What a shop’s storage tells you before you buy anything
Five seconds in the walk-in humidor tells you more than any conversation with the owner.
The cigars you buy are only as good as the shop's storage, and storage is visible. Check it before you choose anything, not after you get home and find a cracked wrapper.
Good signs
- The room smells of cedar and tobacco, not of damp or of nothing.
- Boxes are stacked flat and closed, not standing open under lights.
- A hygrometer somewhere, ideally more than one, ideally digital.
- Singles in a cabinet rather than loose in an open display.
Warning signs
- Cellophane looking dull and stiff — dry stock.
- Any smell of mould or mustiness — leave.
- Spotlights inside the humidor — heat where it does the most damage.
- Dust on the boxes — nothing moves, and old stock stored badly is the worst combination.
Do this: pick up a cigar and squeeze it gently between two fingers. It should give slightly and spring back. Crackle means dry, sponge means wet, and either is information about the whole shop rather than one cigar.
One question worth asking
"What humidity do you keep it at?" A good shop answers immediately with a number in the sixties. Hesitation, or "seventy, like everyone", tells you something about how closely anyone is watching.
After you buy
Whatever the shop's conditions, give the cigars two weeks in yours before judging them. Moving between two humidors is a smaller shock than shipping, but it is still a change, and the settling period is the same.
The arrival date starts when it reaches you
A lot in Ligero is dated from the day it entered your humidor, not the day it was made — which is the date that matters for resting. Everything the app tells you about what is ready counts from your conditions, not the shop’s.
Read next
65 or 70 per cent: choosing a humidity you can hold
The number matters less than whether it stays there all week.
Storage & ageingPlume or mould: telling them apart in ten seconds
Colour, texture, and whether it brushes off. Two of those three settle it.
Buying & authenticityBuying online: heat in transit, packaging, and returns
The cigars are usually fine. The journey is the variable.