How to Store a Cigar

A fine cigar is sometimes something you want to keep for a special occasion. Of course, anything gourmet usually has pretty specialized storage requirements and cigars are no exception in that regard. You could keep a cigar preserved and delicious for an indefinite amount of time if you maintained the right humidity and temperature. Some cigars from the beginning of the 20th Century have been found and would still be smokeable, though you?ll have to do some work to preserve yours.

First and foremost, make sure you?re storing your cigar in a space of such a size that the environment can be controlled. You?ll also want to avoid opening the storage box or room. If you do this right, your tobacco may age in such a way that it improves in taste. This is not true of all cigars, however. Remember that you can re-humidify a cigar, but you cannot replenish the oil, the loss of which is what damages the taste of a cigar.

The less care you show your cigar, the worse it will hold up to time. If you can maintain the environment where it is stored at around 65 to 70 percent humidity and can keep the temperature between 16 and 17 degrees Celsius, your cigar should hold up well. If you keep it in a jar or in a plastic bag, you?ll find that it dries out quickly, usually within a couple of weeks.

The worst situation you can have is one where you have a storage area that is unavoidably dry. This may be a factor in some regions of the nation. Cigars will dry out faster in environments with low humidity. This is where the advantage of cases versus tubes, the former of which have a humidification system built in to them, becomes very apparent. A tube, however, can provide?good storage for a cigar. They only, of course, hold one cigar at a time.

Tubes are oftentimes made out of aluminum. If the cigar itself has cellophane, this combination can keep it humidified for quite a while. The important thing to remember is that humidity escapes every time you open the tube. Cork stoppers provide particularly good storage for cigars and, if you have a cork stopper, it?s best to leave it on until you intend to smoke the cigar. The same applies for any other type of stopper.