Best Hygrometers: How To Calibrate & Use A Hygrometer For Cigar Storage

Why Do You Need A Hygrometer?

A hygrometer is an essential albeit sometimes overlooked component to any self-respecting humidor. Even with the best quality humidor, an accurate and calibrated hygrometer is fundamental.

Cigars are natural products and they’re very sensitive to both humidity and temperature. Consequently, they need to be stored in a controlled environment to prevent them becoming dry or mouldy from too much moisture.

If you don’t have a device that allows you to monitor these levels, you’re essentially flying blind and won’t be able to properly care for your cigars.

As mentioned above, you may have an impeccable humidor with an air-tight seal. However, you may not be able to account for all the factors such as the humidification system’s levels and changes in the external environment.

For instance, you may introduce new cigars into your humidor that are too dry and haven’t been acclimated to your preferred humidity level. As a result, you won’t be able to realise that it has caused the overall relative humidity (RH) to drop.

Similarly, wooden humidors require periodical seasoning as the wood can begin to dry. Yet you’ll need a hygrometer to realise that this is happening and act accordingly before the cigars are damaged.

Whatever the scenario, a reliable hygrometer is of the utmost importance when storing cigars.

How To Use A Hygrometer

Using a hygrometer is relatively simple in its own right. That said, its readings may indicate that you will have tasks to perform to ensure that the cigars’ biosphere remains stable.

In short, you simply need to periodically check the hygrometer’s readings. Although we do this daily, you can as little as once a week. Nevertheless, it’s important to take a mental note of the hygrometer’s figures.

As we will no doubt cover in a future guide in greater detail, the humidity should be within a window of 65% to 71%. There can be some minor fluctuations over time but they mustn’t be too sudden either.

You can already learn about the different levels in this window thanks to our Boveda guide. Since Boveda offer a variety of packs with different relative humidity levels, we break down their various benefits and why you should consider them.

For example, humidity levels nearer the 65% range tend to be better for Cuban cigars whereas 69% is more suited to so-called “New World” blends.

Ideally, the hygrometer’s readings should be consistent, which indicates a stable environment. However, if the humidity is increasing or decreasing beyond an acceptable limit, you may need to step in and take action.

If the humidity is too low, the humidification system may need recharging or your humidor could even need seasoning as described above. Meanwhile, a humidity level that’s too high could indicate an overzealous humidity system, which can sometimes be alleviated by something as simple as airing the humidor.

Finally, you can also use a digital hygrometer to track the temperature. In most cases, you want cigars to remain under 20°C (68°F) but there are arguments for specific temperatures.

Why Are There No Analogue Hygrometers?

As you may have noticed in the entries above, we didn’t include any analogue hygrometers. In case you aren’t familiar with them, analogue hygrometers are relatively rudimentary devices that dictate humidity with a traditional hand on a dial.

However, it’s likely that you already know what is an analogue hygrometer given that they’re often supplied with most humidors.

While we do appreciate their aesthetics, analogue hygrometers are unfortunately not very reliable. Most analogue hygrometers will feature a metal spring that tightens or loosens when exposed to different levels of humidity. This is never overly precise as the spring may move differently depending on the environment.

Over a short period of time, the spring will lose its limited accuracy, which means that it will need calibrating. Sadly, there’s no precise way of knowing when that is other than if you manage to observe abnormal changes in your readings.

Still, there are some exceptions. For instance, higher-quality analogue hygrometers will use a synthetic or human hair instead of a metal spring. Occasionally, this can even be more accurate than digital hygrometers. Nevertheless, it still needs to be properly maintained with frequent calibration.

Finally, analogue hygrometers won’t be able to inform you of the temperature, which is another of the many benefits of digital ones.

What Are Smart Sensors?

Nowadays even digital hygrometers aren’t enough for the digital age. After all, we live in a connected world where you can essentially control an entire household from the palm of your hand. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that smart hygrometers – or smart sensors – are continuing to grow in popularity.

Yet, are these devices just a gimmick for glorified digital hygrometers or is there something more to it?

We’re actually very fond of smart sensors and the convenience that come with them. As hinted above, these smart sensors provide you with the opportunity to check on your cigar collection from the comfort of your phone.

This can be particularly handy if you have several humidors or storage solutions as they will all be assembled in a single app. Additionally, you won’t even have to open the containers and can check them all at the same time.

If you want to learn more about smart sensors and the best ones that you can buy, head to our dedicated smart sensor guide.

Do You Need To Calibrate A Hygrometer?

As mentioned a few times above, hygrometers need to be properly calibrated to ensure that they provide you with accurate readings. This is essential as some hygrometers can be completely off by as much as 10% RH when taken out of their box.

As you can imagine, this can be disastrous as you might be completely unaware that the levels in your humidor are dangerously too low or high. This might result in dry cigars, a break-out of mould, or even tobacco beetles!

If you’re a cautious collector and use multiple hygrometers, you may have noticed some discrepancies. As a result, you may try to estimate the actual relative humidity. However, this is essentially guesswork and comes with its own risks.

Fortunately, calibrating a hygrometer is usually quite easy and takes rarely more than 24 hours to complete.

Occasionally, some brands will proudly announce that their hygrometers come pre-calibrated. However, as much as we trust them, we don’t just want to take their word for it. Therefore, we ensure that we calibrate our hygrometers before they’re used.

After all, calibrating a hygrometer is easy enough that it’s not worth the gamble! Learn how to properly do it with our full guide on how to calibrate a hygrometer!

What Next?

Now that you’ve seen the best hygrometers and have learned about using one, why don’t you also check out our related guides below:

• BU Cigars – Home
• Humidors & Cigar Storage Home
• Best Wooden Humidors To Buy Online
• Top Cigar Coolers For Your Home
• How To Build Your Own Humidor