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Enjoying Your Humidor
by
Trapp's Classic Humidor owner, Tom Trapp
Here are a few quick tips to
begin enjoying your humidor. First, get a good
container from the kitchen that will allow the
humidifier to lie flat in it. I use a Rubbermaid
plastic container with a lid. You can save the
leftover water in it. Next, buy a gallon of
DISTILLED WATER. Most important. It reduces the
chances of mold growing on your cigars in the
summer. Pour the water in the container so that
the humidifier will float. Cover and wait 10/15
minutes. Take the humidifier out, wipe dry, and
replace on the metal strip on the lid. It should
feel noticeably heavier. Put it in your humidor.
Now that wasn't hard.
It may take 2 or 3 days for your
humidor to come up to temperature. Try to keep it
in a constant temperature enviroment, it will
control the humidity easily. Don't put the humidor
in your trunk or the back of your hatchback where
the temp goes way up. It will ruin your cigars and
attitude. If you travel with your humidor, try to
keep it in the back seat with a towel over it to
keep the sun off and the temp fairly constant.
Depending on your local and
humidity, you should need to refill the humidifier
every 25 to 35 days. A gallon of distilled water
will last a good year at that rate. Don't wait
until its dry, refill when the humidity gets down
to 67 or 66%. In very humid times, you may have to
remove the humidifier completely from the humidor
for a couple of days. This is particularly true
with our big 500 cigar humidor. You may only use 1
humidifier all summer. If your humidifier fails to
absorb water (it gets noticeably heavier) take the
same container of water and put 4 or 5 drops of
unsented kitchen dish soap. Set the humidifier in
it for 5 minutes and its good as new.
If you notice sap forming on the
spanish cedar interior, don't panic. It's no big
deal. Remove your cigars, gently wipe the sap with
lacquer thinner, sand with 150 grit sandpaper, let
the box air out, and presto-good as new. That sap
usually appears when the humidity gets way up
there, so again, try to keep the temp constant.
If, God forbid, you run out of
cigars and are not going to keep your humidor up
and running, REMOVE THE HUMIDIFIER. Otherwise the
hygrometer and humidifier will cover with sap. A
pain to clean.
Now for the digital hygrometer
and temperature guage. On the back there is a
removable plastic piece with a arrow on it. Remove
that panel. Take a toothpick (or similar object)
and pop out the battery. Use the toothpick to
remove the opaque plastic strip. Replace the
battery with the writing up. Replace the plastic
cover. Turn on to it's face and peel back the
cover over the screen. The battery should last a
year or so, and replacements are available at most
hardware stores.
Hope some of these suggestions
help you enjoy your humidor, and get the best
performance out of it. If you have any questions
call us and we'll do our best to solve the problem
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