Products |
Mahogany Cigar Travel Humidifier
By
Published: Oct 30, 2013
Category:
Gifts and Gadgets
“Do you smoke?” the doctor asked.
“Cigars,” I said, declining to mention the other thing.
“How many?”
“Not nearly enough.”
This is true. I have boxes of fine cigars in airtight bags that I bought a decade ago. And I lift the lid of my humidor so rarely that the Ghost of Christmas Past has taken up residence there.
But I’ve now found something to make me smoke more than a cigar a month. It’s a small (9 x 6 x 4.5 inches), light (1 pound), inexpensive ($25) travel humidor that holds 10 to 12 cigars and keeps them in smoke-me-now condition. It’s well-made: real wood, with strong magnets built into the hinges to keep the lid tightly closed. For infrequent cigar smokers, this could easily take the place of a larger, more expensive humidor.
As a gift to a cigar smoker, I can’t think of anything better. Okay, a box of Partagas D4s would be better, but I’m thinking birthday present or stocking stuffer. (To buy the travel humidor from Amazon, click here.)
The real sin of my cigar non-habit is exactly that — because I smoke so infrequently, I don’t remember to water the humidifying sponge in my humidor. Then my cigars get stiff and dry, and, for a week or two, I have to add distilled water every other day. A bore.
There’s one more thing to buy — and I’m buying two, for my regular and travel humidors. It’s a humidifier tube that maintains 70% humidity. There are crystals inside the tube; dose them with distilled water and your cigars are good for weeks. Much better than having to add water frequently to the small humidifier that comes with most humidors — including the travel box. A humidifier tube is a bargain at $8. (To buy a humidifier tube from Amazon, click here.)
As a bonus for reading this, you get to boost your vocabulary. The word is “spills” — and it’s a noun. A spill is a long cedar strip used to light a cigar. (A match is for those who like to breathe sulphur; a lighter is for people you don’t want to know.) You can pay up to $30 for a hundred spills. Or, when you next buy a box of cigars, simply break the cedar lining into strips. If you’re only buying a few cigars, ask your friendly tobacconist for some cedar. At the very least, you’ll discover how “friendly” he is.
