1) Conditioning the Interior (spanish cedar)
First, before placing your cigars inside your new humidor, wipe the interior with a lint-free
cloth dampened lightly with distilled water. This picks up any residue from the manufacturing process and also conditions the interior to accept a certain amount of moisture which will be prevalent once your cigars are placed inside your humidor. If this is not done, the dry wood
may suck moisture out of your cigars and/or your humidifier.

2) Moistening the Humidifier
Next, place your humidifier into a container of distilled water large enough to allow it to be submerged in the distilled water. The humidifier will be slightly buoyant, so you may have to reverse the humidifier’s direction in the container to insure that it has been thoroughly
moistened. It should take approximately 30 minutes of soaking to fully moisten the
humidifier. Note: Never use tap water which may contain unsavory elements. Next, making sure the humidification unit is not saturated and dripping wet, place it in its rightful place in the
humidor, close the lid and wait 24 hours. This completely conditions the interior of your
new humidor to maintain the freshness of your cigars.
Why not fill with tap water? Tap water (as well as spring water) contains minerals which
tend to clog the humidifier element. In addition, tap water contains chemicals which may
impart an unpleasant odor to your cigars.

3) Calibrating your Hygrometer
Dampen a towel (not dripping wet, but good & damp), then wrap the hygrometer in the
towel for 30 to 45 minutes. Then quickly unwrap it and read the humidity. If your
hygrometer is perfectly calibrated (few are) it will be reading exactly 100% humidity. Most
likely, it will be reading somewhere between 80 and 90%. That’s ok – if it’s reading 90%,
then you know that when it’s in your humidor and reading 65, your humidor is really at 75%.
Next turn over your hygrometer and adjust the calibration screw accordingly.

Wanna get a little more technical? No problem. Luckily, as nature would have it, when salt
and water (NaCl and H2O for you studious types), are in a saturated solution at equilibrium,
the resultant humidity is 75%. This gives are a fantastic reference point to calibrate our hygrometers.

Here’s the procedure you should use:

Get a bottle cap of some sort – any bottle cap will do! Fill it with regular table salt. Then
place a few drops of water on the salt. DO NOT put to much water on the salt. The salt
should only be damp, not a liquid solution.

Then put the bottle cap of salt and your hygrometer in a see-through, freezer bag. Seal the freezer bag & wait several hours (about six). The humidity inside the bag will be 75%.
Compare it to your hygrometer. You will then know exactly how far off your hygrometer is,
just like with the damp towel test, above.

That is it! Your humidor & its components are now fully prepared to recreate the optimum conditions for maintaining the freshness of your cigars!