Question: Should my cigar be exposed to as much air as possible? Is storage on shelves that are open at the bottom necessary / reasonable / advantageous?

Answer: The slots of the trays should prevent waterlogging (which in normal humidification anyway does not occur.) Most customers store at least sometime complete cigar boxes in the humidor. There is no ventilation to one side.

I know that there is the advice to air cigar as much as possible. However, in our opinion, it is all about preventing moisture nests. The cigars themselves can, as in boxes, be stored with very little air. In fact, a close / rather airtight maturation of the maturation will even do well in the long term, as the major oils have less air contact. (A cellophane cigar that dries out tends to rewet much better than an open-topped cigar, even after a long dry period, that is, more than 6 months.)