Everybody knows Boveda for the little brown packs that you might find inside a humidor. These are two-way humidity packs that keep your cigars fresh and moist at just the right range. These packs, and other like them, sell like crazy and for good reason – they work. Although in my opinion, few work just as well as the Boveda ones do. Having said all of that, when they announced a new humidor, I was very intrigued to see what they would come up with. They know how to keep a humidor fresh and running well, but can they actually make one with the same level of quality we have come to know Boveda for? Today, I will answer that question.
The Boveda Humidor was released back in August of this year to consumers worldwide. It is not the first humidor that Boveda has offered. There was previously an acrylic humidor that, I personally loved the look of, I never got to own because it was discontinued in 2022 after issues with production. I always wanted one and never got around to picking one up. But when the new humidors came around, I knew I couldn’t make that mistake twice. Currently, Boveda says this humidor is only available on their website.
Under the Lid
The Boveda humidor was packaged extremely well with a very luxurious feel. A soft textured outer box started off the presentation and once it was opened, it revealed a very well packaged unit that was inside of a velvet bag, like many ultra-premium cigar dress boxes come, surrounded in foam wrap to give it the most absolute safe handling possible. Once I got the humidor completely unwrapped and unpackaged, I could see why this is a beautiful humidor with fabulous texture a beautiful color with woodgrain I would not want this to be damaged.
The bottom of the humidor has a classic velvet, covering allowing it to protect any surface that it sits upon while also giving it some protection to the bottom of it itself, the side features a silver powered by a Boveda decal very similar to the one scene on boxes of cigars that come out of the factory with the Boveda packs inside on the chrome handle on the very front the words “LOVE YOUR CIGARS” is laser engraved on the front edge opening the humidor, a rich aroma of cedar immediately escapes. The above the logo is laser engraved at the top edge of the lid inside and all of the pieces necessary to get your humidor started sit in the bottom.
The humidor measures 12″ by 10 1/2″ inside and has a manufactures rating of up to fifty cigars.
It features chrome hinges that open and close absolutely beautifully, with very silky-smooth operation. Over the years, I have seen a lot of these box or desktop style humidors come out of China that are not as high quality and while they mostly work fine, there is something to be said about the extra elegance of absolute perfection when it comes to the way things are made. To open the lid and have it be smooth with no friction – that’s nice. The Boveda humidor has a nice seal to it and when you close the lid you can feel it snug firmly around the upper edge of the cedar inside. This gives the humidor a nice grab, while not being too tight, but also not loose whatsoever. This is important because it means that the humidor has a nice air-tight seal on the edge of the lid so that none of your humidity will escape and perfectly contains the ecosystem inside. If you know anything about wood, you’ll know that if a dry humidor out of the packaging already feels this nice then once more moisture is introduced inside, the wood will swell making it even better. It shouldn’t over swell to the point where it does become tight and difficult to open and close, not unless it was an extreme amount of moisture/humidity that was introduced, but at that point if you’re at that problem, the seal on the humidor is the least of your worries.
It does come with a nice white polishing cloth for keeping fingerprints and dust off of the nice wood finish, and a set of dividers that you can use to configure the organization of your cigars inside. It also comes with an instructional booklet that will help you properly set this up and maintain going forward.
Pricing and Availability
The Boveda Humidor has a retail price of $299 and can be purchased from Boveda’s website or through an authorized retailer. The humidor utilizes the Boveda 320 two-way humidity packs, which can be replaced for $27.99. There is a QR code inside the lid, under where the magnetic humidity pack holder sits which also takes you to the Boveda Humidor website where you can learn more about it and also set up automatic Boveda pack refills for your humidor that would auto ship to your house if you wanted. These packs, according to Boveda, should last up to six months. I will add that results may vary, and you could see these packs last much less if the humidor is consistently in a very dry and colder environment where it needs to work harder.
Performance Notes
For this review, I’m going to do everything by the book. I’m going to follow the instructions and set this humidor up with the seasoning packs of 84% humidity that came with it and let it sit inside the humidor for fourteen days. After which point I removed these packs and I set up the humidor with cigars to give them their actual operational set up. I put the Boveda pack holder, which has a magnetic hold on the lid up top after placing the enclosed Boveda pack box inside of it. I want to stress this because I know people have done this, but you do not want to open the cardboard pack the actual paper pack stays inside that box the box slides inside the holder and allows it to sit properly inside the humidor so that it doesn’t flop around as well as breathe and function correctly.
Now normally for a product review, I would do it over the course of a couple weeks such as with cutters and lighters using them with multiple cigars trying to really get the kinks to come out if there are any, so I can give them a very accurate review. Something like this is going to take place over a few months because you can’t really capture the performance of a humidor in a few weeks or even thirty days. For the record, this review began back in July, and I am just now publishing this review so that I have plenty of time to make sure this thing works well.
I began to check the humidor every week or so after letting the cigars continue to rest inside and acclimate to their new environment. What I found is that the humidity stayed within one degree or so of the rating on the pack inside. For me, I don’t need it to be dead on the number all the time because I know that is impractical. But withing a degree or so up or down is fair. Had it been off by five or so degrees it would have been a much different story. As time continued to go on, I check the humidor more often and it continued to stay within the same parameters.
I also checked the cigars themselves during this period in which they all seemed to stay fresh, small sponge like squeeze and didn’t ever feel dry or make any cracking sounds upon squeezing them. These cigars were perfect to smoke right out of the humidor evetime.
Smokin Wrap
I would like to be the first person to tell you that I think this humidor is not only great and a slam dunk, but I am seriously considering this for the Accessory of the Year award this year. I will be honest, I have been doing this for quite some time now and I find it hard to find a box humidor that check off every box 100%. Unfortunately, there are many people out there who fall victim to spending money on poorly made humidors (for the love of God people STOP buying the glass top ones on Amazon) but this one is the one to swoop in and save them and their pricey cigars. If you are considering buying a humidor of this size, please do not look any further. I am very critical when I try new accessories and this one was a no brainer. Huge congratulations to Boveda for proving why they are the leader in keeping your cigars safe.
Smokin Facts
- Boveda Does Not Advertise with Smokin Tabacco
- Boveda Sent Humidor for Review
- Boveda Two-Way Packs Can Be Ordered Online
- 320G Pack Should Last Up to Six Months
Purchase recommendation: Are you serious? Buy it…today.
