Techniques That may Correct a po

Helpful Hints

Humidor Help

Breaking In Your Humidor

The wood in your humidor needs time to reabsorb moisture before you use it for the first time. To ensure this happens, you should break in your humidor according to these instructions.

1. Place a shot glass filled with distilled water or 50/50 solution in the bottom of the humidor.

2. Charge your humidifier and place inside the humidor.

3. Place your calibrated hygrometer inside the humidor.

4. Close the lid.

5. Check the humidity daily using the hygrometer. When it reaches the 68-72% humidity range, the wood has been properly stabilized.

Note: Do not wipe the interior of your humidor with water. This will ruin the wood.

Caring For Your Humidor

With proper care and attention, your humidor will give you years of service. To help you care and maintain your investment follow these tips:

Storage

Store your humidor on a flat level surface. This will prevent it from being knocked over.
Never store your humidor in direct sunlight. This will fade the wood and heat the inside of your humidor.
Prevent placing objects on the top of the humidor.
Avoid storing foreign objects, such as lighters, cutters, etc. inside the storage portion of your humidor.

Cleaning

Always use a soft cloth when cleaning your humidor.
Furniture polish, beeswax, lemon oil, etc. are all good products that can safely be used on the outside of your humidor to either clean or polish it.
Regular dustings will keep your humidor looking as good as new.

Hygrometer

Calibration (also known as the Salt Test)

1. Place a teaspoon of table salt in a shallow dish and add enough water (a few drops) to make it damp, not a solution.

2. Place the dish in a zip lock plastic bag and place the hygrometer next to the dish. DO NOT SPILL ANY SALT WATER ON YOUR HYGROMETER.

3. Seal the plastic bag with some air trapped inside and allow it to sit for at least 6 hours.

4. After the time has elapsed, the humidity should read 75%. If not, note the deviation. Some hygrometer models have a small screw on the back that allows you to adjust the reading to the 75% mark. If yours does not, then make note of the deviation when you read your hygrometer.

Placement

Placement of the hygrometer is not critical, as long as you are happy with its location. It is best to allow a flow of air around the hygrometer to ensure an accurate reading. Mounting on the lid or a tray in the humidor is the best solution.

Humidifier

Calibration

1. Remove humidifier(s) from the humidor

2. Take distilled water, 50/50 solution (distilled water and propylene glycol) and squirt it into the humidifier through the grate.

3. Do not overfill the humidifier. You want it wet but not soaking.

4. Turn the humidifier over and shake out excess, just to make sure.

5. Take a cloth and wipe away any excess liquid from the front of the humidifier.

6. Re-attach back into the humidor.

Techniques that may correct a poor burning stogie

Store your cigars in your humidor longer prior to smoking. Cigars will burn much better once they become stabilized from the rolling process. It is surprising how many cigars will correct themselves when allowed to age for three months or more.
Rotate your cigar so that the slower burning side is on the bottom. The bottom side of the cigar will burn faster. This is an excellent technique for keeping cigars burning even, but may not be drastic enough to completely prevent all unevenly burning cigars.
Slow down your puffing. Some runs occur when the burn ignites a thick vein in the wrapper or the binder, each puff helps to fuel the fire. By slowing down your puffs it allows the filler to burn faster retaining more heat than the exterior surface of the cigar.
Another technique is to moisten the wrapper of your cigar in front of the runaway burn area with a wet fingertip. This basically creates a firewall, although not elegant, it often helps to be effective, particularly against runners.
Using your lighter to force a corrected burn on the cigar is often quite effective. Although this technique may cause some charring of the cigar and an acrid flavor. This is a common way to deal with uneven burning. This is much easier when using a torch-style lighter versus matches or other lighter styles.

Hopefully some of these simple techniques will be able to help you improve the burn on a runaway cigar and allow you to enjoy and captivate the relaxation afforded by a good cigar.

How even should your cigar burn? A good cigar should burn near perfect so that when you tip the ash, the entire cigar face is nearly flat. Although not all cigars will burn like this, most well made cigars will burn evenly and within 3/8" all the way around. There are often concerns when the cigar burns quicker on one side than the other. This is the most typical burn pattern that we smokers experience and often referred as "canoeing," and the easiest to correct. Other burn patterns that are commonly faced is when the wrapper of the cigar burns significantly faster on one side along a narrow strip. This is caused by a vein in either the wrapper or binder catching fire and burning ahead of the cigar. When the foot of your cigar becomes pointy and red hot, this is caused when the wrapper and binder burn faster than the filler.

The reasons that cause the above problems vary but the common causes include a poorly rolled cigar, tobacco with heavy veins, uneven moisture in the cigar, or tobacco that has been mismatched. The easiest to correct is the moisture content of your cigar. During the rolling process the tobacco is moistened, so it is good to let your cigars stabilize and "dry out" after they have been freshly rolled. Most cigars are aged accordingly, but allowing three months of humidor time will mostly alleviate this problem. Some might think an uneven burn is only a cosmetic concern, but this is not true. A poor burn affects the flavor and draw of the cigar. The properly blended flavor of a cigar is only achieved when the tobacco burns evenly. When one or more of the tobaccos burn faster than the others, it ends up mixing the flavors intended by the master blender. Below are some techniques that can be used as an attempt to correct an unevenly burning cigar as you smoke it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Unfortunately, not all poor burning cigars can be saved.

Most cigar boxes and wooden boxes for that matter can be used as a humidor with the proper preparation. A new or under performing wooden humidor may be initiated by starting with the empty box. Inspect the lid for a snug fit and good seal. If it is already in use, remove the cigars and place them in a zip lock plastic bag. Clean any foreign matter or debris from the enclosure. Remove the humidity control device and hygrometer. The room temperature should be in the 65 - 70 Degrees F. range. Using a misting bottle, half filled with distilled water. Dampen the inside of the wooden box. The sides, top and bottom will collect small droplets of water. Do not allow any puddles to form. After 2 - 3 minutes, wipe the box out with a clean sponge. Close the humidor for 3 - 4 hours. This should bring the humidity level in your humidor up to a level that is suitable for storing cigars. Once activated the humidor should perform well with the humidity control system provided with the Humidor. Follow the manufacturers instructions for best performance. A recharging fluid that is commonly sold and available is better than water as it is designed for this purpose. However if water is used, distilled is recommended. Cigars stay the freshest at humidity levels from 70 - 73 percent. The hygrometer is a critical feature to accurately monitor humidity levels in the humidor.