Monday, November 29 1999
Q. Is it okay to keep cigars in their box, with the cello still on the box, for a period of time if I don't have room in my humidor? A friend got me some cigars for my upcoming birthday and didn't know that my humidor was too full to handle them.
- Tony L.
A. Factory boxed cigars, as long as they remained sealed in their cello overwrap and the conditions are favorable, can keep well up to about a month. I would suggest keeping them in a cool, dark space, like a basement, which may also be a little damp, and will help keep the humidity up.
There are also several low-cost humidifying accessories you can buy to keep an opened factory box fresh until you have room to move them into your main humidor.
You might want to purchase a Dry Mistat stick, or Humideze cups (or sticks) and place them in the box. Another excellent product is the Bóveda® 69% packet. Bóveda is the company that makes the humdity packets found in boxes of Arturo Fuente cigars (you may recognize the blue water droplet symbol.) It will assure the humidity level is right for at least one month. Just make sure that when you close the box it's closed tight, like your humidor would be. Speaking of which, these products work very well at maintaining humidity levels in your humidor, too.
