People are ignorant and careless about storing their cigars. As a result, people wind up smoking cigars that burn hot and have charry flavors, or burn wet and are tough to even smoke; it's like sucking a bowling ball through a straw. Properly maintaining your cigars is vital to your smoking enjoyment.

The photo you are about to see is an example of what you're working towards when it comes to collecting, aging and storing cigars at home. This is a picture of my humidor's lower level. There are countless choices when it comes to top-quality, environment controlled humidors. Mine stands 3 feet tall and doubles as a classy, corner glass topped table in our family room. The humidity inside is electronically controlled and always perfectly set to age and maintain my cigars.

On the top level of the humidor is a pull-out drawer area to lay bundles of fresh cigars

This little number cost me about $1000 and was worth every penny. You have to remember that cigar smoking is not a cheap hobby if you're doing it correctly. Additionally, cigars, like wine, get better, smoother and more flavorful when aged in a properly humidified area. Therefore a good humidor protects your investment and enhances your smoking enjoyment.

If you're not ready or in a position to drop four figures on a storage area, you can still enjoy a small cigar collection. Humidor boxes, usually made of wood and requiring your diligent maintenance to insure conditions, are available all over the place. My first one now acts as a storage facility for all of my cigar accessories, including lighters, cutters, etc. Here's a photo...

When purchasing a humidor box, don't go cheap. You can find these things for $30 in some stores, and that's because the seal on the lid is non-existent, which will let air and temperature in. Be certain that you get a well constructed, air tight humidor; otherwise you're wasting your money. You should spend at least $100, and more like $250. It's better to wait and save up for a good one, than to go cheap and ruin all of your cigars.

Traveling can be tough on cigars, so make sure you protect them in as near to perfect an environment as possible, which can be tough. A small suitcase sized humidor with a built in mini-humidifier works well for trips of a week or so. Here's mine, and it gets the job done...

A lot of guys love to enjoy a cigar on the golf course, where again, it's ideal to keep your cigar(s) safe and protected until it's time to smoke them. If you're really lucky, you'll find a cigar holder that also looks like a golf bag, like I did recently (Arnie says this is the gayest thing I ever bought in front of him)...

When in doubt or in a pinch, the oldest tricks still work. If you have to keep a cigar humidified but don't have any of the aforementioned options, take a paper towel and dampen half of it in water. Crumble the towel up and place it in the bottom of a Ziploc bag, then place the cigar in the Ziploc taking care not to let the cigar touch the wet part of the towel. Seal the Ziploc and you have created a mini-humidor.