I don't really know where else to post this, so I figured my comrades at Hexbear might appreciate it.
A couple months ago I was coming back home from the weekly Palestine solidarity rally. On my way back home I needed to somehow obtain a $5 bill to tip the grocery delivery guy that weekend, and thought "Hell, I haven't had a cigar in a while, maybe I'll pick one up". There's a cute little Cuban cigar shop down the road, so I popped in.
The owner is a short Cuban man, and he was rummaging through his cigars doing whatever cigar-store owners do in their down-time. I walk in the door. He looks at me, then looks at my keffiyeh, then back at me, then back at my keffiyeh, and then says "...Palestine?" Not knowing his politics, I reluctantly say "...yes 😬?"
This triggers a 40 minute long discussion, whereupon he goes off on how fucking despicable what's Israel is doing in Gaza is how they are getting away with mass murder in broad daylight, doing "exactly what the nazis did" etc etc. He had clearly been following what's been happening and was sickened by it and I got the impression he didn't have much of an outlet to express his thoughts (as many of us don't).
I wanted to buy two small cigars (the ones on the right in the photo) and he said that he'd give me a discount, and ended up giving me three free of charge, on the condition that the next time that I was out protesting the genocide in Gaza that I "yell a little louder for him" ✊, to which I of course agreed (there are only two in the photo because I've smoked one already) I honestly tried as hard as I could to give him my money but he simply would not accept any.
Although I left the cigar shop without the $5 bill I went in for, I did leave with three exquisite Cuban cigars free of charge.
So, I felt I needed to repay this guy for the ~$100 of free merchandise he gave me. I ordered him a keffiyeh made in the West Bank just like the one I was wearing. When it arrived, I popped back into the cigar shop and said " I have something for you." and put it on his desk.
I will never forget this for the rest of my life. How much did you pay for this?
I lied and said "Only about $60, don't worry about it."
You're lying. What cigars are your favourite?
I insisted that he not give me any more cigars because I was trying to pay him back, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He ended up giving me four deluxe Cuban Bolivar cigars straight from Havana. On the way out he gave me a fist bump accompanied by a "Free Palestine".
So Hexbears, this is how I unintentionally stocked my cigar humidor with solidarity for Palestine 🇵🇸✊
I'm going to save a spare one so that maybe one day I can smoke it on the beaches of Gaza when Palestine is free.
Yeah I am in Canada. I did not know that about mixing humidification devices, thanks for the heads up! I don't really know shit about cigars, the humidor was a gift.
Thanks comrade!
Oh, for sure! I'd recommend switching out both for 60g Bovedas at 65rH. It will help you maintain humidity better and keep the cigars in better condition which means they will burn and taste better. The cigars are really nice so please take care of them.
Wooden humidors are sometimes tough to maintain, you also need to season it and keep it at a certain level of humidity, but I won't get into that. If you ever want an easier way just try an air-tight tupperware container and throw in some Bovedas. That's all you have to do.
Let me know if you ever have any questions!
So I noticed my humidor was sitting at about 40% after a few hours with that puck in it, which is of course way low, so I threw in those Bovedas instead we'll see how it fares.
I was gonna order some more off Amazon but I think instead I will take another visit to Based Cuban Granpa down the street and support his store :)
Edit: My humidity measuring device was broken, I put a digital one in there and I'm sitting at 66% so I'm pretty much good!
Yeah, that's a common issue with wooden humidors. Could be either a leak or lack/need of seasoning. So, I'll give the long story short: if you never seasoned your humidor, then you might just have to do that. I recommend sticking with the Bovedas for this, just watch the video, and follow their guide using their packs, for relative ease.
In the meantime, while your humidor seasons, you can keep your cigars in a freezer ziplock bag with a fresh 65rH Boveda inside. Afterwards, you can use the same Boveda in your newly seasoned humidor.
I'm not going to lie to you, it can be a pain to maintain wooden humidors. Some people love them but I officially surrendered to wooden humidors years ago. But some people love them and make it work. Others might recommend washing the wood with distilled water, which works and is an old way of doing it, but depending on how (in)correctly it's done may lead to mold.
If you don't want to go the Boveda seasoning route or can't, or even if you do go with it, maybe ask your Cuban comrade for support with it. You can let him know you're new and just want to make sure the cigars are well taken care of, I'm sure he'll appreciate the concern and will be excited to teach you.
I will disagree with anarchoilluminati here, I love mixing up humidification systems; wood humidors are always a bit leaky, and even in my tupperadors I like having a 72% gel disc running in parallel with some 70% boveda packs. Bovedas are the GOAT, and will totally eat up excess humidity as well as provide it, so by topping off the gel I end up just recharging the vastly superior bovedas continuously because they eat the excess above their target.
Oh, Jesus. I'm worried for you with those high numbers! Haha I'm a 62rH fan myself and have a wineador to provide some cool temperature to some select cigars as well, which I prefer. But one of my best friends is a 70/70 wooden humidor fan so I know it can work too.
I still disagree generally with recommending mixing though, it sounds like you know your system, but our comrade here is starting out and needs it simplified. And, as you said, Bovedas are the current GOAT so might as well just stick with that.
What are you reading on your hygrometer though, out of curiosity? It's smart of you to have the Bovedas at a lower rH than the gel, because then the 2-way system isn't overworked and they don't dry out prematurely but then it just sounds like if you are at 72rH then the gel is doing the work and your Bovedas are just sitting pretty. Wondering what benefit you get from it.
Lol I'm probably down in the 50s because I don't remember when I last refilled. I'll go restock those today.