Lonely Raven

Around here, they hoard and/or give stuff to friends.

If you can, you might want to check out your local shops and see what they have in stock. You'll pay more, but since you can inspect it you can see if it looks like it's got a good seal.

There are many ways to check for a good seal, and even some ways to try and improve the seal.

When I'm at a store, I lift the lid and let it drop. It should "huff" shut and actually slow down as all the air gets huffed out by the lid closing. Some people take a dollar or a piece of paper, and close the lid on it. A tight lid should pretty much not allow you to slip that dollar out.

If the lid is close, but not really well sealed, you can cause it to swell by brushing some distilled water on the "lip" that is supposed to seal the lid to the body of the box. Some people will flip out about this, and for good reason...as it's easy to warp the wood and make your seal worse...so it's up to you if you go this rout to tighten up a box.

As mentioned, a good sized tupperwear is an excellent, inexpensive humidor. You can use this till you find the right size and model of wood humidor that you like. Make sure it's got a good seal, get yourself a hygrometer (Walmart has one for $8, it's big and bulky, but both mine were accurate to within 2%), and get yourself some way of humidifying like the Cigar Mechanic Beads, Heartfelt Humidity Beads, or Shilala clay beads.

I would also finish up my Tupperware humidor by putting some Spanish Cedar in it, which you can get for free or cheap from your local cigar shop in the form of cigar boxes. Just break up the boxes and use the pieces for dividers/spacers, whatever. The wood will help maintain the moisture and help season/age the cigars, so they aren't simply living in a plastic box.

I'm sure if you Google Tupperware humidor, you'll get a lot of articles and even some videos on you tube to clarify what I wrote here.

I hope that helps!