John Crea has provided the following information on cigar storage and answers to some common questions on proper humidification. John is a regular on the Compuserve Cigar Forum. His Compuserve email address is 76636,3676. Please visit the forum for more information on cigars.
SUBJECT: Storage and Humidity/Humidification:
As we buy our cigars, we expect them to be ready to smoke as we leave the tobacconist's shop, and we are usually not disappointed. However, many of us buy our cigars in quantities, by the box or at least several at a time, and proper storage becomes a matter of concern.
It is generally accepted that cigars should be stored in an environment that permits the cigar to be smoked at it's best. Many authors have suggested that this "ideal" environment centers around 70 degrees F and a relative humidity of 70%. If we let our cigar get too dry, it will smoke hot, fast and unevenly. If we get our cigars too moist, they will tend to go out frequently, draw will become harder, and the cigars can run the risk of molding in storage. Either of these extremes are undesirable.
Thus, it is recommended that cigars be stored in humidors, boxes that are designed to (hopefully) maintain a constant environment for our cigars to rest, and be maintained at their peak condition for smoking.
Humidors range from Igloo (registered trademark) coolers and other inexpensive containers with humidification devices all the way to works of art that showcase the wood workers skills, and cost in the multiple thousands of dollars. Which one is best??? If the humidity and temperature is controlled appropriately, either the budget version or the "break the bank" version will perform equally well. The "break the bank" version is best suited for ostentatious display of cigars and cigar storage, while the budget version is perfectly fine for those who do not want to put their cigar storage on display.
The one thing both extremes of price have in common is that they all contain some kind of device to regulate the humidity inside the storage container. These humidification devices have one goal in mind, and that is to maintain the humidity in our humidor at a constant value at a given temperature. These devices range in complexity from low tech (a sponge soaked in water at the bottom of the humidor, brass containers with a clay substance to hold moisture and release moisture- ie, the Dunhill system), to devices that use blotting paper to hold and release moisture. These devices low tech devices often require the owner to adjust the humidification device to maintain the desired humidification.
Another device, and in my opinion one of the best, is the Credo System (registered trademark). The Credo System comes in both a small model (the Rondo) capable of handling 25 - 50 cigars, and the larger model, the Precision 70 which is capable of handling 75 - 100 cigars. Obviously, for larger storage requirements, multiple Credo units can be used.
The beauty of the Credo System is that it is Self Regulating. All you have to do is add distilled water to keep the device saturated, and it will maintain a constant 70% relative humidity at 70 degrees F. This is accomplished by the use of special "Credo Juice", which contains both distilled water and a "tensio-active" agent. This tensio-active agent releases moisture when the RH is too low, and absorbs moisture when the RH is too high. It has been determined that the "tensio-active" agent in the Credo units is nothing more or less than propylene glycol, and the units come pre-charged with this agent. You then add distilled water until the unit is saturated with water, and install in your storage. After several months, Credo recommends that you "recharge" your unit with "Credo Juice" (which is for all intents and purposes a 50-50 mix of propylene glycol), due to the fact that the tensio-active agent is slowly consumed when in use.
Many cigar smokers have began to make their own humidification devices based on this information. Sponges are commonly used to hold the propylene glycol and distilled water, but a better choice appears to be the green foam used by florists in flower arrangements (brand name is OASIS). OASIS is available from your local florist, and often from craft shops, and a large brick of this foam is enough to make many humidifiers and can be purchased for a very affordable sum. I recommend soaking the foam with propylene glycol, and then adding distilled water until the foam will no longer accept anymore distilled water. This is them placed (in an appropriate ventilated container) into our storage container, and our cigars will be maintained in peak condition until we are ready to smoke them.
Although humidity levels are almost always referred in terms of Relative Humidity, the actual value that is important is the amount of water vapor present in a given volume of air, known as Absolute Humidity. As air will hold varying amounts of water vapor at different temperatures, no discussion of humidification would be complete without a discussion of temperature and it's effect on absolute humidity. Relative humidity is an easily measured value, that relates the measured humidity to the maximum humidity that is possible at that temperature. Thus, 70% RH at 70 degrees F is not the same as 70% RH at 80 degrees F and neither is the same as 70% RH at 60 degrees F.
Remember, we are aiming to maintain the same amount of water (mgm/liter) around our cigars as seen at 70% RH at 70 degrees F (which is 13.15 mmHg water vapor pressure).
So, to be able to know what is happening with our cigars at temperatures other than 70 degrees F, we must use a table of adjusted relative humidity values to make sure that our humidors keep our cigars in the peak of condition.
So the following holds true:
Temp Water Vapor Pressure Relative Humidity Required
for 100% saturated to equal 70% RH at 70 degrees (13.15mmHg)
60 13.26 99.17%
61 13.73 95.78%
62 14.23 92.41%
63 14.74 89.21%
64 15.27 86.12%
65 15.81 83.18%
66 16.37 80.33%
67 16.95 77.58%
68 17.55 74.93%
69 18.17 72.37%
70 18.79 70.00%
71 19.45 67.61%
72 20.11 65.39%
73 20.81 63.19%
74 21.51 61.13%
75 22.25 59.10%
76 23.00 57.17%
77 23.78 55.30%
78 24.59 53.48%
79 25.40 51.77%
80 26.67 49.31%
As we can see, it is impossible to attain an absolute humidity level
that will keep our cigars from drying out at temperatures below 60
degrees F.
This observation will put to rest the fallacy that the refrigerator is a good place to store cigars. Not only do we have to worry about our premium cigars beginning to acquire the flavors from our left over foods, but the cigars will dry out and become essentially unsmokable. The freezer is an even worse place to store cigars. The humidity becomes virtually zero, and the lost of moisture from our cigars will accelerate to produce a dry as a bone smoke.
Take a look at the Creedo units and other Oakman HOME