For Tobacco

Why it’s important to control cigar humidity and the common issues you will encounter if you don’t.

Common issues with improper humidity control for cigars result in a very unpleasant smoking experience, and when you consider the high cost per cigar, it's always a good idea to not throw money down the drain. These common issues include the cigar not lighting well or keeping lit due to too low of humidity (seems counter intuitive but the same situation is also true for the reverse, too high of humidity), and when this happens, the cigar burns unevenly. So you end up with canoeing (cigar burns at an angle) or strange patterns where the outside wrapper burns faster than the filler. 

Ideally, you want the relative humidity to remain stable and in a zone of 68% to 72% RH. There's no exact relative humidity that's going to suit all of your cigars (some tobacco is thicker than others and requires less humidity) but ask any enthusiast and they will give you a number between these two. 

The easiest way to tell if your cigar has been improperly humidified will be by touch, it should have some spring to it when you gently pinch it all throughout the foot, body and head. Nowhere should it feel dense or hard and if the wrapper cracks after pinching it, then the cigar is too dry. If the cigar is indeed too dry, you will notice the aforementioned strange burn patterns at the foot of the cigar and by the time it gets to the body, it will be glaringly obvious. 

A good smooth burn will be even all the way around the cigar and should continue evenly throughout the body. You may need to adjust the burn throughout the smoke by evening out a side here or there but that's normal. A bad burn would be one where it's constantly needing to be relit and you are trying to compensate the flame on one side of the cigar every few minutes.