5 Easy Ways to Store Cigar without a Humidor

These are the easy ways to store cigars without a humidor. If you love cigars, you perhaps know that storing cigars is one of the most challenging tasks. Any cigar smoker needs a high-quality humidor to store their cigar. However, what if you cannot afford one?

What if a friend offers you a box of cigars gift on your wedding day or somewhere along the streets and you don’t want to smoke it now? What should you do to ensure your stogie remains smokable in the coming days?

In his article, we give you some amazing tips you can employ to ensure your cigars maintain humidity levels and remain easy to smoke. Here is how to keep your cigar intact if your humidor is out of reach.

What are the ideal conditions for storing cigars?

If you live in a desert climate or extremely cold weather, you should know the right conditions to keep your Cuban cigar. A dry cigar is not comfortable to smoke because it burns fast. The cigar’s ability to change the taste and burn smoothly is greatly affected by the temperature fluctuations.

A cigar connoisseur and experienced cigar retailer will tell you that the ideal conditions for keeping your cigars should be 70% humidity and 21°C. However, any range between 18 to 23°C and 65 -72% humidity is acceptable to keep the cigar perfect for smoking.

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Ideally, your cigar should show some firmness and smoothness at the same time. That means when you squeeze the cigar on your fingers, it should not give a loud cracking sound. Not all the cigars you buy have the same wrapper and filler. While others are tight and dense, other brands are a bit softer and lighter. How you store your cigar and keep it depends on the wrapper and filler used on it.

As soon as you purchase the best cigar, you should find out its exact condition and shape, which means the level of humidity, softness, and temperature. This is the perfect condition you should maintain on your humidor to ensure the cigar’s taste remain intact. A humidor can help you keep the humidity and temperature level of your cigar at optimal condition.

1. Use a Humidification Pouch and Tupperware

If your cigar humidor is out of reach, or specifically you cannot afford one, you still can use a humidification pouch. A Tupperware box or jar can also be useful as a self-made humidor. When using Tupperware, you should ensure the lid is tight-close so that the moisture does not evaporate.

Alternatively, you can use a humidor pouch to keep your premium cigars in optimal condition. You can order one from your local cigar shop. Most cigar retailers provide humidification pouch to buyers at a discount price.

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When you store your fresh cigars in a Tupperware, you should ensure it is clean. Place the humidification pouch and the cigars inside the Tupperware, and then close the lead tightly. Ensure the Tupperware has enough air by rotating it regularly. Ensure you keep your Tupperware at room temperature. For instance, you should not leave your Tupperware with cigars inside the car for long.

2. Store in a Ziploc Disposable Bag

What matters the most is keeping your cigar collection in perfect temperature and humidity. That means using any alternative to a humidification device is necessary if it is going to keep the cigar intact. If you cannot reach your humidor, simply store your cigars in a Ziploc bag to keep it humid and within the acceptable temperature.

Before you place your damp cigars in a closed Ziploc bag, you should get some sponge or cloth that is a bit moist. Immerse the cloth or sponge inside water, then free it of excess water by squeezing. Put the moist cloth or sponge and the cigar inside the Ziploc bag and close it tightly.

Keep checking that the sponge is not dried up if you intend to store your boxes of cigars for weeks. A Ziploc bag should be able to store your cigars for at least two weeks if you are traveling and you forgot your cigar humidor at home.

3. Keep cigars in a cooler.

If you want to keep your cigars for months and cannot access a Tupperware and a humidor, you can still use a cooler. A cooler is usually designed to keep food and drinks cold. However, you can also use it as an alternative to a humidor.

Before storing your cigars in a cooler, you should ensure it is clean and airtight. Also, ensure it has a humidification unit inside that mimics a humidor. You can also store the cigar inside a humidification pouch and place it inside the cooler for the best results.

Another tip to storing your cigar inside a cooler is to soak a clean sponge cloth and place it inside the cooler. Put your cigars inside the cooler and ensure it is closed tightly. Your stogies should stay inside the cooler for weeks or even months as long as the piece of sponge does not dry up fast.

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4. Keep cigars in their box and wrapper.

Ideally, if you only want to keep your cigars intact for like weeks as you travel, you can avoid using Spanish cedar humidors. All cigars come in a quality cigar box for storage. All you should do is ensure you don’t throw away the cigar box. Keep your cigars inside the box they came in. This way, your cigars can take a month while still in perfect condition.

Store the cigar box in a cool and dark area to ensure the internal humidity for cigars is intact for a period of time. You won’t have any issues with your cigar taste and flavor when you store it inside the cigar box. All you have to do is ensure you store the cigar box in a cool and dry environment.

5. Store your cigars in a closed jar

As an avid cigar smoker, you can store your cigars in a closed cylinder or mason jar for up to 10 days. It will remain in its perfect condition for periods of time without drying up.

Get any sizeable jar from your kitchen utensils and fill it up with water. Place some sponge or cloth inside the jar to absorb the water. Put a piece of plastic over the sponge to create a perfect humid environment for storing the cigars. You can now put your cigars inside the jar and leave them intact within optimal level for a week or two.

What you should know when storing your cigars

As casual cigar smokers, when storing your cigars in a cooler, Tupperware, or a cylinder, and you have to use a moist cloth or sponge, you must ensure you use distilled water only. Using tap water can encourage mold growth on your cigars if you’re going to store them for weeks or months. Here is more to keep in mind:

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  • Do not store your cigar in a refrigerator unless you are dealing with a mold problem. Refrigerators ruin the taste and flavor of cigars.
  • You can bring your cigar back to life if it has dried up by re-hydrating it.
  • Check out if your cigar is over-humidified by looking for any swelling at the foot.
  • Always balance the temperature and humidity of your cigar to ensure your cigar lasts longer.
  • A healthy single cigar should have a spring feel when you press it. If the cigars appear a bit sagged, it contains more moisture. It makes a cracking sound if there is little moisture or it’s dried up. 

Final Thoughts

Keeping your cigars in perfect condition should not be that difficult. If you cannot afford or access a quality humidor, apply the tips we have shared here to store your cigar. You can store your cigar in a cooler, Ziploc bag, or leave it intact in a wrapper and cigar box it comes in.

Always ensure you maintain the acceptable temperature and humidity for storing cigars to keep your cigar in perfect taste and shape.

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