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			Cigar hi-tech The whole truth about humidors and cigar storage The cigar climate Imagine that you are smoking a dry cigar – and enjoying it. That’s not possible, you say? And yet for many years, all cigars coming to Europe were in one way or another dry. A cigar rolled in the humidity of the Caribbean starts to dry as soon as it leaves the tropics and exchanges a sultry equatorial climate for a dry continental one. So you can imagine the state cigars used to be in when they finally got to the consumer. The first person to notice the difference between one and the same cigar in Central America and in Europe was Alfred Dunhill. And he was also the first to use the phrase that has probably gone into every written work on cigars without exception: “A cigar should be smoked in the same conditions in which it was made”. Striped Marquetry humidor from Dunhill. Designed for 100 cigars. 1,950 euros But though you might be able to smoke a cigar in European weather conditions – so long as it’s not snowing or raining, and preferably when there’s no wind – the conditions for storing a cigar are much stricter. A cigar retains its initial qualities only at a humidity of approximately 70%. At a greater humidity, it could be covered with mould or simply rot – though the likelihood of the latter is very small. What really does constitute a cause for concern, though, is if the humidity drops below the accepted norm, which is a far more likely scenario. If a cigar is stored in a place where the humidity falls below 65%, it will dry up fairly quickly. The leaves become thin and brittle, and lose the aromatic compounds that give them their qualities. As a result, the cigar burns quicker and hotter, and gives off less taste and aroma. A Meeting humidor from the Illusion Limited Collection by Dunhill. Designed for 250 cigars. $30,000 Although cigars come from hot countries, high temperatures actually do them no good at all, and the heat considerably increases the risk that tobacco-beetle larva will appear in them. Cold is also harmful, yet it is amazing how many inexperienced smokers store their cigars in the fridge. Apart from the cold affecting it, a cigar placed on the same shelf as cheese, smoked sausage and vegetables will be seriously damaged by the abundance of extraneous smells. Good tobacco is very susceptible to the aromas in its environment. The ideal temperature for a cigar is 20?23° Celsius, and we are lucky in the fact that average room temperature is usually kept within these limits. But as far as humidity is concerned, the problem is far more complex – in our latitude, there are few places where it rises above 35?40%. So to preserve cigars, when the ambient humidity is too low, we need a humidor. The heritage of Alfred and Zino Whom do we have to thank for the humidor – for the opportunity to keep cigars stored for a long time without loss of quality in the most unsuitable conditions? The inventor of this technology for the correct storage of cigars is rightly considered to be Alfred Dunhill. It is a historical fact that in 1907, he first installed a cabinet in his London shop that was specially equipped for storing this easily-damaged product. Thick wooden walls, tightly fitting doors and a small water container in one corner – and that was all the technology it took. The water container ensured a high level of humidity, and the thick walls and tightly-fitting doors prevented the humid air from escaping outside and concentrated it all inside the cabinet. Ideal conditions for cigar storage. But this revolutionary novelty was not particularly popular. The reason was that at that time cigars could be kept in ordinary cellars – they weren’t too cold, but they were sufficiently humid. And that, incidentally, was what many cigar retailers and some inveterate smokers did, since practically every house had a cellar. But this state of affairs came to an end in the middle of the 20th century with the widespread introduction of central heating in Europe, which made the cellars warm and dry – and thoroughly unsuitable for the storage of capricious tobacco products. A Limited Edition humidor from Davidoff. Designed for 100 cigars. $7,580 In this new situation, the first person to start thinking about how to store cigars was Zino Davidoff. During a visit to Cuba he had discovered and could remember well just what ‘fresh’ cigars, unspoilt by the dry European climate, tasted like. His first humidor was similar to the cigar cabinet invented by Alfred Dunhill with a vessel containing water placed inside it to provide the necessary humidity. But in addition, he developed a more compact version: a wooden box with a piece of damp fabric on the bottom. It was less capacious than the cabinet but, on the other hand, it could be kept at home and on the desk. The cigars which Zino stored in his cabinets and boxes differed noticeably in quality from those on