Do some searching and read the stickies at the top of this forum. You'll see that this has been covered many times now.
That said, here were my steps to humidor nirvana:
1) Find a cool place to store the cigars (below 75 or so to prevent beetles from hatching)
2) Find a cooler to store your cigars (desktop humidors are really just for show. They're cool looking, but not very functional because of the size). If you REALLY want a wood humidor, then plan on getting at least a 300 ct or larger, but I'd recommend an end table, coffee table, or cabinet setup. However, for a novice, a cooler is a much better solution, because most people have one laying around. Also, decent large size humidors can easily run more than $500. That's insane in my opinion.
3) Humidity beads from here:
http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ I recommend 65% if you live in a humid area or prefer more "open" smokes. Otherwise, 70% should be good.
4) Distilled water for the beads. Megamart brand is fine
5) Get a cheapo digital hygrometer from walmart or radioshack. DO NOT RELY ON A MECHANICAL HYGROMETER. THEY SUCK. Do a salt test to see how far off it is and make a note. Mine read high by ~2% (says 67% when it's really 65%). Here's the instructions:
http://www.cigarpass...showtopic=49237
6) Get an empty cigar box or two. My local tobacco shop sells them for $2 a piece and donates the money to charity. Any regular cigar smoker will most likely have plenty they are willing to part with.
7) Put your beads, boxes and hygrometer in the cooler. Wet the beads per the instructions with distilled water. Give the humidor a week or so to "condition".
8) Stock your cigars in the boxes and take pleasure in the fact that your "humidor" only cost you around $30 to $60 for everything. You now have more money to spend on smokes than if you had bought an expensive one from somewhere else. Plus you have enough room to store several
boxes of cigars.
* You
think you don't need a large humidor. You do. Trust us. Desktop humi's are never large enough, even for casual smokers. Remember that cigars can keep for upwards of 5 years. Most are better when smoked with some age (6 months to 1 year). Unless you plan on smoking less than a cigar a month, a desktop is just not going to be big enough. Remember that a 150ct doesn't not equal 150 cigars (maybe 150 AF short stories :laugh: ). Most retailers are a bit ambitious in their claims regarding cigar counts.
