Humidor ideal air volume?

[ha_banos]

Is there an ideal or minimum percent air volume you keep in your tupperdore/s, humidor, cabinet etc?

I guess if you have fans in there you need decent room for air circulation. I use passive humidification and rely on my frequent door opening, for sniffing purposes to circulate air 😁

I've been out of space for ages but have somehow managed to stuff in my recent haul.

If you have an airtight tupperdore with some boveda and don't open it too often, does it matter if it crammed or 50% empty? The rh will stabilise either way. Might take a bit longer if there's more air exchanged.

Most cigars are in closed boxes, so there's a buffer there.

I'm not worried, just wondering. But basically I refuse to spill into secondary storage .. again. Although I think next week I'll have no choice... 😔

[PeeJay]

I'm sure I remember Simon Bolivar saying a long time ago that you should open sealed storage solutions like Tupperware every now and again to refresh the air. I seem to recall he used the analogy of a sandwich box and the state of the contents.

[ha_banos]

I'm sure I remember Simon Bolivar saying a long time ago that you should open sealed storage solutions like Tupperware every now and again to refresh the air. I seem to recall he used the analogy of a sandwich box and the state of the contents.

Which is interesting because some folk vacuum, or near vacuum, seal boxes for years. The idea of sealing being that the cigars basically stop or slow down the aging process. So each time is opened, and new oxygen/air is introduced it's got to stabilise again. No idea how long it might take to reach stasis again.

I'm not into the sealing game. But I am happy with less air volume and not opening boxes too often. Hardly scientific though!

[Emaresee]

I think we all work off learned experience. I am sure Boveda or some other product business could point to proprietary research data if they chose to... otherwise we are simply left to gauge our needs for humidity according to the nature positioning and needs of our individual set up and preferences.

Clearly as we all know, too frequent openings is a bad thing - constant shifts not being brilliant and cracked wrappers ensue...

Infrequent openings risks things going awry and unnoticed... the old adage of bad things happen quickly good things tend to take time etc probably rings true.

Full humidors/ and other storage methods has always served me well - the 'buffer' the boxes and sticks offer to each other being the prime rational. I consolidate my storage whenever I can.

Airing, is in many senses as much an opportunity to inspect as it is to bring in 'fresh air' - move things, identify 'damp or dry spots' circulate the sticks. And back we come to having a decent buffer....

[Hookmaker]

Ideally there would be zero room left for air 😜


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[Simon Bolivar]

Ideally there would be zero room left for air 😜


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Sure you're describing your own Humi's & I mean all of them!

[Hookmaker]

Sure you're describing your own Humi's & I mean all of them!

Simon Bolivar - you forget, I am poor, I only have one 😝


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[Bigdog]

Over time air will dissipate turning an air tight space into a type of vacuum, their is no humidity without air, so boveda’s in a humidor/tupperador without air won’t release any of their moisture so cigars will become dry. Cigars also need air to age so they won’t really age in a near airless container either, as soon as the air disappears they will stay in that near exact condition. Opening a humidor too frequently releases all the humidified air, to once again fill a sealed humidor with humidified air takes time, cigars preferably need to be continuously humidified. So if your cigars are in Tupperware I would add an estimated amount of boveda pack’s and I would probs open it up once every 3-4 weeks (air take’s a while to dissipate, be absorbed etc). I would handle the cigars as little as possible also preferably two or three times a year, giving them a little move around (touching the cigars even lightly over time will deteriorate them). If it’s a normal/cheaper humidor I wouldn’t open it at all, apart from to take a cigar out to smoke or to check that the boveda’s haven’t dried out and stopped working, normal humidor’s allow in a lot of air. Expensive humidors will be nearly air tight but you still won’t really need to open them apart from to take out a stogie to smoke, a little bit of air goes a long way. This is my bricklayers/builders opinion anyway. My opinion on a full humidor is more cigars means less empty space for air, this means less humidity needed inside your humidor, so boveda packs last a lot longer in a full humidor. You still need to make sure there’s enough boveda packs in your humidor to release or remove humidity equally amongst your cigars but they will last a lot longer😊

[ha_banos]