the shelves of the European shops at the time. After a while, the prototypes of these humidors began to appear in all shops that sold Davidoff cigars – the shopkeepers were obliged to do this under the terms of their agreement with the Davidoff Company. But though it became a serious weapon in the struggle for the market, the humidor never became popular with smokers at large, and the first serial production of Davidoff humidors ‘for the people’ was not begun by the subsidiary company, Monti, until 1968. Cedar – or something similar Every cigar smoker, even those who do not have their own humidor, have more than likely looked into one at the home of a friend or in a tobacco shop. And they will doubtless be amazed to see how astonishingly simple its construction is. Many will even say that it hasn’t changed much over the last half-century and the modern humidor is only a smarter version of the one that stood on Zino’s desk. But in actually fact, all the components of the humidor from the wood it’s made out of to the humidifier have undergone a serious evolution. Today’s humidor is a complex construction, which is not easy to make. A Marine humidor from Davidoff. Designed for 100 cigars. $4,150 The main material for a quality humidor is cedar. But there are all sorts of different kinds of cedar. We Russians call the ‘cedar’ a tree that grows in Siberia and is related to the pine family. The specialists’ name for Siberian cedar is Pinus Sibirica; pinus translated from the Latin means ‘pine’. This is a coniferous tree that is resinous and possesses a characteristically sharp odour. Real cedar is a dry, deciduous tree with a subtle, barely perceptible aroma. It is a completely different tree and belongs to the genus Cedrus. Various species of this tree are found in Central America, equatorial South America and the West Indies, and they have absolutely no relation to the Siberian cedar and the genus pinus. Humidors are made from trees of the Cedrus genus, which do not grow in Russia. This species of wood has a porous structure, so it absorbs excess moisture from the atmosphere and exudes it when necessary, making it possible to create and maintain an atmosphere in the humidor that is optimal for cigars. All the woods of the genus cedrus have a practically neutral aroma, which is also very important for the correct storage of cigars, because then the wood does not pass any of its own odours on to them. It is also important that it does not try to absorb the tobacco aroma, and maintains almost absolute neutrality. A Griffins humidor. Designed for 35 cigars. $900 This remarkable cedar is found in numerous varieties, like the Mexican, the Brazilian and the Barbados cedar, although the differences between them are minimal and explained largely by the need for botanic ‘origin control’. In relation to humidors, the term ‘Spanish cedar’ is most frequently heard, but from the botanical point of view, it is the same as Brazilian cedar (cedrela odorata). In my opinion, it is more correct to use this name, especially since this type of cedar does not grow in Spain, preferring as it does the warm, humid climate of the tropical Central and South American countries. The major exporter of cedrela odorata wood is Brazil. Different manufacturers use different species of cedar for their humidors, but the preference is always for Spanish (Brazilian) and American (Canadian) cedar. Some try to use Mexican cedar – it grows chiefly in Central America – as it is thought to possess a more neutral aroma and have better absorbent characteristics. But despite the variety of species, the cedrus genus cannot be considered as being widespread. The cost of a humidor is largely determined by the high price of this species of wood. A humidor from Woodmax. Designed for 25 cigars. $225 Humidors today are more and more frequently being made from another wood – gaboon. Gaboon is reminiscent of cedar, but it has an even more neutral smell; humidors made from this wood are produced by Davidoff. Finally, there are also models made from Honduras mahogany. Traditionally, these have been the cheapest, and the wood can be compared in terms of its moisture absorbency with American cedar, but the odour is even less intense. Its weakness, however, is its natural vulnerability to all kinds of insects, and the likelihood of the tobacco beetle infecting a humidor made of this kind of wood is higher than it is with any other kind. Just a box The wooden body of the humidor might consist of one or several layers of wood. Single-layer humidors are usually made from a block of the finest Spanish cedar. Those that can boast several layers are traditionally made on the ‘sandwich’ principle. A carefully worked piece of hardwood is used as the basis. Then a layer of cedar or gaboon is placed inside, and a layer of any beautiful hardwood is put on the outside. The price of humidors of both types is approximately the same: the former are expensive due