subject: Popular Cigar Accessories For The Cigar Collector [print this page] There are a few tools that no cigar aficionado should be without: a cigar humidor, a good cutter, and a quality lighter. The importance of these cigar accessories cannot be overstated, especially for the sophisticated smoker who wants to get the most from every cigar.
First, a humidor is very important if you intend to store your cigars for anything longer than a negligible period of time. The plastic wrapper around your cigar does protect it, but not from excess humidity or dry air. This wrapper is made of cellophane, a porous plastic with thousands of microscopic holes in the surface that allow the cigar to breathe. Why does your cigar need to breathe? When a cigar is exposed to too much humidity, mold and mildew are certain to occur. Using a more solid kind of plastic would trap any moisture under the wrapper and be sure to damage the cigar. On the other hand, this wrapper's breathability is a distinct disadvantage in that it allows the exchange of air and moisture freely in an uncontrolled environment. That means that it will not protect your cigar outside of a humidor.
So why do cigar manufacturers use cellophane? Because other plastic wrapping does real damage to your cigar. If a more solid plastic wrapping was used, for example, like the plastic wrap you use in your kitchen, the moisture would be trapped inside the wrapping with the cigar, and that would result in mildew and mold. That is why cigar manufacturers rely on the more porous cellophane. So if leaving your cigar wrapped will ruin it, but taking it from its wrapper will expose the cigar to possible harm, what should you do? The answer is simple, and you probably know it already: buy a humidor.
A humidor is an essential piece of equipment that you'll need if you intend to preserve your cigars for any prolonged period of time. When you store your cigars, however, there is still the question of the cellophane wrapper. To remove, or not to remove? Some argue that removing the wrapper allows the cigar to acclimate to the environment inside the humidor faster, and that when storing different types of cigars, unwrapping them allows oils and aromas to mix more freely.
When you leave the cellophane on the cigar when you store it, you are preserving that same level of protection originally intended by the manufacturer, while still getting the benefit of the controlled humidity, thanks to the breathability of the plastic. Of course, there are no proven disadvantages to taking the cigar out if its wrapper before storing it, but it is easier and more beneficial to keep the cigar wrapped until you are ready to smoke it.
