What a Humidor Is Actually For

A humidor exists to do one job: hold cigars at sixty-five to seventy percent relative humidity at a stable temperature in the high sixties. That is it. Everything else — the Spanish cedar lining, the brass hinges, the lacquered burl — is craftsmanship and theater. Beautiful, but optional.

If you are starting out, do not buy the $800 humidor. Buy a Boveda 69% pack, a digital hygrometer, and a sealed cedar box. You will keep cigars in better condition than ninety percent of cigar lounges.

When you do upgrade, upgrade for the cedar — Spanish cedar slowly transfers a faint sweetness to aging cigars and helps regulate humidity. Everything else is taste.

— Eric Schleien