The length of storage for cigars depends on the quality of storage of the cigars, so that your cigar is ready when you are ready.
Careful steps should be taken in order to ensure that the quality of the cigars last. The storage of cigars is the most important part of keeping your cigars fresh, keeping them from becoming damaged, and from losing their flavor.
Carefully controlling the temperature and moisture of the cigar’s environment will also make a lasting difference in the quality of the cigar when the time comes to enjoy and smoke it.
Humidity and Cigar Storage
Since tobacco is known to be a tropical plant, it’s important to store tobacco products such as cigars in an environment that closely resembles the environment in which the plant is grown. To do this, the environment must be recreated. Furthermore, the environment must also be maintained. To recreate the native tropical environment of tobacco, humidity must artificially be created to efficiently store cigars.
Too much humidity can result in the growth of mold, which is clearly undesirable. Too little humidity can result in the tobacco in each part of the cigar to dry out and crack.
Humidor
Until the cigar is going to be smoked, the cigar should be stored in a humidor for optimal preservation.
A humidor is a box that controls the environment by keeping the conditions similar to those of the environment which the tobacco grew, was cured, fermented, and was rolled in. This box uses a device that increases moisture and humidity levels within the box.
If a humidor is not possessed, then cigars can be stored in a sealed plastic bag with a damp paper towel with proper care. Cigars can only be stored like this for one to two days.
A humidor can drastically extend the life of cigars since it does the job of controlling the cigar’s environment without much effort on the part of the owner/user. However, the humidor does still need to be monitored as the humidity tends to fluctuate on its own occasionally. If properly maintained, the cigar can be stored indefinitely, but should probably be smoked before is passes the age of 10 years.
A humidor is the best option for storing cigars, either until future use or for the aging process. Many aficionados of cigar collecting use humidors to store their cigars.
Due to conflicting levels of quality offered by different variations of humidors, the prices can vary significantly. All of them have a common purpose though, to maintain a satisfactory temperature for the storage of cigars. The use of exotic woods can also affect the price of different humidors.
Length of Storage
If the cigar is properly stored, the cigar can be stored indefinitely as long as the condition in which they are stored in is controlled.
Consistency is also key to the storage of cigars. It is important to remember that when storing cigars, with or without a humidor, the temperature and humidity must remain at a constant level. If this is neglected, the cigars may end up cracking.
However, some cigars do not require storage in a humidor. These cigars include small cigars and dry cigars, which is mostly European brands.
Another way of storage that can extend the life of your cigars is the packaging in which some cigars come in. Packaging can be either foil or plastic wrapping that allows cigars to stay fresh without a humidor. This also ensures freshness of a cigar.
Cigars stored in foil or plastic packaging will usually stay fresh and keep anywhere from 12 to 24 months, which mostly depends on the cigar type. If cigars are not subjected to fluctuating humidity or temperatures, they can remain fresh for up to 5 years, as long as the cigar is properly cared for.
When relying on packaging such as foil or plastic, or a wooden box, it’s important to keep the packaging sealed for the cigar.
In Conclusion…
Regardless of the type of cigar you hold, the one thing that affects how long a cigar can be stored is the temperature and humidity within which the cigar is stored. The life of the cigar greatly depends on the temperature and humidity of the actual or artificial environment, and therefore it will not matter whether other lengths were taken to ensure the lasting quality of a cigar.