Guides for cigar collectors
Practical, sourced guides to looking after a collection that's mostly Habanos: reading box codes, ageing, humidity, humidors and the vocabulary that goes with them.
How to read a Habanos box code
Factory codes, date stamps, seals and an authenticity checklist, explained for collectors.
How to catalogue a cigar collection
A practical method for cataloguing a cigar collection: what to record for every box and single, how to organise humidors and shelves, and how to keep the records safe for years.
Humidor humidity and temperature
What humidity and temperature to keep a humidor at for Cuban cigars, why sources disagree, how to tell mould from plume, and how to spot and deal with tobacco beetles.
How Cuban cigars age, and when a box is ready
How Cuban cigars change with age, what Habanos and collectors say about how long to rest a box, the so-called sick period, why bigger and fuller cigars age longer, and how to store boxes for ageing.
How to season a new humidor
How to season a new wooden humidor: the two-way humidity pack method, the older distilled-water methods, how long it takes, and the mistakes that warp the wood.
How to calibrate a hygrometer
How accurate cigar hygrometers are, how to test one with the salt test or a 75% calibration pack, how to apply an offset, and how often to check.
Humidity packs and humidifiers
Choosing humidification for a humidor: two-way humidity packs (65, 69, 72, 75 and 84%), propylene-glycol solution, distilled water and electronic humidifiers, with how many packs to use.
How to set up a tupperdor
How to set up a tupperdor for long-term cigar storage: choosing the container, airing it, cedar, humidity packs, how full to fill it and where to keep it.
Cuban cigar sizes: the vitolas de galera
A table of the principal Cuban cigar sizes: each factory name (vitola de galera), its common name, length in millimetres and ring gauge, from Habanos's own figures where they exist.
Cuban cigar box types explained
The ways Habanos are packed: dressed boxes, Cabinet Selection slide-lid boxes (SLB), Semi Boîte Nature (SBN), Boîte Nature, 8-9-8, bundles and tubos, with the usual counts.
A Cuban cigar glossary
A collector's glossary of Cuban cigar terms: vitola and vitola de galera, ring gauge, capa, capote and tripa, ligero, seco and volado, Cabinet Selection, Edición Limitada and Regional, LCDH, Reserva and Gran Reserva.