65 or 70 per cent: choosing a humidity you can hold
The number matters less than whether it stays there all week.
Pick 65 and hold it. Anything from 62 to 68 works; what ruins cigars is a humidor that swings between 58 and 72 across a week. Stability first, target second.
What the number actually changes
Higher humidity means more water in the leaf, which means a slower burn, a heavier draw and smoke that reads softer and vaguer. Lower humidity means a faster burn, a looser draw, sharper flavours and a wrapper that cracks if you push it too far.
At 70 per cent, many modern cigars — especially thick ring gauges — draw badly and burn unevenly. At 62 they light easily and taste brighter. That is the whole trade, and it is why the fashion has drifted down from the old "70/70" advice.
Why stability beats the target
Tobacco expands and contracts with moisture. A cigar parked at a slightly wrong but steady level simply lives there. A cigar that gains and loses water every few days moves constantly, and it is that movement — not the value on the hygrometer — that splits wrappers and separates the wrapper from the binder.
This is also why opening the humidor five times a day is worse than a target that is two points off. Every opening dumps the internal climate and starts the recovery again.
How to pick your own number
- Thick ring gauges, or draws you find heavy: 62–65.
- Slim formats and older stock: 65–68; thin cigars dry out fastest and are the first to crack.
- A hot, dry room: aim lower and accept refills more often, rather than fighting for 70.
Whatever you choose, give it a month before judging. A humidor takes weeks to settle after any change, and the first three days after a new pack tell you nothing.
Do this: read the hygrometer at the same time of day for a week and write the number down. The spread between highest and lowest matters more than the average, and you cannot see a spread without a record.
Trust the hygrometer only after you test it
Cheap analogue gauges are routinely five to ten points out, and a digital one that reads 68 while the box sits at 60 is worse than no gauge at all. Salt-test it once — a sealed bag, damp salt, and a reading that should land on 75 — and note the offset. Repeat once a year.
If two gauges in the same humidor disagree by more than three points, believe neither until you have tested them.
Humidity lives in the box; the calendar lives in the app
Ligero does not read your hygrometer — nothing in the app touches sensors. What it keeps is the other half of storage: which lots are in which humidor, when each arrived, and how long it has rested. Home, travel case and the box you are ageing stay separate, so "how long has this been settling" has an answer that does not depend on memory.
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