to the high cost of cedar; the latter due to the complexity of their construction. For a number of practical reasons, three-layer humidors should be considered the best. The hardwood veneer stock or middle layer prevents the rapid evaporation of moisture through the pores of the cedar, as happens with boxes made of that wood alone. Cedar by itself is a very soft material, so it is better protected against external damage and cracking, when ‘armoured’ with the humidor’s hardwood veneer stock. A humidor from Woodmax. Designed for 120 cigars. $440 In order to make a humidor of any type, all the wood must be carefully dried. Making a humidor of several layers is a highly labour-intensive process, particularly when it comes to fitting the cedar layer to the main layer. The ideal would be a humidor with its inner layer made from a single piece of cedar. But such large pieces of veneer do not exist, and before the craftsman can glue the inner layer to the base, he has to carefully fit the various pieces of cedar to each other. And manufacturers require that their craftsman not only fit these separate pieces together firmly, but that the end result is an ideal combination of cut and colour. So sometimes when you look at the walls of a humidor, you can easily imagine that they were made from a single block of wood, although this is in fact not the case. When both the internal cedar layer and the decorative external layer have been glued, the walls of the humidor are fitted with a lid and a bottom. The result is a box, shut in on all sides. The same apparently integral box can also be seen in the production of a single-layer humidor. The external surface of any humidor is always worked with a sandblaster before being carefully hand-polished. Finally, it is covered with lacquer in several layers – the number of which with such companies as Davidoff, Dunhill or Elie Bleu may be as many as twenty. Sometimes you can find humidors that have been lacquered inside as well, but specialists advise against them. A cigar can be tainted by even the slightest whiff of lacquer. And in any case, natural cedar or gaboon have a much less powerful and certainly more pleasant aroma. A travelling humidor from Humidif. Designed for 10 cigars. $400 When the box is lacquered and dried, it is cut into two parts. Now the metallic parts can be added – the hinges, handles, locks, catches and fastenings. The last stage of making a humidor involves fitting the humidifier and the hygrometer. This technology results in a product of the highest quality – which should, therefore, be considered as classic. But there is also much simpler equipment. In terms of their construction, cheap humidors may differ little from ordinary jewellery boxes and drawers. But that doesn’t mean to say that they are of no use. If you buy a cheap box, you should pay particular attention to the quality of the wood; you should examine its texture and make sure that it doesn’t give off a powerful smell. The quality of the gluing should also be checked. Humidors with glass lids are considerably rarer than those made completely of wood, and many cigar aficionados are wary of them. Are their fears justified? Not if you use the humidor for the short-term storage of cigars and regularly renew its contents. But if in your cigar collection you have a number of rare cigars, which you wish to keep for a year or more, it is better to get a humidor with a wooden lid. Cigars under glass can suffer from the direct rays of the sun, and the wrapper leaves of the cigars on top can simply fade. Another certain drawback is the fact that it is not recommended to open a glass lid often – otherwise you may experience a loss of humidity. Wet spot Under the wooden casing and in direct proximity to the cigars, we find the heart of the humidor – the humidifier. The system, for which Dunhill’s original water container and Davidoff’s wet cloth were the prototypes, has become a lot more complex today. The majority of modern humidors are fitted with a moisturizing cassette. The device is quite simple: the ‘active substance’ – a material that is capable of simultaneously absorbing a large quantity of moisture and gradually exuding it – is put into a grilled or netted plastic (rarely metal) casing. For a long time – starting in 1968 – the only material able to do this was a kind of sponge specially designed for humidors. Its main drawback was that it frequently needed to be watered – on average, once a week or once a fortnight. Also, the sponge is often unable to ensure the uniform moisturizing of the whole cavity of the humidor – and it can get ‘stale’ very quickly, so it needs to be changed regularly. But despite the obvious drawbacks, cassettes filled with sponge are common even today, and you can come across them in simple hundred-dollar humidors as well as in the sophisticated products manufactured by such companies as Davidoff and Elie Bleu. Obviously, the quality of the sponge depends on the quality of its manufacture. A humidor from the Hirold Riley Collection by Dunhill. Designed for 100 cigars. 