Keeping the temperature and humidity in your humidor at an even keel will keep your cigars fresh and tasting great for as long as you desire to keep them. However, this requires a bit of skill and knowledge. Thankfully, keeping your humidor from overheating is a fairly easy task to achieve – the first thing to do is to make sure you have a room which is out of direct sunlight and that is well sealed off from the outside world. Also, make sure that your humidor’s placed away from any in-house heating elements such as stoves, heaters, fireplaces and so forth.
Next, always use a hygrometer – for those uninitiated, a hygrometer is a small mechanical device very similar to a thermostat which is used to in-directly measure the amount of moisture in the air around it. They also generally measure the temperature of the atmosphere as well as moisture content (humidity), hygrometers can be bought either as independent, portable devices, semi-permanent add-ons to one’s humidor or are directly built in to certain, generally high end, rather expensive humidors. The reason that hygrometers are so important to ensuring proper maintenance of one’s humidor is directly related to the optimal humidity range in which cigars age, store and taste the best.
Now, this range is generally between 60 to 74 RH (relative humidity) though some cigar “experts” say that it should be between more specific parameters. However, the truth is that this is merely a good guideline since every cigar will invariably fair differently under different humidities. Regardless your humidity should never exceed 80 RH, otherwise they will slowly begin to warp, obtain a bitter taste and eventually warp, grow moldy and fall apart.
Lastly, and perhaps most obviously, don’t ever keep your humidor open for extended periods of time, especially during extremely hot or cold times of the year.