If you love cigars you will be conscious about how you use them, store them, and probably make them. Here, we are not going to talk about smoking or making them, but about storing them. A diy humidor can be perfect storage for freshly made or bought cigars.
Buying a box can cost you $100 but you can make one for yourself at a much cheaper price. The personalizing factor will not only be close to your heart but also give you all the qualities of a real humidor.
Table of Contents
What is a humidor?
A humidor is a storage box that lets you keep particular items at a certain humidity level. These items need a certain humidity to last longer than they usually do. When you buy a pack of cigars, you don’t plan to have them all at once but look for the right drinks to suit every piece. Since, tobacco becomes stale quickly you need to use a humidor to retain the essence.
If you don’t use a diy humidor or buy a real one, the cigars will shrivel up and lose the natural aura. You will find the flavor fade and the aroma will dull out. The cigars will burn quickly and lose the smoothness. They will become hard to smoke and you might discard them eventually. On the contrary, extreme humidity can make the smokes have mold or rot. Tobacco infestation is real and can leave you with a nasty experience.
Humidors are box-like travel packs that you can carry everywhere. Many spend hundreds of dollars to buy an original one, but we can help you diy it. You can compare your creation with a mini-fridge that you will create for your cigars. You need the right seal to maintain the internal temperature and offer a thermostat and hygrometer that helps cater to such condition.
In general, small and large humidor will work similar to each other and maintain an ideal relative humidity level and temperature that your cigars need.
Why you need a diy humidor?
A diy humidor can be a secret box that you made for storing tiny items. Even if you’re not a cigar smoker, you might want it to keep skincare products, lipsticks, medicines, or anything that needs a certain humidity to sustain.
If you buy a pack of freshly rolled cigars, you will need a box to store them. Since these will last you or have the fresh feel for a few days, humidors are more used for things like smokes and cigars. This is also the reason why we consider the usage of cigar more relevant here than other items.
Humidors can preserve cigars for a long time if you make the box well and maintain it even better. Most people don’t want to spend an extra $100 to buy the box and just stack cigars. After going through videos and research, we found out how to do the perfect diy humidor. Check out the section below to make one for yourself.
What do you need for the diy humidor?
To make yourself a humidor, you will need:
- A transparent airtight container made of plastic. You can get the ones that come with a pull-out tray for cigars to rest on. They have the perfect width that you need for cigars. But you can use a container that is lying in your home right now.
- You need some Spanish cedar because they smell nice and is used to line humidors. Cedar absorbs and keeps away moisture from building inside the humidor. It will keep your humidor fresh and flavorful. You can use planks, chips, skewers, and even leftover inserts from the old cigar box you had.
- Next, you need a digital humidity monitor from a local hardware store. These will cost you around $10 at the most.
- You also need a humidity controller. If you ask a regular cigar smoker, you will suggest Boveda packs that give 69% to 72% retention. These are designed to stabilize the stacking environment for tobacco products. They keep humidity less than 1% of what it is outside. You can buy this online for around $13 for a pack of 10. You can also use the absorbent silicon beads and distilled water for this.
- Finally, you need some good cigar that you will store after putting in all the efforts for the diy humidor.
How to make the humidor?
When you have all the supplies, you need to assemble the humidor:
- Clean the plastic container to remove the plastic-like smell. If you skip this smell, your cigar will smell like plastic.
- Cut the cedar plank to size and place it at the bottom of the container. If you’re putting a different kind of cedar, you should still put it in first.
- If you have a tray in the container, you need to insert them now.
- Place the digital humidity monitor facing up or towards any part of the humidor so that you can see through it.
How to season a cigar humidor?
Once you complete making the diy cigar humidifier, it will still not be ready to use. You need to season it to help it saturate inside. This will ensure that your cigars are fresh.
- Don’t wipe the interior with a wet piece or wipe. Don’t add water to rinse it. These can damage the humidor completely.
- Add humidity controller at the end and close the lid. Let it stay like that for 5-6 days. The process can take little time during summers and longer during winters.
- When humidity level reaches to more than 65%, the box will be ready to store cigars.
- Open the lid, remove the water, and add cigars to it.
How long does it take to make a cigar?
You need a few minutes to assemble all the things you need for your diy humidor. What takes time is finding the best container for storing cigars.
How much will it cost?
You need to spend at least $10 to buy a good container and $10 more for the Spanish cedar. If you buy a vintage cigar box, you will have to pay a lot more but the results will be better.
Final thoughts
An original humidor for cigars will be way more expensive than the one you make with plastic. It might not offer the exact aesthetic appeal but it will serve the purpose.