2,000 euros A serious step forward came with the invention of humidor foam. Today, an ever larger number of manufacturers of both humidifiers and humidors are giving preference to this ‘active substance’. The foam itself is a porous, synthetic substance based on acrylic polymer crystals. It can be treated with antibacterial processing and, since it is able to absorb a lot of moisture and exude it evenly, it can guarantee a uniform humidity in all parts of the humidor. Foam-based humidifiers can maintain the necessary 70% humidity without supplementary control. The best models require dampening with water about once a month. Unfortunately, however, even the highest quality foam sooner or later gets hard and loses its absorbency, so it needs to be changed every one and a half to two years. Irrespective of the type of filler used, the humidifying cassette can be adjustable or non-adjustable. Non-adjustable humidifiers are easy to spot by their flattened form and wide slits. Mostly, they are made of plastic – sometimes of metal – and the moisture evaporates from them gradually, but invariably in uniform amounts. The cassette does not require any adjustment by hand. Adjustable humidifiers can be rectangular or round, and they are made chiefly of metal. With this type, the humidity in the humidor can be regulated by hand – usually by altering the width of the slits. If they are widened, the humidity goes up; if narrowed, it is stabilized or reduced. A Vista Sycamore humidor from Elie Bleu. Designed for 75 cigars. $3,060 Apart from the classical cassette humidifiers, there are more modern electronic or, as the professionals call them, ventilation humidifiers. Let me say immediately that they require electricity supply and are fairly expensive. These are their two minuses – but all the rest is a plus. This electronic miracle consists of two parts: the humidifier proper and the hygrostat. The hygrostat controls the humidity through various sensors. As soon as it registers a fall in the humidity lower than the acceptable level, it sends out a signal and the humidifier starts working. The built-in ventilator sucks in air and drives it through the wet cartridge – a water container equipped with a vaporizer. The vaporizer causes the formation of a mist, which saturates the air with moisture. When the humidity in the cigar-storage area returns to normal, the hygrostat sends out another signal, and the ventilator stops. The main advantage of this system is the high speed of the humidity. But, apart from that, it relieves the owner of the need to exercise continual control – the apparatus itself can maintain the proper humidity so long as the owner does not forget to top up the water container periodically. The pre-installed humidity level for the majority of electronic humidifiers is exactly 70%. But there are functions allowing you to adjust this level by hand to anything between 55% and 75%. A Perrequet humidor from Elie Bleu. Designed for 75 cigars. $2,330 Ventilation humidifiers are designed primarily for large cigar cabinets and rooms. Their ability to humidify large spaces rapidly is one of the things they are valued for. So it is hardly surprising that the appearance of this type of system meant that cigar-storage rooms could be enlarged and a considerable number of cigar cabinets were fitted with wires and plugged into the mains. It was this fact, in all probability, that prevented the new type of humidifier catching on in humidors. But today you can get electronic humidifiers even for quite small humidors. The ventilator, for example, is no bigger than that used in a computer and just as quiet. And the effectiveness, speed and power of the humidifier are so high that the ventilator only has to work thirty minutes in a twenty-four-hour period. The small device is equipped with a hygrostat and possesses all the capabilities of the larger humidifiers. As already mentioned, the humidor owner only has to change the water occasionally. To fit an electronic humidifier, there’s no need to do any drilling – the wires are so thin that they can pass even under the close fitting lid of the humidor. A Medailles Gold Yellow humidor from Elie Bleu. Designed for 75 cigars. $2,330 But whichever humidifier you choose, you should use only distilled water – which is sold today both in chemists and in tobacco shops. If you use tap-water, you will sooner or later spoil your humidor. Tap-water contains too many mineral deposits and bacteria that will settle on the wood and gradually destroy it. And then there are the cigars. Tap-water has a characteristic smell, which though it may not be transferred to the cigars, can still have a negative effect on their natural aromas. A small piece of advice. To improve the efficiency of a cassette humidifier with sponge filler, it’s better instead