When you want to season and set up a humidor, it is quite a simple process. Just think about it: all you need to do is make sure that the interior wood is humidified to the desired relative humidity, and then place a humidifier and hygrometer on the inside of the lid.
If the seal of your humidor is good, you don’t have to do any kind of routine maintenance, as the humidor will maintain the humidity for a long time. However, if your humidor has a glass top, then you are required to do a little more work than just this, to make sure that your cigars remain humidified.
When you are using a glass top humidor, there are two main issues with this setup. Normally, we tend to buy a glass top humidor, as we want to stare at our cigar collection and daydream about which one we will have next. It is the same as an art buff looking at Mona Lisa behind the glass. The glass top humidor makes the cigars look like a masterpiece.
Anyways, back to the two main issues, which are:
1. Where to put the hygrometer and humidifier
2. How to deal with a loose seal around the glass, that will drain the humidity from the humidor.
First, problem number one, where to put the hygrometer and humidifier, which is a question often asked by people who are setting up a glass-top humidor. The answer is, you can put the hygrometer and humidifier anywhere you want. The preferable place for the humidifier is, of course, on top of the cigars, so that the moisture can drop down on the cigars.
But to be honest, a humidifier will also work just as well if placed on the bottom of your humidor. Humidifiers provide aid to the humidified wood in the humidor and extend the period between re-seasoning. Just like that, a hygrometer can go anywhere in the humidor, as the humidity is constant throughout.
Now problem number two, the seal, which is actually a bigger issue when you are setting up a glass-top humidor. You may not have noticed, but the seal between the glass and the wood might not be airtight, which 99% of the time is the case if you are losing humidity.
Many times people think that this problem is due to a loose seal around the lid, although the seal actually is airtight. If you want to test the seal around the glass, place a clear tape around the outside lid and let it stay. If you see that the humidity holds, then the seal is weak, and you need to fix it. In order to do that, get an odorless and clear epoxy, apply this to the edge of the glass to create a seal that is airtight. It is an easy fix for a simple problem.
So if you are planning to buy a glass top humidor, you can keep these tips into account. The seal around the glass not being airtight may sound discouraging but be assured that a glass top humidor is worth the effort, and it looks amazing.