Seasoning
Seasoning
Seasoning your new humidor is an essential step in the cigar storage arena.
There are many methods to season your humidor. I will try to best describe my preferred seasoning method.
Seasoning is all about ensuring that your spanish cedar maintains a preferred humidity of around 70%. Considering that the spanish cedar in a new Waxing Moon Humidor has been crafted from a rough cut piece of spanish cedar lumber, of which has been kiln dried to ensure industry standards in the wood vendor world. Then, stored in whatever warehouse and relative humidity is available.
Given the fact that a Waxing Moon Humidor uses 100% - 1/4" spanish cedar for it's lining, trays & dividers.... as well as the lid top and bottom, seasoning time may vary depending on many factors, such as point of origin. Most of the spanish cedar begins it's journey to Albert Lea, MN for me to work from Kansas City, MO via Des Moines, IA. Where it was and how it got to Kansas City, MO is a mystery to me....
I have found that the Boveda 84% packs work nicely in the seasoning process. It provides enough humidity to season your humidor at a slow, steady pace. Seasoning can be a lengthy process. The goal is NOT to get to 84%, but to provide extra "horsepower" to get it to stabilize at 70%
1/4" is a lot of spanish cedar that needs to stabilize... and this is not a process that can be forced. It will happen naturally and on it's own terms.
You may, at first, notice a "saturation" occurring as it could be said that introducing all that humidity all at once is "shocking" the system. Which, of course...it is.
I would recommend that you work the lid a couple times a day, without opening the humidor... just open slightly up and down a few times, trying not to break the seal as this would allow any humidity build up to escape and slow down the seasoning process. It will not ruin anything...if you do open it, it'll just "upset" the process and slow it down a bit. Working the lid will assist with the break in of your new humidor. The seal is tight and can tighten even further as the spanish cedar is "shocked" and swells slightly. This is normal and can be worked in through the breaking in process.
I like to refer to this analogy. Imagine a common 2x4 put out in an overnight rain storm. Then, imagine cutting this 2x4 in half and you would probably notice about 1/16" deepth of the 2x4 may be wet.... the rest would be bone dry. The analogy would be similar to seasoning spanish cedar.... it will take time for the humidity to "soak" through the entire thickness... and the best way to do this is a slow and steady seasoning process. Forcing too much, too fast can make the spanish cedar react, usually by expanding, but it will settle down once fully seasoned and humidity is truly relative.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss or have further explanation, please feel free to contact me.