Setting up a humidor?

[adoubleu]

I recently received a small humidor as a present and want to get it seasoned and ready for use. I asked around at the cigar shop and they told me the best way to do it and I have seen and heard other ways to set it up. Does anyone have experience with this and what is the best/easiest way to get the humidor ready?

[PaulRigdon]

I just wiped down all the wood on the inside of the humidor with a damp cloth and distilled water, then put a small bowl of distilled water in the humidor and let it sit in there closed for a day. then i refilled the bowl and did it again for another day. then after the 2nd day i soaked the humidifier unit in distilled water for like an hour or two, stuck it in the humidor and was ready to go.

 

Worked great until i recently riped the top off of it! oops! Time for a new one.

[Patrick425]

Wow, I had no idea these things were so complicated. I thought they were like refrigerators. Bring them home, put your cigars in them, the end.

[mothershipconnection]

I just soaked the material for the humistat in water for an hour. Then again, I never left a cigar unsmoked for more than a week, which made it pretty pointless to have a humidor.

[burniebrewer]

Wow, I had no idea these things were so complicated. I thought they were like refrigerators. Bring them home, put your cigars in them, the end.

If you are really into cigars, you have to get the humidor set properly. It would really suck to buy a nice quantity of cigars (which are not cheap) and have them be dried out and stale because the humidor wasn't up to par.

 

I have a cherry tabletop humidor like this:

 

http://blackcatcigars.com/pinnaclefreemont.jpg

 

Not nearly as nice as some, but having the hygrometer makes it real easy to keep tabs on the conditions inside the humidor.

 

Patrick, there are some far less complicated ways to store cigars too. Before I got my humidor, I kept my cigars in a big, airtight tupperware container and used a damp household sponge to provide the moisture. Granted, it wasn't nearly as efficient or cool looking, but it kept he cigars fresh. Besides, I was only storing a few.

 

Once I decided to buy a larger quantity, I went the humidor route and bought a cigar sampler that came with the free humidor.

[Patrick425]

I really don't know anything at all about cigars (I don't smoke them) and/or humidors. So this may sound really ignorant, but I'm just curious why they don't just sell them "ready to go". Why do you have to prepare them?