Buying a vintage humidor from an online marketplace is not something that people do on a day-to-day basis, but if you see a nice product for a decent price, most likely you won’t sit idly by. A vintage humidor has more value than to merely keep cigar humidity at the appropriate level. It is a conversation piece chock full of history and character.
If you have such a piece of art in your home, it would be a shame if you just left it as a decoration for the corner of your office or room. With a little bit of TLC, you can restore a vintage humidor back to its glory days.
The first step you should take is to examine the humidor closely, checking every inch of it outside and inside. You might even be lucky enough to discover who the craftsman was that made it.
The interior cedar wood of your vintage humidor will probably be carrying the stains of the years, so get very fine sandpaper and lightly sand the cedar wood inside. This will remove the stains accumulated through the years and bring the humidor back to its original condition. After sanding, use the soft bristle attachment of your portable vacuum cleaner and remove the dirt and residue that you just sanded off of the wood. Be sure to leave the humidor open for a little while because it may have been closed for quite some time.
After many years of non-use, your humidor needs to be re-seasoned. Avoid using tap water to re-season your humidor because any mineral residue tap water leaves behind can give your cigars a lousy taste. Instead, use distilled water or humidification solution to season your vintage humidor.
Seasoning the humidor means that you allow the wood to absorb humidity to put it in an ideal condition for your cigar. Seasoning can be done in the following ways:
- Get a new, unscented, soap-free sponge, and soak it in distilled water. Wipe down all the exposed wood in the humidor, including the interior of the lid and the dividers and trays. The sponge is the best material to do the wiping down because a cloth or paper towels could leave an ugly residue on the wood surface.
- After wetting the wood, wet the sponge with more distilled water. Place the sponge on top of a plastic bag and put it inside the humidor and close the lid. The plastic bag will prevent the wet sponge from coming into contact with the wood.
- Fill your humidifier, then wipe away any residual water. Let the humidifier sit on a dry hand towel for about a half hour.
- Add to the humidor the humidifying element. Shut the lid, leaving the moist sponge inside overnight.
- Check on your humidification device the next day to see if you need more humidification solution. If your sponge is getting dry, spray it with a little more distilled water, but if it’s still pretty wet, leave it alone.
- Let the humidor sit for another night.
- You can now remove the plastic bag that contains the sponge.
At this stage, your humidor is properly seasoned and ready to hold your premium cigars.
