Common questions

A sealed box, usually lined with Spanish cedar, that holds cigars at a stable humidity. The classic target is 70% relative humidity at 18–21 °C. Cedar regulates moisture, resists pests and adds a faint sweetness over time. Below about 60% RH cigars dry out and burn hot; above 75% they draw poorly and risk mould.

No. If you will smoke your cigars within two or three weeks, a sealed plastic box with a two-way humidity pack is genuinely fine. Buy a real humidor when you start keeping cigars for months rather than days.

Indefinitely if stored properly, decades in fact. Most premium cigars improve for the first five to ten years as the blend marries, then plateau. Poor storage ruins a cigar in a single dry week.

Plume (or bloom) is a fine, powdery white crystalline dusting of exuded oils; it brushes off cleanly and is a good sign. Mould is fuzzy, bluish-green, often spotted, and leaves a stain, those cigars should be removed from the box.

Ring gauge is the diameter in 64ths of an inch. A 50-gauge cigar is 50/64 in thick. Larger gauges hold more filler leaf, burn cooler and taste rounder; thinner gauges concentrate the wrapper's flavour.

Neither, as a category. Cuban puros have a distinctive grassy, tangy character; Nicaraguan and Dominican cigars offer more range in strength and sweetness, and often better consistency. Taste decides.

Match weight to weight. Mild cigars sit well with coffee, champagne or a lighter rum; full-bodied Nicaraguans want aged rum, bourbon, a peated whisky or a strong espresso. Water throughout, always.