Humidor Humidity Chart: What RH Should a Humidor Be At?
Storage · Humidity · Updated 2026-07-22
A humidor should sit somewhere between 62% and 70% relative humidity, with temperature held below about 72F (22C). There is no single correct number: the old 70/70 rule is one defensible point inside that band, not a law, and which point you pick depends on whether you are smoking through inventory, aging boxes for years, or fighting a humid or arid climate.
This page replaces the folklore with a decision table. Below you will find each common set point with what it does to burn and draw, a temperature-and-RH risk grid showing where mold and tobacco beetles actually become a problem, and how to tell a harmless swing from a real trend.
Humidor humidity chart: set points compared
| Set point | Best for | Burn and draw | Mold and beetle risk | Typical climate fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62% RH | Long aging, tightly rolled and Cuban-format cigars, boxes you will not open for years | Firmest to the squeeze but the airway opens up, so it lights fast and burns quickly; can taste thin or smoke hot if you drift lower | Lowest. Far clear of both the mold and beetle thresholds | Humid climates, basements and garages, anywhere ambient RH runs high |
| 65% RH | Everyday smoking inventory and tightly packed humidors | Clean even burn, open and predictable draw, easy to relight. The most commonly recommended modern default | Low. Comfortable margin on both sides | Most air-conditioned indoor rooms |
| 69% RH | Box-fresh draw, large ring gauges, and new humidors whose wood still pulls moisture | Softer feel, slower burn, and a tighter draw as the leaf swells. Slightly harder to keep lit | Moderate. Still under 70% but almost no headroom when the lid opens | Arid climates, winter heating, desert states |
| 70% RH | The traditional 70/70 convention and most retail humidor packaging | Classic reference point, though many smokers report spongy cigars and a lazy burn here | Moderate to high. Widely used as the alert line rather than the target | Temperate rooms, retail display cabinets |
| 72% RH | Short-term rehydration of dried-out cigars, not standing storage | Very soft, prone to tight or plugged draw, tunneling and uneven burn | Highest. At or above the RH figure commonly cited for beetle hatching | Not recommended as a permanent set point in any climate |
Sources genuinely disagree here. Wikipedia's Humidor article puts the ideal at around 68-72% RH, says internal temperature should stay below 25C (77F), and warns against letting humidity run above 75%; Boveda sells 62, 65, 69 and 72% packs and tells buyers to choose by preference; and plenty of long-time smokers keep a steady 65% year round. Treat the band as the answer and the exact number as a preference you can test.
RH and temperature together: the risk grid
RH alone tells you very little. Tobacco beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) eggs sitting dormant in finished cigars generally need both warmth and high humidity before larvae hatch. The trigger figure is not standardised: cigar retailers and forums commonly cite roughly 72F, Wikipedia's Humidor article says eggs usually hatch at around 25C (77F) and advises keeping the box below 20C (68F), and the entomological literature on L. serricorne puts the floor for development near 15C (59F) with the fastest breeding at 30C to 33C (86F to 91F). Warm air also holds more moisture, so a summer temperature spike drags RH up with it. Read the two numbers as a pair and treat the low 70s F as your alert line rather than a hard boundary.
| Temperature | Below 62% RH | 62-70% RH | 70-75% RH | Above 75% RH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Below 60F (16C) | Dry zone: wrappers crack, flavor flattens | Safe, but aging slows; Wikipedia's *Humidor* article says the ageing process is impaired below about 12C (54F) | Tolerable short term, beetle risk low at this temperature | Mold zone: surface mold can still form on cold damp cigars |
| 60-65F (16-18C) | Dry zone | Safe zone | Watch: soft cigars, slow burn, mold possible over time | Mold zone |
| 65-70F (18-21C) | Dry zone | Safe zone, and where most guidance points | Watch: this is the classic 70/70 edge | Mold zone |
| 70-72F (21-22C) | Dry but stable | Safe with no margin left for a swing | Warning: both thresholds are within reach at once | Mold and beetle zone |
| Above 72F (22C) | Hot and dry: oils can bake out, flavor dulls | Acceptable only if RH is held near the low end of the band | Beetle-hatch zone under the commonly cited 72F and 72% trigger | Beetle and mold zone: move the humidor and act now |
A worked example: the 135 rule
One practical way to trade temperature against humidity is the 135 rule, a hobbyist convention that keeps temperature in Fahrenheit plus RH percentage near 135, with RH held roughly between 63% and 72%. If your storage room runs cool at 65F, the rule points to 70% RH (65 + 70 = 135). If a summer room sits at 73F, it points down to 62% RH (73 + 62 = 135). It is a rule of thumb, not physics, but it captures the right instinct: the warmer the room, the lower you want your RH, because warmth plus moisture is the combination that wakes beetles and grows mold.
Choosing your number
- Smoking through inventory in weeks or months? 65% is the safe default. Firm draw, clean burn, easy relight.
- Aging boxes for years? 62-65%. Lower RH slows the whole process and keeps you far from mold, which is the risk that compounds over long holds.
- Dry climate, forced-air heat, or a brand new humidor? 69% gives you a cushion against constant moisture loss, at the cost of a softer cigar.
- Humid climate or an unconditioned room? Aim low in the band and watch temperature harder than RH. Heat is the variable you cannot fix with a pack.
- Cigars smoking wet, tight, or burning crooked? Drop your set point 3 to 4 points and give it two weeks before judging.
Set a target band, then watch the trend instead of the reading. Cigar Humidor & Journal's Monitor lets you log humidity and temperature per humidor against your own target band, and shows the min, average, max and a recent trend with a clear in-band or out-of-band call. An alert fires when relative humidity drifts above 70%, so a slow climb gets caught before beetles or mold find your best box. Everything stays on your device. Download Cigar Humidor & Journal on the App Store.
Keeping the band steady over time
The number you choose matters less than how tightly you hold it. Cigars handle a steady 65% far better than a humidor that oscillates between 62% and 72% every week, because repeated swelling and shrinking is what splits wrappers. That means seasoning the box properly before it ever holds cigars, sizing your humidification to the interior volume, and logging readings often enough to see a slope rather than a snapshot. In Cigar Humidor & Journal, each humidor carries its own target band and its own reading history, so you can see at a glance whether last month's average actually sat where you set it - and export the whole record, along with your inventory, to CSV, JSON, or a PDF whenever you want it outside the app.
Frequently asked questions
What humidity should a humidor be at?
Between 62% and 70% relative humidity, with 65% the most common modern recommendation for cigars you plan to smoke. Keep temperature below about 72F at the same time.
Is the 70/70 rule still correct?
It is a workable set point, not a rule. 70% RH at 70F leaves almost no margin before the conditions associated with mold and tobacco beetles, and many smokers find cigars burn better a few points lower. Most current advice sits between 62% and 69%.
Is 75% humidity too high for a humidor?
Yes. Above roughly 75% RH you are in mold territory, and Wikipedia's *Humidor* article names 75% as the line to stay under for beetle reasons too. Combined with temperatures in the low 70s F it is the condition most sources associate with tobacco beetle larvae hatching. Bring it down rather than waiting to see what happens.
Should humidity be lower in summer?
Generally yes. Warmer air raises the risk from any given RH, so the warmer your storage room runs, the closer to 62-65% you want to sit. The 135 rule is a rough guide: temperature in Fahrenheit plus RH percentage near 135.