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Learn · StorageHumidity and RH
Relative humidity, or RH, is how much moisture the air is holding compared to the most it could hold at that temperature... and cigars are generally stored in a 65 to 70 percent band.
The numbers
RH is a percentage of capacity, not an absolute amount. Warm air can carry more moisture than cool air, so the same moisture reads as a lower RH when the temperature rises. That's why humidity and temperature always get discussed together... move one and the other shifts.
The 65-70% band is the commonly used storage range, and both edges exist for a reason. Enough moisture keeps the leaf elastic, so wrappers don't crack in your hand or burn hot and fast. Not too much keeps the cigar from swelling with water until it fights combustion. Different smokers settle at different points in and just under that band... the band matters more than any single number. The old "70/70 rule" (70% RH at 70°F) still circulates; storage habits have mostly drifted a few points drier.
Temperature gets one rule: keep storage below about 70°F. Tobacco beetle eggs are present in most tobacco and stay dormant when cool... sustained warmth can hatch them (most sources put the trigger around 72°F), and beetle larvae ruin cigars fast.
What wrong storage smokes like. Overhumidified: the cigar draws tight (see the draw), the smoke goes steamy and muted, and the burn fights you... classic burn issues territory. Underhumidified: it burns fast and hot, tastes harsh and papery, and the wrapper turns brittle enough to crack.
What actually holds a container at the band... humidors, two-way packs, beads... is covered in storage basics.
The common mistake
Chasing a perfect number. RH drifts a point or two with the seasons and with every lid opening, and cigars don't care... anywhere in the band is fine. What actually costs cigars is the sustained extremes: weeks wet enough to grow mold, dry enough to crack wrappers, or warm enough to wake beetles. Watch the range, not the decimal.