Are you a cigar lover? A good humidor is a must, then. A humidor is always incomplete without proper seasoning. That’s why you should know how to season a humidor.
Your cigars get a balanced humidity when you season the humidor. Well, there are ample ways of seasoning your humidor, but you have to choose the right one.
This article will talk about how to season a humidor in the fastest and most effective way. It will save time while giving you the best results. Let’s start.
Why Do We Have to Season a Humidor?
Humidors are made of wood, especially Spanish Cedarwood. When you buy a humidor, it is mostly dry. If you put your cigars in that new humidor without seasoning, it will absorb the tobacco leaves’ oil. As a result, your cigars will become dry and will decay soon. It will also damage the taste of your cigar.
Though Spanish Cedar Wood is known for its moisture-retaining capacity, it also requires seasoning when you buy it. However, if you buy an acrylic humidor, it will not need any seasoning. Acrylic does not absorb moisture. Seasoning is required in the case of wooden humidors.
Is Seasoning a Humidor Costly?
Seasoning a humidor is a quite comfortable and less expensive process. Generally, you do not need to buy any extra materials for seasoning your new humidor. You already have those things in your home.
But if you talk about abstract materials, then it might be a bit costly. Hold on! We are joking! Actually, learning how to season a humidor needs a lot of patience more than anything. You might freak out while doing this seasoning.
Once you complete this seasoning process, your satisfaction will be more than anything.
What Do I Need to Season a Humidor?
There are a few things that you need while seasoning your humidor. Let us see what they are-
Distilled Water/Propylene Glycol
You need distilled water and not regular tap water. Your cigars are made of natural tobacco. Tap water comes with various chemicals that might contaminate the taste and smell of your cigar. So always use distilled water to season your humidor.
If you want to avoid distilled water, here is another option. You can use the Propylene Glycol solution.
Kitchen Sponge
Always use a new piece of sponge to season your humidor. A used piece of sponge contains various dirt particles and may transfer to your cigar. When you smoke a cigar contaminated with dirt, it will directly attack your lungs.
Paper Towel
Your paper towel must be thick enough to soak the excess water from the cigar humidifier.
Plastic Bag
Use a clean and spacious plastic bag.
A Large Bowl
The bowl should have enough space.
Hygrometer
If your humidor does not come with a hygrometer, then you should have a digital hygrometer. Make sure that your hydrometer is calibrated beforehand.
These are the six things that you need to season your new humidor before use. As we have already told you, you need your patience for seasoning your humidor above anything and everything.
How to Season a Humidor: The Exact Step-by-Step Process
📌 Step 1 : First, clean your humidor with a dry piece of cloth from all sides. Since it is made of wood, make sure no wooden dust is left in your humidor.
📌 Step 2: Take a large bowl, and then fill it with distilled water or with Propylene Glycol solution. Then dip the kitchen sponge into the bowl, make sure the sponge is properly moisturized. You can use your hands to move the sponge in the bowl. This will ensure that the sponge is soaked from all sides.
📌 Step 3: Take out the sponge from the bowl and remove the excess water from it. Take a plastic bag and pierce it with small holes. Then put the wet sponge into the plastic bag. Put the plastic bag along with the wet sponge in your humidor. Keep it like this for 24 hours.
📌 Step 4: Now, after 24 hours, take out the plastic bag from the humidor. Take your cigar humidifier and put it in the same bowl; make it saturated. Then place the cigar humidifier in the paper towel for removing the excess water. Place this cigar humidifier in the humidor for the next 2 to 3 days, along with your digital hygrometer.
📌 Step 5: After 2 to 3 days, take out the cigar humidifier and check the digital hygrometer’s humidity level. Do not panic if the hydrometer shows more than 75% humidity. It is natural to have more than 75% humidity when you season your humidor for the first time. Congrats now you know how to season a humidor.
Is There Any Benefit of Using a Seasoned Humidor?
Even experienced cigar smokers often ponder on what is the benefit of using a seasoned humidor. Here’s the answer-
- It gives your cigar a long life.
- Your humidor is made of wood, so naturally, wood requires moisture to retain its original smell. Seasoning helps a lot in this case.
- Seasoning retains the taste of your cigar for a long time. So, you can stack a whole bunch of cigars without any worry when your humidor is properly seasoned.
Any expensive thing requires some kind of maintenance. Humidors are no exceptions. If you want to enjoy your vintage cigars with the same taste for a long time, seasoning is necessary.
There are so many articles on how to season a humidor. In our article, we have picked up the one which is easy and time-saving. This process also requires minimal things that you can always find around.
We hope that after reading this article, you can easily season your humidor all by yourself.