- Why Seasoning Matters
- What You'll Need
- How to Season with Boveda: Step-by-Step
- The Faster Method (For the Impatient)
- How to Tell It's Done
- Common Seasoning Mistakes to Avoid
A brand-new cigar humidor — including The Humidor — needs to be seasoned before you put a single cigar inside it. Skip this step, and the dry cedar interior will pull moisture from your cigars instead of holding its own, which can dry out or even damage a new collection within days.
The good news: seasoning is simple, and with a Boveda two-way humidity pack — the kind that ships with The Humidor — it's a lot less fussy than the older distilled-water-and-sponge method most seasoning guides still describe.
Hold up...what does seasoning a humidor even mean?
Ok - we're not salt-and-peppering your new humidor. Fair misunderstanding. Seasoning a humidor has absolutely nothing to do with adding a dash of salt, a crack of black pepper, or a secret blend of herbs and spices to your cigar humidor.
Instead, it is the essential process of gradually pre-soaking the bone-dry Spanish cedar lining of a brand-new humidor with pure, distilled moisture until it reaches a stable, cigar-friendly humidity level.
If you skip this step and toss your expensive stogies straight into a fresh, unseasoned wooden box, the thirsty wood will instantly suck the moisture right out of your cigars, leaving you with brittle, ruined cigars instead of a perfect puff.
Why do you have to season a cigar humidor?
Spanish cedar, like any untreated wood, starts out dry. Placed straight into a dry humidor, cigars will lose moisture to the wood as it tries to reach equilibrium — the opposite of what a humidor is supposed to do. Seasoning pre-saturates that wood so it's humidity-neutral by the time your cigars go in, instead of humidity-hungry.
- Prevents structural warping: Introducing dry wood to sudden environmental changes can cause uneven moisture absorption. Gradual seasoning ensures the wood expands uniformly, keeping the box structurally sound.
- Creates a tighter lid seal: As the Spanish cedar absorbs moisture during the seasoning process, the wood swells slightly. This slight expansion fills in micro-gaps, creating a tighter, more efficient airtight seal around the lip of the lid.
- Extends humidification lifecycle: A properly seasoned wooden interior serves as a moisture reservoir. It prevents your regular humidification devices or Boveda packs from overworking and drying out prematurely.
- Activates natural pest deterrence: Spanish cedar naturally repels tobacco beetles and resists mold, but it requires stable humidity to fully activate the natural oils and distinct aroma that safeguard the tobacco.
- Optimizes flavor maturation: Pre-conditioning the wood creates the stable microclimate required for long-term cigar aging. This allows the cedar to complement and enhance the natural tobacco flavors rather than muting them.
What You'll Need
Nothing beyond what's already in the box. The Humidor ships with a Boveda starter pack included, so there's no separate seasoning solution, sponge, or distilled water to buy or track down before you start.
- Your new humidor
- The included Boveda pack, still sealed
- 24–48 hours of patience before adding cigars
How to Season with Boveda: Step-by-Step
- Unwrap the Boveda pack and place it inside the humidor, on top of the tray or in the accessory compartment — it doesn't need to touch the wood directly.
- Close the lid fully and leave the humidor sealed. Don't open it to check on progress — every open door lets conditioned air escape and slows the process down.
- Wait 24–48 hours. This gives the cedar interior time to absorb moisture from the pack and reach a stable humidity level throughout the box, not just near the pack itself.
- Add your cigars. Once the waiting period is up, your humidor is seasoned and ready — the same Boveda pack can stay in place for ongoing humidity control, no need to swap it out.
The Faster Method (For our impatient customers)
If you don't want to wait, some cigar owners season with a higher-humidity Boveda pack (84% RH) for a shorter burst — around 12–24 hours — before switching to the everyday 65–69% pack for ongoing storage.
This pushes moisture into the cedar faster, but it's an extra step and an extra pack to buy, so it's worth it mainly if you're in a hurry to load cigars in. For most people, the standard 24–48 hour method with the included pack is simpler and just as effective.
How do I know when my cigar humidor is seasoned?
There's no visual test for a properly seasoned humidor — the cedar won't look different. The most reliable sign is simply time: if you've kept the humidor sealed with the Boveda pack inside for the full 24–48 hours, it's ready. If your humidor includes a hygrometer, you can also check that the reading has stabilized rather than continuing to climb, which confirms the wood has stopped absorbing moisture from the pack.
How Often Do You Need to Re-Season?
- Arid climates and seasonal shifts: If you live in an environment with harsh, dry winters or an extremely arid climate, you may need to re-season once a year to combat aggressive ambient dryness.
- The "forgotten box" syndrome: If you left your humidor empty for several months without active humidification packs, the Spanish cedar will revert to its bone-dry state and require a full re-season.
- Inexpensive or leaky hardware: Budget-friendly entry-level humidors often lack a flawless magnetic or geometric seal, causing them to slowly bleed moisture. If you notice your humidity consistently dropping below 62% despite fresh packs, a re-season every six months may be necessary.
Common Humidor Seasoning Mistakes to Avoid
- Opening the lid to check progress. Each open resets some of the humidity you've built up — leave it sealed for the full window.
- Adding cigars too early. Loading cigars before the wood is seasoned means the wood pulls moisture from them instead of the pack, which can leave your first cigars dry or unevenly humidified.
- Using tap water on the wood directly. If you're following an older wipe-down method instead of the Boveda approach, tap water's minerals can leave residue or promote mold — distilled water only.
Wondering whether your Boveda pack is really the best long-term option, or how it stacks up against gel, foam, and electronic humidifiers? We break it all down in The Best Cigar Humidifiers for Your Humidor.
Our Cigar Humidors make excellent gifts! Read our gift guides to become everybody's favourite gift-giver!
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to season a humidor?
With a Boveda pack, 24–48 hours is standard. Using a higher-humidity pack for a faster burst can cut this to 12–24 hours, though it requires an extra pack most owners don't need to buy.
Do I need distilled water to season with Boveda?
No. Boveda packs are pre-charged and sealed — you don't add water yourself. Distilled water only comes into play if you're using an older seasoning method with a sponge or gel humidifier instead.
Can I season a humidor for the first time with cigars already inside?
It's not recommended. Seasoning with cigars already in the box means they're competing with the wood for the pack's moisture, which can leave them under-humidified during the process. Season empty first, then add cigars.
Do I need to re-season a humidor that's been sitting empty for a while?
Yes — if a humidor has gone unused for an extended period without an active humidifier inside, the wood can dry back out. A quick 24-hour reseasoning with a fresh Boveda pack before adding cigars again is a safe precaution.