of water to use a 50% solution of propylene glycol. First, it protects the sponge from bacteria; secondly, the surface of the humidifier is covered with a thin, but substantial layer of propylene glycol. This draws in the moisture, when its concentration in the atmosphere exceeds 70%. But when the humidity falls lower than this, the layer acts in the opposite way and the intensive evaporation of the moisture begins. Thanks to this amazing capability, this magical solution is able to convert an ordinary cassette humidifier into an adjustable one. Another benefit is that the propylene glycol solution does not need to be renewed more often than once every three months. But there is no point in using it on humidifiers that are foam-based or electronic, as it produces no beneficial effect. Climate control Even the most reliable humidifiers require constant control. To determine the level of humidity in a humidor, it is fitted with a device called a hygrometer. The majority of humidor hygrometers measure the relative humidity of the air by changes in the length of a specially processed natural or synthetic hair. Thus they are called ‘hair hygrometers’. Traditionally, the disk of the hygrometer shows 80 positions – from 20 to 100. In most cases the positions from 65 to 75 are highlighted, and when the hygrometer needle lies within these figures, it shows that the humidity inside the humidor is optimal for cigars. The drawback of these inexpensive devices is that they don’t react rapidly to changes in humidity, and they are far from being absolutely precise. To minimize the possibility of a mistake, the hygrometer should be placed as far as possible from the humidifier. A humidor from Elie Bleu. Designed for 100 cigars. 2,000 euros In cigar cabinets and rooms (and those few humidors that are fitted with ventilation humidifiers), the hygrometer plays a secondary role, in as much as the humidity level is controlled by a more reliable system – the electronic hygrostat. As has already been mentioned, this not only shows the current level of humidity, but adjusts it by itself. However, the readings and efficiency of even the most reliable hygrostat should be regularly checked. How? It’s enough to pick up a cigar in the hand to know its state. Over-dry cigars are hard and their wrapper leaves crack from the slightest pressure. On the other hand, an excessively moist cigar seems slightly swollen and creases too easily in the fingers. How to fit the hygrometer A big problem for any humidor owner is a broken hygrometer. Basically, the best thing to do is take the broken device to a shop and get it mended or replaced. If for some reason this is not possible, you can try to regulate the hygrometer yourself. There are two ways of doing this. The first way is simple: pull the hygrometer out of the humidor and wrap it in a damp cloth. Leave it like that for an hour, then remove the cloth and set the hygrometer needle to a relative humidity of 96%. And that’s all. The second method is slightly more complicated, but it allows you to make a more accurate adjustment. Sprinkle a few drops of water on a large spoonful of salt, but take care not to dissolve the salt, just dampen it. Then take a plastic container that can be tightly shut, and put the dampened salt and the hygrometer in it. In approximately eight hours, the relative humidity of the air in the box will reach 75%. Put the hygrometer needle into this position. Electronic hygrometers and hygrostats break down much more rarely than non-electric ones. Nevertheless, after a couple of weeks of use, it makes sense to take the hygrostat to the shop where it was bought to check its readings. Your first humidor You shouldn’t pack a new humidor full of cigars on the first day. When you’ve topped up the humidifier, put it in the place designed for it. But be careful: the absorbency of the humidifying cassette is much greater than it seems at first sight. It’s better not to hurry, but wait until the first quantity of water has been fully absorbed, because it’s quite possible that within 10 to 15 minutes you will have to add more. If you use propylene glycol, you won’t have to wait so long – the solution is absorbed more rapidly. When you think that the humidifier has absorbed as much water as it can take, wipe it with a clean cloth and fit it confidently into the humidor. Some experts recommend also taking a clean, fresh sponge, dampening it with distilled water and wiping all the internal surface of the humidor. This gets rid of any dust, and at the same time gets the wood used to conditions of high humidity. During the first month, you should top up the water at least once a week. During the second month, you can do this less frequently, depending on the resources of the humidifier. When the humidity ceases to fluctuate and the hygrometer needle finally sticks at the same level, you can consider the humidor reliable and 100% your own. by ELDAR TUZMUKHAMEDOV