Humidors, in the broadest terms, refers to any room or container that is used to maintain constant humidity and can also refer to a room in which priceless art such as paintings or even the United States Declaration of Independence is preserved. However, when most people hear the word humidor, they automatically associate it with cigar. That is probably not unexpected since the words have very nearly become inseparable in our modern language.

From popular cigar clubs and rooms to tobacco stores in modern malls, nearly everywhere one looks, there is a humidor used to preserve and maintain cigars. Because of the universality of cigars, the pursuit for that perfect smoke, and the wide range of styles and prices for humidors, anyone who smokes cigars can now afford to own a cigar humidor. This has also served to reinforce cigar humidors as an inseparable term.

Even though humidors can be used to store any tobacco product, be it cigar, pipe or cigarette, since cigarettes are so rapidly consumed, there is no need for people to store them in a humidor. Therefore, most often one will see cigars stored in a humidor along with pipe tobacco.

According to some historians, Zino Davidoff, in the first part of the 20th century, is accorded the honored position of having designed and built the first cellar humidor for storing cigars sold through his family business. Today, there exists a wide variety of cigar humidors from the small, desktop model to the large walk-in room humidors.

While there are many variations in style, size, materials, et cetera for cigar humidors, one constant is that each one must maintain a stable humidity level, generally at 70%, designed to keep the tobacco at its freshest. Some cigar humidors may also offer constant temperatures and some may have fans to help maintain a constant humidity throughout the container (since even in a room, humidity levels may vary from area to area). At any rate, cigar humidors are built, purchased and owned by people from all social strata.