Of all the questions asked across the counter about Boveda, the most common is also the simplest to state: which number. The packs come in several relative humidity ratings, the packaging looks much the same across them, and the instinct of a new collector is usually to reach for the highest figure on the shelf on the grounds that more humidity must be more protection. That instinct is wrong, and it is worth explaining why before saying anything about the individual levels.
The right number is not the highest one. It is the one that matches the cigars being kept, the way their owner likes to smoke them, and the room in which the humidor sits. Once those three things are known, the choice is usually obvious. Once it has been made, the more important task is to hold it.
What the number means
A Boveda pack rated at 69 per cent will hold the air inside a sealed container at 69 per cent relative humidity, giving up moisture when the air is drier and absorbing it when the air is wetter. It does not push past that figure, and it does not fall below it while it has water left to give. The rating is the target, fixed by the chemistry of the salt inside, and the pack will hold it in a Canadian winter or a humid August week alike, provided the box seals well enough and there are enough packs for the volume.
This matters for the decision because it removes a variable. With a foam humidifier the collector chooses a target and then tries to reach it. With Boveda the target is reached by definition. The only choice left is which target.
Why the range is narrow
Premium cigars are rolled in conditions somewhere near 69 per cent relative humidity and are at their best when kept within a few points of that. Below roughly 62 per cent the oils in the leaf begin to dry, the wrapper turns fragile and the smoke sharpens and loses depth. Above roughly 75 per cent the filler swells, the draw tightens, the burn wanders and, given warmth and time, mould becomes possible. The whole useful window for cigars is therefore about a dozen points wide, and Boveda's cigar ratings of 62, 65, 69 and 72 per cent, with 75 available for particular cases, sit inside it.
The differences between adjacent levels are real but modest. Moving from 69 to 65 is a change a practised palate will notice in the draw and the burn. It is not a change that puts cigars at risk in either direction. The risk lies in instability, not in choosing 65 over 69.
69 per cent: the general reference
For most collectors keeping a mixed selection of premium cigars in a well-made humidor, 69 per cent is the sensible default and the level most shops recommend without being asked. It is close to rolling conditions, so cigars arriving from the factory or a good tobacconist are already near it and settle quickly. It gives an even burn, a full and rounded flavour and a comfortable draw across the widest range of blends and sizes.
It is also forgiving. A humidor at 69 that is opened often, or that sits in a room which runs a little cool or a little warm, still has room on either side before the cigars notice. If there is no particular reason to choose otherwise, choose 69.
65 per cent: the drier preference
A meaningful number of experienced smokers prefer their cigars a few points drier than reference, and 65 per cent is the level made for them. Slightly drier tobacco burns more readily and more evenly, the draw opens, and the flavours tend to present as more defined and a little sharper in outline, at some cost to the roundness that 69 gives.
Sixty-five has practical arguments as well. In a humidor that seals very tightly, or one kept in a warm room where the interior can creep upward, 65 gives a margin below the level where draw problems begin. Some collectors of full-bodied cigars find that 65 improves combustion in dense, heavily packed vitolas. It is also the level often chosen for cigars that will be smoked outdoors in a Canadian summer, where a slightly drier stick lights and stays lit more easily. If a collection has ever suffered from tight draws or a burn that needs frequent correction, 65 is the first thing to try.
72 per cent: mostly for the long term
Seventy-two per cent is at the upper edge of what most collectors will want, and it serves a particular purpose rather than a general one. Cigars intended for years of ageing in a very tight, seldom-opened box benefit from a slightly higher figure, because ageing proceeds through the slow chemical work of the oils and that work is preserved rather than hurried by a touch more moisture. Some collectors also use 72 in a humidor that is opened frequently and loses a point or two each time, on the reasoning that the working level in the box is then nearer 69.
The caveats are real. At 72 there is little margin above before the draw begins to suffer, and cigars taken straight from a 72 per cent box often smoke better after a day or two in something drier. If the room is warm, 72 is not the right choice. It is a level for a specific plan and a well-sealed box, not a default.
62 per cent, and what it is for
The 62 per cent pack sits at the very bottom of the cigar window and is not, in the main, intended for premium cigars. Boveda makes it primarily for other products where a drier equilibrium is wanted, and it appears in the cigar range because a small minority of smokers in very humid climates, or with a decided taste for a dry, open smoke, find a use for it. For most collections of hand-rolled cigars it will leave the leaf drier than it ought to be, and it is not the answer to a humidor that reads high; the answer there is a better seal and the right number of packs at a sensible level.
The rule that outranks all the others
Whatever level is chosen, use only that level in a given humidor. Two packs of different ratings in one box do not average out to something in between. Each pulls the air toward its own number, the higher one releasing water and the lower one absorbing it, so the two work directly against each other. Both exhaust far faster than they should, and the humidor drifts somewhere between the two figures depending on which pack has more capacity left. It is the most common way to waste Boveda, and the easiest to avoid.
Changing levels is straightforward. Remove all the old packs, put in a full set of the new rating, and allow the cigars a couple of weeks to settle. A move of four points is gentle enough that nothing needs to be staged.
A stable number beats an ideal one held badly
It bears repeating that cigars are far more sensitive to movement than to the precise figure. A collection held steadily at 65 for five years will age well. A collection that swings between 63 and 74 as the seasons turn will not, however good the average looks, because every rise and fall swells and contracts the wrapper and, in time, cracks it. The choice between 65 and 69 is a matter of taste. The choice between steady and unsteady is a matter of whether the cigars survive.
That is why the level chosen matters less than the discipline around it: enough packs for the volume, a box that closes properly, replacement when the packs go stiff, and never a second rating alongside the first. El Laguito is an authorized Boveda retailer and stocks all the cigar ratings; anyone unsure between two of them is welcome to ask, but the safe advice for most humidors in most Canadian homes is 69 per cent, held without interruption.