Over time air will dissipate turning an air tight space into a vacuum, their is no humidity without air, so boveda’s in a humidor/tupperador, without air won’t release any moisture so cigars will become dry, cigars need air to age so they won’t age in a vacuum either, as soon as the air disappears they will stay in that exact condition, so if your cigars are in Tupperware I would add in a generous amount of boveda pack’s and I would probs open it up only once every 3-4 weeks (air take’s a while to dissipate, be absorbed etc), I would handle the cigars as little as possible also probably once or twice a year, giving them a little move around (touching the cigars even lightly over time will deteriorate them), if it’s a normal/cheaper humidor I wouldn’t open it at all, apart from to take a cigar out to smoke or to check that the boveda’s haven’t dried out and stopped working, normal humidor’s allow in a lot of air, expensive humidors will be nearly air tight but you still won’t really need to open them apart from to take out a smoke, a little bit of air goes a long way, this is my builders/bricklayers opinion anyway, my opinion on a full humidor is more cigars, means less empty space for air, this means less humidity needed inside the humidor, so bovedas last a lot longer in a full humidor, you still need to make sure there’s enough bovedas in your humidor to release or remove humidity equally amongst your cigars, So you need plenty of boveda packs throughout your humidor but they will last a lot longer😊

Well we can't have zero air. Or the poor cigars will be squished! There are tales out there of folk crushing dress boxes with vacuum sealers!

Could just wrap boxes up in store cling film/wrap.

But as for space in humidors... It's just an invitation to fill ☺️

[Bigdog]

Well we can't have zero air. Or the poor cigars will be squished! There are tales out there of folk crushing dress boxes with vacuum sealers!

Could just wrap boxes up in store cling film/wrap.

But as for space in humidors... It's just an invitation to fill ☺️

lol, Yh, I’ve slightly re-worded it but humidifying cigars is like solving a mathematical equation lol, Yh, to be fair probs better off just moving to Cuba and leaving them in their dress box on the side without a humidor ready to be smoked lmao

[smokey joe]

Not much air in a tubo & they age nicely

[Bigdog]

Depends where the tubo is stored, tubo are not air tight and a little bit of air goes a long way, cigars defo age quicker without the tube, so if your into aging cigars defo better off taking them out of the tube, this is my ten pence worth anyway lol

[ha_banos]

Not much air in a tubo & they age nicely

Agree! I think someone did an experiment here a while back with a tube and can they be airtight?

My point/question is regarding a humidor type environment. As mine does not facilitate much air nor circulation. Which I think is just fine given I open the door on average couple of times a week. Don't need much air, got no fans. Most things boxes up. Things generally seem to smoke well. Almost 5 years in this cabinet. Just over 20 in humidors/cabinette.

But if you use fans, I guess you need more air/space.

[Bigdog]

If you have a single humidification source and a large cabinet/humidor I always thought the fans helped circulate the humidified air around the entire cabinet/humidor, so all the cigars even the ones furthest away from the humidification souce got equal moisture, without the fan you would need more sources of Humidification, maybe the fans help with temperature also (helping to circulate heat or cool air in a temp controlled humidor), small humidor’s don’t need fan’s just adequate humidification, the biggest struggle I have with my humidor is temperature, fluctuations in temperature can cause cigars to swell and contract, this will cause the cigar to split, this mostly happens around the foot of your cigar, you will see little cracks appear

[Midas]

Humidity rises, the top of my cabinet is always 1/2% higher than the middle.

I have a layer of beads in a tray under the bottom shelf and then Boveda scattered throughout.

The humidity does fluctuate depending on the time of year and external conditions however they're always within a stable range I'm happy with. I've been considering a humidifier in my office where the cabinet is to try and keep the entire room at 65% or there abouts so outside conditions have less impact.

In general I don't think about it too much. As long as the humidity doesn't drop too low or rise too high I just let it do its thing.

The general consensus I've seen is lower humidity for smoking, higher humidity for ageing but if a cigars going to be a dud after 10-15 years I don't think a few % of humidity is going to change that.

Back to the point about airflow and fans. If you have closed boxes, stacked on one another how would any airflow benefit the cigars themselves? Maybe if you were to leave the cabinet closed for many months at a time it would help but if you're opening it a couple of times a week I would guess that the fresh air would be of more benefit.


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