a new 200 count humi and kept it shut (locked actually) for two weeks. No problem maintaining 65% H. Temps fluctuate between 65-68 degrees. Fine for my taste.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Yeah I knew that. Whatabout those humidifiers that come with humidors? Are they OK? Or are they junk like most analog hygrometers that come with humi's are?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

The floral foam pucks/bricks? They're ok if you use PG solution in them, but they tend to go moldy and they're not the greatest long term. Most here prefer beads whether they be silica based like Heartfelt or HCM's like Shilila Beads. Larger humidors generally tend to do better with active humidification systems like the Set and Forget from Aristrocrat or the Avallo Accumulator. It really depends on your needs, space and budget.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

The foam humdifiers will give off moisture, but won't absorb it is your humidity is too high. In my humble opinion, they are junk. I throw them away and add beads immediately.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I agree unless you're using 50/50 or PG Solution as that is formulated to normalise at 70%RH. Of course I also prefer my cigars at 70% whereas I know most here prefer 65%. l used foam in my desktop for the first year or so without problems but then switched to beads because I heard they were much less maintanence (true). Now of course I use the Set & Forget that shipped with my Aristocrat and occasionally put in some HCM beads to scrub humidity if I notice it's spiking over 70 and not dropping. Typically that's never an issue but we'll see what happens this summer when the temps start to rise a little as it will be my summer with the Aristocrat and it's not a THC model. I don't really anticipate too much trouble since Vancouver generally doesn't get too hot.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

What's the easiest most idiot proof way to add beads? Is it one of these?

http://www.walpertobacco.com/images/Ice-Large.jpg

I assume with the beads jars you just open up your humidor, put the jar in and you're all good?

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Most beads are contained in tubes or bags rather than jars. You can check the websites for more details: http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ or http://www.hcmcigarbeads.com/

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Can't see you pic, most use beads from CigarNut (shilala beads) or Heartfelt.

With the Heartfelt, select the RH you prefer, wet about 60% of the beads so they are opaque, then see if it stabilizes your humidor to where you want it. f the RH is low, wet more of the beads....if high, dry them out.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

I had used this pic here. I know these beads are sold in Kitchener, Ontario (where I will be moving in October) at the Walper Tobacco Shop since they have a website.

http://i47.tinypic.com/6qfkfl.jpg

Are these any good? As far as I know there are no Canadian places that sell the Heartfelt beads.

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Don't know anything about those, sorry. It looks like gel (according to the label), and not humidity beads, though.

Heartfelt beads are available online at Heartfeltindustries.com, and shilala beads are available here through member CigarNut (Michael) at shilalasbeads.com

Re: Properly Seasoning a New Humidor
 

Here's a little video on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhWfg3rEtfM

They look idiot proof enough for me to use as a newb, but I just dunno how well and reliably they'd work as they aren't a big name brand.

Do Heartfelt ship to Canada?

*Sigh* If only I could easily find the good quality accessories here in Canada so I wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping and all that crap.

The lack of and the expensiveness of accessories here in Canada is really dampering my "purchasing my 1st humidor experience" lol. If I could find the good stuff here, I'd buy it, and my 1st humidor in an instant lol.