First Humidor : humidity and general questions

[GETHEZ]

So I recently put a lifelong desire, to own my own Humidor, into practice. I didn’t go all-in, in terms of having the most expensive or best working humidor, because those things begin upwards of 500 euros, so I was told by the cigar shop. I was contemplating which type of humidor to buy and finally I went for a cabinet with glass windows which cost me some 180 euros online.

Measurements: 53 X 30 X 27 cm, with a theoretical capacity of 150 cigars. It arrived with a made in China box so obviously I didn’t buy the Rolls Royce of Humidors. When I tried the 1 dollar bill trick, it only passed the test at the points where the magnets are located. The parts that aren’t held closed by these magnets where considerably looser. I am also wondering if these types of humidors are recommended with 4 sides of glass in terms of humidity.

I just wanted to be able to look at them without opening the cabinet to prevent a humidity drop. To maintain and check up on the humidity I bought me an Oasis Excel 3.0 with a Wi-Fi subscription. On the photo you can see the inside of the cabinet. The humidity (not as on this photo) is set at 73%, but my Xikar digital Hygrometer is constantly reading 70% with a temperature of maximum 23°C, but most of the time at 21°C. Since it is summer here I placed it in the basement where the temperature is more stable without those temperature spikes.

I went ahead to look on the internet to see if this device needed calibration. Apparently you can manually adjust this type of machine with a couple degrees of humidity, but I haven’t done this just yet. Should I do this I am wondering, but at the same time I am pretty clueless at what percentage of humidity Cigars are best stored. Maybe someone here has a link to a thread or site where this topic has already been discussed. I’m also clueless about the placement of cigars in my humidor. Which areas tend to have more humid ‘zones’? (I place my Oasis Excel in the right bottom of the cabinet (like on the photo).

I have a lot of loose cigars without a box, I only have one RyJ box of Millefleurs (10 Pcs.) I am keeping the lid closed on that one, don’t know if this is the right way…?

I don’t know which types you have with preserving cigars in a humidor? I kind of picked up that you can age a cigar, but I don’t know how this works or what this does to a cigar.

In fact all beginner tips that relate to preserving cigars in a cabinet humidor are welcome, since my humidor is only 1+ month old.

Finally, I am also a bit worried of having Tobacco Beetles hatching inside the cigars. I buy my cigars at official Habanos store, so in most cases, if not all some have been treated with the freezing technique, so that these beetles cannot hatch. In fact I was in a conversation with the shops owner, but the store was quite busy, so we had the end our conversation. In which cases do I need to be worried about this?

And a general Forum question, is it allowed on this forum to talk about cigars that are non-Cuban? Since my official store also sells some Nicaraguan and Dominican cigars, which are also very good (not always of course, but you can also run into a bad Cuban cigar I think)

There a lot of questions In 1 post, feel free to comment on them or share general humidor tips.

Greetz, GETHEZ