If you love smoking quality cigars, then keeping three or two cigars close to you as your travel is never a bad idea. You need to properly store your cigars fresh and intact when traveling so that you enjoy the best of smoke. You can’t just keep your cigars in the luggage and set off. You need a humidification device to store your cigars.
If you are flying or traveling by car, weather fluctuation is more likely to affect the quality of your cigars. Change in humidity level is the number enemy to your cigars. You should keep the humidity between 68-72% when storing cigars to preserve their character and flavor.
So, how do you ensure your cigars are fresh as you travel? In this article, we give you some tips you need to store your cigars while traveling.
How to transport your cigars
When moving with your cigars, here is what you should do to preserve them:
1. Travel Humidors
When flying, travel humidors are the best option for storing cigars. Travel humidors usually are watertight and airtight hence keeping your cigars in perfect condition. They are also resistant to physical damage. This means they keep your cigar free from cracks as you travel.
2. Airtight seal humidors
Another option you have when traveling is to place your cigars inside an airtight bag. Do this if you are in a hurry and don’t have time to purchase a travel humidor. An airtight bag should also have humidity control, like a napkin, damp towel, or paper towel.
Storing your favorite cigars in an airtight bag, airtight container, and humidification unit will keep them fresh for the short term.
3. Cellophane wrapper
You can also store your cigars in a cellophane wrapper and Spanish cedar humidor when traveling for a day or two. In most cases, quality cigars will often come with cellophane wrappers as a layer.
Therefore, if you cannot afford to buy a two-way humidity control or a travel humidor, ensure you keep the cellophane intact to protect your cigars’ humidity and taste intact.
4. Leather cigar cases
The best you can get when traveling is a leather cigar case. The leather cases come with a simple humidor that maintains your cigar humidity level. They carry up to five cigars. Plus, you can be lucky to find one that comes with a lighter and cigar cutter.
This will save you the day when you are traveling. As a classy vacationer, you can shop around for some of the best leather cases.
5. Humidor bag
If you can’t buy a wooden humidor, then store your premium cigars in a Boveda humidor bag or cigar box when traveling. Humidor bags are special types of bags that are designed to maintain the humidity level and remove moisture or excess water.
Boveda brand is one popular humidor bag you can buy when you intend to travel with your cigars for a period of time. You can also shop for Amancy Travel Humidor and Davidoff Travel Humidor which come in an elegant design.
Some contemporary design humidors may store up to 15-20 cigars at a go. It means you have extra space to keep your cigars intact.
6. Small cooler
Store your cigars inside a small plastic container or a cooler r storage container to maintain their humidity level when traveling. Coolers are the best choice for storing your cigars outside a humidor. It can store your cigar for months, and it never goes bad. You can store any number of cigars in a cooler, depending on the size you go for.
Tips for traveling with cigars
Choose quality cigars
The first tip to traveling with cigars is getting the best quality cigar in the market. Yes, you don’t expect the cheapest cigar on the shelf to last that long if you’re going to keep it outside a humidor. Therefore, you should buy a pure, rich, and wonderful cigar when you plan to travel.
Choose a well-constructed cigar if you want to travel with your smokes intact. The construction of your cigar plays a significant role in how long your cigars last while traveling. The cigar should be made of high-quality control tobacco and wrapper. High-quality tobacco can survive longer travel days.
Take all your accessories with you
When traveling with your cigars, you shouldn’t forget to carry all the basic cigar accessories with you. Some of these must-have accessories include a cigar cutter, lighter, humidor bag, cigar ashtray.
Air travel may limit you to the type of accessories you should carry with you. However, you don’t want to forget to carry your favorite whiskey for pairing your smoke. Make your cigar travel checklist and ensure everything your need is packed before you set off.
Keep your cigars fresh
When traveling with your cigars, you have to keep them fresh. To store your cigars, you should buy a travel humidor. A humidor uses filters to keep the humidity and moisture level intact.
If you can’t afford a humidor, leave the cigar wrappers intact. That is cellophane that comes with your cigars from the manufacturer. You can also get anything airtight, like a Ziploc bag or container to store your cigar while on the go.
Beginner tips for traveling with cigars
If you are traveling with cigars for the first time, you may be confused about just how to pack the cigars. What do you need to carry, and how do you smoke your cigars while on the move? Here are some tips you need:
Don’t carry or bring your cigar cutter and lighter to the airport
When traveling, ensure you carry some extra cigars for your friends on vacation.
You can carry an extra matchbox just in case your cigar lighter dies
Do not increase the humidity level in the humidor to compensate for the lost humidity on the way. This will interfere with the quality of your cigars.
Carry different types of cigars with you. The best quality cigars will remain intact for long, even when you travel for days.
Do not put your cigars in your pocket when traveling by road or air. You can easily sit on the cigars and damage them.
Expose your cigars to the sun for some time to keep them fresh. Avoid direct sunlight for long if you don’t want to damage your Cuban cigar.
Avoid direct contact with tap water and wash your humidor with distilled water to keep it fresh.
Get a humidor with humidity control settings.
You can cut your cigars at home before you travel. This will help when you are running out of time on the way.
Ideally, the best you can do when traveling as a smoker is carrying a single malt whiskey bottle. It will help clear your palate as you get ready to take a puff. Plus, a combination of the best cigar and some quality whiskey is just good for the flight.
Traveling with cigars on plane
Taking your cigars on a plane for the first time is one big deal. You have to do some little preparations before you can travel with your cigars on a plane. You don’t want the security desk to confiscate your cigar cutter and lighter because you left them in your pockets.
Bring your cigars in carry-on luggage instead of checked bags because there is a consistent temperature in the cabin compared to the storage underneath.
If you are just traveling for a day or two, keep your cigars in a Ziploc bag and put them inside a container to prevent crushing. Also, you can pick a humidity pouch if you want your cigars to last longer than three days while you travel. A humidity pouch will ensure your cigars have the required humidity level keeping the taste, flavor, and structure intact.
Final Thoughts
When traveling with smoking cigars, all you need is to have the right accessories with you. A humidor is one essential accessory you should not forget to carry with you. Ideally, if you don’t have that time to get a quality humidor, you can store your cigars in an airtight bag, a cooler, or in a cellophane wrapper.
If you are traveling by air, ensure your cigars are in carry-one and not a checked bag. This will ensure the humidity level of the cigars is kept within the required range.
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