When most humidors are built, the Spanish cedar is naturally dry as most woods are prior to woodworking.  Now at Vanderburgh, we store all of our Spanish Cedar in a special humidified room that is pre-conditioned to 70% RH.  So when we craft your humidor, the cedar will already be pre-seasoned.  Even still, through shipping, the wood might lose some of its humidity, so I would still recommend this process.

But before we go into how to season, let me do a quick review of the special qualities of Spanish Cedar.  As I mentioned before, the Spanish Cedar has a unique purpose for its use in a humidor, and that is to:

1. Spanish Cedar has a natural resistance to mold and mildew.
2. Spanish Cedar imparts a desirable scent to the cigar, while the cigar ages
3. The cigar beetle dislikes Spanish Cedar’s scent and acts like a repellent.
4. If the humidor is built properly, the Spanish Cedar acts as a moisture buffer, so if the lid of the humidor is frequently opened, the interior RH returns quickly to its previously desired level.

Since the Spanish Cedar acts like a sponge, it will both absorb and desorb moisture.  If the Spanish cedar lining in your humidor is very dry, as it usually is, when you first purchase it, then it can actually pull out the moisture in your cigars potentially damaging them.  So in order to prevent this one must ‘season’, ‘prime’ or ‘condition’ your Spanish cedar lining to ensure a reliable, and stable internal microclimate.

First of all, make sure the humidor is completely empty, and free of lint, dust or dirt.  Then, take a lint-free cloth, and dampen it with Distilled water.  Be sure you use distilled water, not tap water, or even spring water, as it might leave mineral deposits on the wood after the water evaporates.

Now what you need to do is carefully wipe down all of the Spanish Cedar faces, sides, bottom, and under the lid.  If your humidor is equipped with a tray, be sure to treat it as well.  Make sure that the cloth is not oversaturated, or standing water is left on the Spanish Cedar, as it may water stain the wood.

Once the Spanish cedar is lightly dampened, this helps kick start phase 2 of the seasoning process.  Now, place your hydrated humidification device inside the empty humidor, and close the lid.  Allow the interior microclimate to naturally stabilize over the next week and a half.

Now be careful, if your humidor is of low quality, it may have only a Spanish Cedar veneer laminated to a less expensive wood body.  If this is the case, over application of distilled water (as in Phase 1) on the veneer might result in the veneer doing some wonky things, like delamination or rippling.  In this case I would not recommend wiping down the interior.  Instead, just place a glass of distilled water, or your humidifier inside the empty humidor for up to a week and a half.  The water will absorb into the wood by itself.

After a week and a half, you can go ahead and introduce your cigars into the humidor.

Priming your humidor is usually required only once, but by doing so, will ensure stable, consistent aging and maturation of your cigars for your smoking enjoyment.

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