Boveda 69 vs 72 for Cigars: Which RH Should You Use?

Picking up a box of Boveda packs is easy. Picking the right RH level is where beginners get stuck. The two most common options — 69% and 72% — look nearly identical on the shelf, but they behave differently in your humidor and suit different smoking styles.

This guide walks you through Boveda 69 vs 72 for cigars: what each humidity level actually does, who should use which, and a few things to avoid.

What Does the Number on a Boveda Pack Mean?

The number is the relative humidity (RH) target — the level of moisture the pack will maintain in a sealed environment. Boveda packs work two-way: they release moisture when the air is too dry and absorb it when the air is too wet, locking in the target RH within a point or two.

That means a 69 pack keeps your humidor hovering around 69% RH, and a 72 pack targets 72%. Both are within the broadly accepted storage range for cigars (roughly 65–72%), but those three percentage points make a real difference in practice.

For a deeper look at why humidity matters so much, see the cigar humidity guide.

Boveda 69 vs 72: A Quick Comparison

	Boveda 69	Boveda 72
Target RH	~69%	~72%
Draw feel	Slightly drier, easier pull	Fuller, slightly tighter pull
Best for	Most cigars, most climates	Maduros, very dry regions
Mold risk	Lower	Slightly higher
Good default?	Yes	No — more situational

When to Choose Boveda 69

Boveda 69 is the right pick for most people most of the time. Here's why:

• It works well with the widest variety of wrappers — Connecticut, Colorado, Habano, Natural.
• The draw tends to feel open and effortless because the tobacco isn't saturated.
• It leaves you more headroom before you reach conditions where mold becomes a risk.
• If you live in a humid coastal or tropical climate, 69 keeps moisture under better control.

If you're not sure which to buy, start with 69. You can always adjust later once you know how your humidor behaves in your environment.

When to Choose Boveda 72

Boveda 72 makes the most sense in two situations:

1. You smoke a lot of maduros. Maduro wrappers are dark, oily, and slow-fermented. Many smokers feel they perform better at slightly higher humidity — the oils stay supple and the smoke is richer. A 69-pack humidor can feel slightly too dry for these cigars over time.

2. You live in a very dry climate. If you're in a high-altitude or arid region (think desert Southwest, parts of the Mountain West, or high elevation in general), your humidor loses moisture to the environment faster. A 72-pack gives you a buffer so cigars don't drift below the comfortable zone between pack changes.

Outside those two situations, 72 adds more risk (mold, tight draw) than it adds benefit.

What About Boveda 65?

Boveda also makes a 65% pack, which sits below both options. Some experienced smokers prefer 65 because it mimics the conditions in many traditional Cuban storage rooms and produces a slightly firmer, cooler smoke. It's also the safest choice if your humidor gets warm or if mold has been an issue before.

65 is worth considering if you smoke Connecticuts or mild-bodied cigars and want an easy draw, but it can make fuller, oilier cigars feel under-humidified.

Why You Should Never Mix RH Levels

This is one of the most common beginner mistakes: buying a 69 pack and a 72 pack and tossing both into the same humidor. Don't do it.

When two packs with different targets share the same space, they work against each other. The 72 pushes moisture up; the 69 pulls it back down. Neither achieves its intended target, and the resulting RH swings around unpredictably. Your cigars end up in no-man's-land.

If you have multiple humidors, you can run different RH levels in each one — just keep each unit consistent.

See the guide on how many Boveda packs you need to make sure you have enough packs to stabilize each humidor properly.

How to Decide for Your Setup

Run through these quick questions:

• What wrappers do you mostly smoke? Maduros → lean toward 72. Everything else → 69.
• Where do you live? Humid climate → 69. Arid or high altitude → 72 might help.
• Have you had mold before? If yes, drop to 65 or 69 and address airflow in your humidor.
• Are your cigars drawing too tight? That's a sign of too much humidity — drop down a level.

You can also use the Boveda pack calculator to size up your pack count once you've settled on the right RH level.

If you track your cigars with the Casa DNC app, you can log the RH level you're running alongside each cigar and start to notice patterns in how your sticks smoke over time.

Recap: Boveda 69 vs 72 for Cigars

For most beginners, Boveda 69 is the safer, more versatile starting point. It works across the widest range of cigars and climates, and it gives you more protection against mold. Boveda 72 earns its place when you're primarily smoking maduros or battling a genuinely dry environment. Never run both in the same humidor, and resist the urge to chase a higher number — happy cigars care about stability, not a big RH score.