Best Acrylic Cigar Humidors: Benefits & Drawbacks Of This Storage Solution

Why Buy An Acrylic Humidor?

As you’ll later learn in this guide, acrylic humidors are low-maintenance storage solutions for cigars not unlike tupperdors. However, they’re considerably more presentable than their DIY ancestors and present themselves as a modern alternative to cigar storage.

Unfortunately, there are still too few major brands constructing acrylic humidors. However, we’re confident that there will soon be a trend thanks to Boveda’s own stylish acrylic humidors.

While glass may seem like a more elegant choice, it’s very fragile and quite heavy. Meanwhile, acrylic is a lightweight and convenient material.

Similarly, most acrylic materials contain additives that prevent degradation under UV light. This also provides them better UV absorbing properties. However, they still won’t filter it completely as you’ll learn below.

If you’re looking for easy, carefree cigar storage that offers better decorative value than a tupperdor, an acrylic humidor may be for you.

Acrylic Humidor Benefits

The first and most significant benefits of acrylic as a humidor material is that it provides an airtight seal. Being a non-porous material that doesn’t absorb moisture, it won’t require seasoning unlike wooden humidors.

Of course, a truly airtight seal largely depends of how well the opening closes. Therefore, it’s even more important to buy a quality acrylic humidor. However, we’ve noticed that the Boveda packs in our acrylic humidors lasted an entire year before needing to be replaced.

Furthermore, acrylic humidors are quite lightweight compared to most storage solutions. Generally, they weigh about the same as tupperdors.

Yet, they’re much more attractive and can be used as a modern display piece in a room. As they’re quite light and relatively attractive, it makes it easier to pass it around when receiving guests.

Unlike plastic, acrylic is a very robust material. While plastic turns yellow, becomes brittle and cracks over time, acrylic is very hard-wearing. After all, acrylic is the material used to make airplane windows.

Finally, you’re able to admire and consult your cigars without ever opening the humidor given that the acrylic is transparent. This means that you can periodically check the hygrometer without disturbing the well-balanced micro-climate inside.

Acrylic Humidor Drawbacks

Like all cigar storage solution, acrylic humidors aren’t without their quirks. One notable issue is that new acrylic humidors may have a strong chemical smell. However, after leaving them open to air for a few hours, the odour tends to dissipate.

Although acrylic absorbs more UV light than glass, it doesn’t filter it entirely. Therefore, care should be taken not to leave your humidor out under direct sunlight.

Not only may sunlight discolour your cigars, but you may experience a greenhouse effect where the interior will heat up. Similarly, the humidor may be susceptible to temperature changes as acrylic doesn’t offer much in the way of insulation.

Like wine, cigars aren’t particularly fond of heat and you may lose flavour if they endure too much. Furthermore, changes in temperature will have a molecular impact on the relative humidity inside.

However, these concerns are not much different to those you’d expect from tupperdors and coolidors. Therefore, consider keeping your acrylic humidor somewhere with a consistent temperature that isn’t exposed to much light.

Acrylic Humidor Buying Advice

As you may have noticed, there are few pitfalls when owning an acrylic humidor thanks to the airtight materials and low-maintenance. However, there are certain considerations to keep in mind when buying one.

Check The Construction

First and foremost, be sure to check the overall construction and the way the humidor is made. You want all the joints to be properly heat fused or thoroughly glued if it has been made from several parts.

If it has been injection moulded, this is not a concern. However, poor gluing or construction may prove to have air gaps that let moisture escape.

Verify The Seal

Next, the lid’s seal must be airtight. One of the reasons that we’re so fond of the Boveda acrylic humidor is that it features a magnetic locking system. This provides an excellent seal and is easy to use.

However, most acrylic humidors will likely depend on rubber or mechanical seals. Therefore, you should check these thoroughly to make sure that they’re airtight.

Check The Acrylic Type

Similarly, make sure that the acrylic used is of high quality and thick enough not to break. Not all acrylic is the same and there are essential two types.

The cheaper, weaker type is known as extruded or “continuous cast” acrylic. It’s softer and contains impurities as well as having a tendency to scratch. Meanwhile, cell cast acrylic is much more robust with a thicker and clearer appearance.

Although it will be hard to tell from which acrylic humidors are made, you can get a good idea by feeling the weight and checking their transparence.

Know Where You Will Keep Your Humidor

As mentioned above, acrylic humidors will be sensitive to both light and heat. Therefore, be sure that you’ve planned ahead and that you know where you’ll be keeping it for safe storage.

Acrylic Humidor Preparation & Maintenance

As mentioned earlier, acrylic humidors require very little maintenance. However, some new acrylic humidors may have a strong smell when they’re first opened.

Nevertheless, all you need to do is leave the acrylic humidor open for a few hours. Eventually, the smell should leave on its own.

When this has been done, they just require a humidifier and then they’re ready to use.

That said, be careful of what humidifier you employ in an acrylic humidor. Since they’re very airtight, they can be easy to over-humidify. Therefore, you’ll need to make sure that you either use just the right amount or one that offers two-way humidity control.

Most humidifiers only offer one-way humidity control, which means that they continuously release moisture. In fact, they continue to produce moisture even when the humidity goes above the desired RH level.

Meanwhile, two-way humidification means that the humidifier stops releasing moisture at a certain level but actually absorbs any excess instead.

For this reason, we prefer Boveda’s humidity packs. Not only are they self-maintaining and don’t require recharging but they also offer two-way humidity control.

They’re also compact and take very little space, which makes them ideal for smaller humidors. We particularly like using them with their own branded acrylic humidors as these are designed with a dedicated separator for storing the packs.

Best Acrylic Humidors To Buy Online

We have yet to find many acrylic humidors that warrant our attention. However, the ones that we have found are definitely worth yours:

1. Large Desktop Humidor: Boveda Acrylic Humidor
2. Small Humidor: Boveda Desktop Humidor
3. Premium Humidor: Davidoff Zino Acrylic Humidor
4. Cheap Humidor: Prestige Imports AJ25 Cigar Jar

Scroll down to see them all or jump ahead using the links above.

What Next?

Now that you learned all about acrylic humidors, check out some of our related storage guides:

• BU Cigars – Home
• Humidors & Cigar Storage Home
• Best Wooden Humidors: Advantages & Drawbacks
• DIY Cigar Storage Solutions
• Best Value Humidors