HWYMAN --- your problems with 'heat' it about to solve itself, with the onset of winter ... 😉
The correct balance is between 68 to 72 percent
relative humidity and a temperature of about 70 degrees F.
Temperature is not much of a concern as most homes are usually kept at a comfortable 70 degrees, but be aware that temperatures in excess of 75-80 degrees can become a danger to your cigars as that is the temperature favored by tobacco beetles and other insect pests.
Lower humidity is not so much a factor in the hatching of beetle larvae. But, if you add over-dampness to the warmth, mold can grow, with similar spoilation ... so making sure that you are not over humified is very important.
Just because a suggestion has been made as to humidity and temperature percents and degrees, you don't have to have the humidity and temperature exact. Let the tobacco decide what is right.
Some areas of the country are more humid than others and some areas are more stable in temperature than others. When you are storing your tobacco and the humidity and temperature settings are not exact, don't worry. If your cigars and tobacco are still fresh, then your humidor is doing its job.
Also, some questions have been raised as to the air tightness of the container. Sure you want your humidor to be able to retain moisture but again don't be a stickler about the air tightness. Let the humidor breath. If you have to recharge your humidification system more often, so be it. Just make it a weekly regiment and your cigars/tobacco will be fresh and you'll be happier.
I have been doing a lot of research on this subject lately, and am starting to believe that cigars have a shelf life of about one year, then decline irreversibly. I have read that, 'No one in Cuba stores their cigars. They smoke them right away.' Perhaps the American and British smoking gentry know something about cigars Cubans don't, but it seems unlikely. Be aware, also, that the Brits tend to favor drier cigars than most, too.
There is a scientific consideration that may shed light on this issue. Long-storage advocates would say that one could store cigars indefinitely as long as the humidity remains at a proper level, so the cigars would not dry out.
But this is not correct, when one understands that cigar taste is not a matter only of whether the water content has evaporated. It depends upon whether the volatile aromatic oleoresins (the oils mentioned above) have evaporated. These are the saps, the resins which give the cigars their taste and aroma.
A little knowledge of the relative independence of partial vapor pressures with respect to each other's outgassing rates supports the theory that long-term storage is not always wise.
Even with humidity at a full 100%, creating a rain-forest environment for the cigars, the oleoresins will still dry out at the same rate as if the humidity were at desert-level! The evaporation rate for the oils depends solely upon the concentration level of those specific oleoresins in the container, independent of the level of water vapor. Unless the level of the tobacco oleoresins themselves remain at 100%, they will evaporate out of the tobacco. The cellophane that seals a cigar box will maintain this high humidity level for the aromatics for a few months. But after a while, the aromatics will be lost through tiny leaks and by passing through the cellophane membrane itself.
The answer to this paradox is that some cigars react favorably to aging, some do not. They may not actually taste better after aging, only different. With the loss of oils, they probably sacrifice richness for mellowed smoothness.
