Watch this step-by-step guide to learn how to set up a humidor. With Boveda, seasoning a cigar humidor is easy, mess-free and requires no extra work on your part!
Learn How to Season Your Humidor the Right Way
Overview: Seasoning Your Humidor with B84 Packets
- Remove any cigars from your humidor and store them in a Boveda Humidor Bar or plastic container or cooler with Boveda B69 packets.
- With the humidor completely empty—no cigars inside—remove the clear overwrap from the Boveda B84 packets and place them anywhere inside.
- Close the lid and let the packets season your humidor for 14 days.
This period is crucial for allowing the wood the fully absorb the moisture it needs. Don’t open the humidor for 14 days—no matter what your hygrometer readings are. - After 14 days, lift the lid, remove the Boveda B84 seasoning packets, and discard them—they aren’t reusable.
- Move your cigars back into your well-seasoned humidor and add Boveda B69 packets to your humidor to maintain the ideal humidity for your cigars for three months.
How Not to Season a Humidor
Shot Glass. Sponges. Distilled Water. Are you setting up a new humidor or cleaning up after a party? Either one sounds like a chore. Seasoning a cigar humidor does not have to resemble a chemistry experiment—despite what you read on cigar forums.
What about the shot glass method of seasoning a humidor?
Messy and inexact.
You just spent $300 on a great wood humidor. To season it, you go all DIY—go get distilled water, fill a shot glass, and put it in your humidor for a few days to humidify it. Then someone bumps your box, the glass spills, and you’ve drenched—perhaps—warped the wood.
What about the wipe-down method for seasoning a humidor?
On YouTube, you might see people using the wipe-down method to season wood humidors. Do not wipe down the inside of your humidor with a wet cloth or sponge. It doesn’t humidify the wood.
At the most, you’ll provide two to three grams of moisture to the veneer of your humidor. (Think of it like staining a piece of wood with water.) You’re also introducing 100% moisture to the surface, which can warp the wood.
When you use Boveda 84% RH Size 60 for seasoning, each one releases 35 grams of moisture into your humidor. We recommend using four (4) Boveda Size 60 to season a 100-count humidor.
Shot Glass. Sponges. Distilled Water. Are you setting up a new humidor or cleaning up after a party? Either one sounds like a chore. Seasoning a cigar humidor does not have to be a part-time job—despite what you read on cigar forums. You can do this—the right way, the safe way and the easy way—by using Boveda 84% RH (relative humidity).
But first, you need to gear up. You’ll need:
- Boveda B84 packets for seasoning a wood humidor
- Alternate storage for your cigars while you season your humidor
- 14 days
Then just sit back and let Boveda get to work. (You can now use that shot glass for its intended purpose. Salud!)
Yes, Boveda Is The Easiest Way to Set Up a Humidor
- Eliminates seasoning with messy sponges and distilled water.
- Works in 14 days with nothing else to add (or manage).
- Releases only pure water vapor, which won’t contaminate your cigar storage.
- Prevents shocking, warping or molding the wood.
Why 84% RH? Isn’t THAT too high for cigars?
You ARE an aficionado! Normally, you’d never store cigars at 84% RH. But remember, your cigars aren’t inside your humidor while you season it with Boveda.
So why use Boveda 84% RH for seasoning a humidor?
Using this high RH, you can raise the humidity inside your cigar humidor in just 14 days. After two weeks, those Boveda 84% RH packs will raise the RH in your humidor to about 65%.
Remember, your cigars have to move out while you season your humidor!
To preserve the flavor and condition of premium cigars, you store them at the ideal. RH—ALL THE TIME. That means zero-lapse protection. While you season your wood humidor, store your cigars in a Tupperware® container with Boveda 69% RH or a Boveda Humidor Bag, which comes preloaded with a 2-way humidity control packet.
6 Reasons Why you Need to Store Cigars in a Humidor Bag
When You Use Boveda 84% RH Packs to Season a Humidor, What Should Your Hygrometer Reading be?
The RH inside a humidor doesn’t matter while you’re seasoning with Boveda 84% RH packs. Just ignore your hygrometer for 14 days.
Why? A hygrometer only measures the amount of moisture in the air inside your humidor. While Boveda for Seasoning packs are in your humidor, they increase the moisture within the cell structure of the wood, not the air. We call that the free water space. A hygrometer can’t measure the moisture in wood, so forget about the RH readings for now.
Just so you know, Boveda scientists have tested how much moisture it takes to “fill up” a wood humidor’s free water space. To fully season a 100-count wood humidor, it needs about 100 grams of moisture. Each Size 60 Boveda 84% RH releases about 35 grams of moisture. That’s why we recommend using four seasoning packs for a 100-count humidor (35 grams x 4 = 140).
While you season your wood humidor, re-calibrate your hygrometer
Every six months you should re-calibrate a hygrometer or humidor sensor to make sure it’s giving you accurate results. Day 12 of seasoning a humidor is the perfect time to calibrate your hygrometer with the Boveda One-Step Calibration Kit. It’s a salt test just like the pros use to recalibrate laboratory hygrometers. Read more about Why You Need to Calibrate a Hygrometer.
Do You Have to Season a Wood Humidor?
Yes. Skip seasoning and a wood humidor will simply absorb moisture from your sticks. You’ll constantly battle low humidity levels that make for dry cigars and frustrating smokes. (And you’ll blow through Boveda faster than you need to.) Why risk the money you invest in your cigars?
BTW, if seasoning really isn’t for you, you can always store cigars in an acrylic cigar humidor, coolerdor, tupperdor or Boveda Humidor Bag. No seasoning required!
Do You Have to Season a Wineador?
Yes, if a windeador has wood trays and shelves, you should season the unit before adding cigars. Seasoning conditions the wood components inside the wineador.
How Many Boveda 84% RH for Seasoning Do You Need?
Boveda for Seasoning is available in Size 60 and Size 320. It’s your choice which size Boveda you use. For large humidors and wineadors, some cigar smokers like the Size 320 because they can buy fewer packs.
With either size Boveda for cigars, base the number of packs you use on your humidor’s capacity, NOT the number of cigars currently inside your humidor. (We did the math for you under the picture of the wineador above.
Use the Humidor Calculator to Order Boveda Seasoning Packs
Click on this pop-up Boveda Humidor Calculator to automatically find out how many Boveda seasoning packs you need for your humidor.
- One (1) Size 60 for every 25 TOTAL cigars your wood humidor or wineador can hold
- Or one (1) Size 320 for every 100 TOTAL cigars your wood humidor or wineador can hold
Do You Need to Re-season a Wood Cigar Humidor?
You might need to re-season your wood humidor every six months with Boveda B84 packets if:
- You can’t maintain the desired RH in your humidor
- Your humidor is drafty and/or has a glass top
- Your Boveda packets don’t last the full three months
- You’re storing cigars at high altitude or in an extremely dry environment
Shop Humidor Start-Up Kits, Tune-Up Kits & More
Everything you need to season a small humidor and humidify cigars for months.
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One complete kit for seasoning a large humidor and humidifying cigars afterward, too.
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If your cigars are dry, it’s time to season your wood humidor. Use this 4-pack of Boveda 84% RH to season a 100-count or smaller wood humidor.
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All-in-one bundle: season your humidor, store cigars in preloaded Boveda Humidor Bag and calibrate your hygrometer.
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