When looking for a travel humidor, consider reading some of our tips to make sure that you buy the right one to suit your needs.
Consider Alternatives
Boveda Large Cigar Humidor Bag You’ll notice that we actually feature the One-Year Boveda Humidor Bag as a recommended travelling solution. At Bespoke Unit, this is actually one of our favourite and cheapest ways to correctly store cigars when travelling.
As they’re available in a number of different sizes, you can store as little as a few cigars to even a couple of boxes in a single bag. When travelling with entire boxes, you can easily slip these in a larger bag, which is perfectly secure in itself.
https://crownhumidors.com/collections/cabinet-humidor
However, if you just have a few cigars, simply put them in a smaller bag and then place the bag itself in a harder box for protection. Not only is this perfectly sufficient but it offers a better environment for your cigars than most travel humidors.
Finally, despite their appearance, Boveda bags aren’t simply branded ziplock bags with an included Boveda pack. In fact, they’re made from barrier-laminated plastic with an airtight enclosure. Meanwhile, regular ziplock bags do lose moisture over time and aren’t as reliable as we like to think.
Otherwise, you could even consider a small tupperdor for travelling. While less attractive, it’s certainly cheaper and more effective than the majority of travel humidors on the market.
Inspect The Seal & Latches
Cigar Caddy Travel Humidors If you do decide that you absolutely want a travel humidor, you must first and foremost inspect the seals. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible before you buy one, but you can always return it if you find that it doesn’t offer decent performance.
The best way to do this is by simply throwing in a humidifier with a hygrometer and closing it. Once set up, periodically check the humidity to see whether it’s consistent. If it’s too low or fluctuates, then you likely have a leak.
Of course, the humidifier may be over-performing in order to compensate for the leak and you may not notice a drop in relative humidity. Therefore, the best way to do this is over a long period of time as we did with ours.
Herf-A-Dor Best Travel Humidor Another way that we wouldn’t recommend is by filling it with water. Sadly, this may actually ruin the travel humidor or it’ll need to dry off afterwards. Yet, it does yield good results as you’ll be able to see if it leaks water when closed and held to its sides.
If it retains water, then there’s a good chance that it also holds air.
Finally, the quickest and easiest way to check the seals is by closing it and giving it a squeeze if made from ABS moulded plastic. If it hisses when squeezed, then it’ll likely leak air even when under no pressure.
Finally, consider checking the latches as well as the seals. Some cheaper travel humidors come with loose or weak latches that break. If the latches are unreliable, there’s a high chance that the humidor could pop open and expose the cigars.
Check The Foam Type
Travel Humidor Foam Although not an hugely important factor, it’s worth check the foam material used to insulate the travel humidor. As mentioned above, they can be made from the three following materials:
Ester: Probably the best foam for cigars, Ester offers an excellent cushion that protects delicate objects that can break under impact. Its cushioning is flexible an can store irregular-shaped objects.
Polythylene: Absorbs more shock than Ester and made for heavier objects, PE is a great foam for most uses.
Pro-Cell: With its refined finish, Pro-Cell is better for displays. It’s more delicate than the other foams but is surprisingly dense.
There are also different cuts and shapes to the foam. You can opt for foams that have a flat finish, which is generally better for smaller, flatter humidors. Otherwise, there is also the convoluted, egg-crate shaped foam offers better protection.
best travel humidor may actually have piped foam to give you a pre-shaped space for placing your cigars.