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Yet another humi question (no clue?)

undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
in Cigar 101
I have read every humidor post on here and can't find my problem, so here it is.

My humi as been around 60% most of the winter. About three weeks ago, I decided to wipe it down again (obviously distilled) and got it back to 70%. I put my sticks back in a couple days later and it almost immediately went down to 60% again. Let me also mention that I have a good seal. After a few weeks at 60% again, I decided to put all my sticks in Tupperware with my beads and water pillows and it within a day it was at 72%. I then wiped my humidor down again and put a shot glass of distilled water in it. It has been one week and my humidor is still at 60%. Again, I used the dollar bill test around every square in of the humidor and there is no leak. I am dumbfounded. At first it was no big deal, but know I'm getting a little pissed because I just had to turn down a trade because there is no way I would trade a BOTL sub par sticks. The last few sticks I've had split on me. Any help would be great.

Comments

  • mrpillowmrpillow Posts: 464
    Is your hygro calibrated? What humidification device are you using?
  • j0z3rj0z3r Posts: 9,403 ✭✭
    My guess, if your hygrometer is accurate, is that you don't have enough of whatever humidification device your using. I'd think about adding a crystal gel jar or two as a booster to help keep your humidity up.
  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402 ✭
    The problem isn't your humidor, so there's no need to wipe it down . . . ever. Sounds like a very simple problem - it's winter. In winter, the RH in the room plummets, which means your humidification device needs to work even harder to compensate (unless your seal can rip the dollar bill in half, your seal isn't tight enough to keep the humidity in). The fix that most of us have arrived at is to simply add some more beads, or whatever humidification device you use, in order to compensate for the increased loss of humidity.

    EDIT: If you can't get more humidification, just put your cigars in a tupperware container with the humidification device - the seal in a tupperware is tight enough to prevent any air or humidity loss . . . the downside is that the tupperware doesn't allow air exchange, so you'll have to open the tupperware every few weeks to allow the exchange of fresh air.

  • undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
    I have both an analog and digital.
  • jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    xmacro:
    The problem isn't your humidor, so there's no need to wipe it down . . . ever. Sounds like a very simple problem - it's winter. In winter, the RH in the room plummets, which means your humidification device needs to work even harder to compensate (unless your seal can rip the dollar bill in half, your seal isn't tight enough to keep the humidity in). The fix that most of us have arrived at is to simply add some more beads, or whatever humidification device you use, in order to compensate for the increased loss of humidity.

    EDIT: If you can't get more humidification, just put your cigars in a tupperware container with the humidification device - the seal in a tupperware is tight enough to prevent any air or humidity loss . . . the downside is that the tupperware doesn't allow air exchange, so you'll have to open the tupperware every few weeks to allow the exchange of fresh air.



    You also need to be mindful of where your humi is placed....is it near where a furnace duct is blowing on it? Excess heat can also affect humidity, I'm told.

    Marty

  • undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
    Just ordered another pound of beads. Thanks for all the info guys. Sorry to put everyone through this again.
  • lilwing88lilwing88 Posts: 2,812 ✭✭✭
    I put a humidifier in the room where I keep my humi...... That really helped when I had the heat cranked during the really cold weeks. Where do you keep your humi? Up high? Or down low? I keep mine high up on an armoire. Humidity rises.
    Guns don't kill people, Daddies with pretty daughters do…..
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    if your cigars have been at 60% Rh all winter and you take em all out and get the humidor back to 70% then add the cigars back, because they are hygroscopic, the cigars will suck up all that moisture and bring the humidor down.
    i find myself recharging my beads every few days in the winter. in the summer i only recharge maybe once. next winter, be more aggressive with the humidification. i agree with the above comment about not wiping down the humidor... adding too much moisture too fast can warp or crack.
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • undulacundulac Posts: 1,129 ✭
    kuzi16:
    if your cigars have been at 60% Rh all winter and you take em all out and get the humidor back to 70% then add the cigars back, because they are hygroscopic, the cigars will suck up all that moisture and bring the humidor down.
    i find myself recharging my beads every few days in the winter. in the summer i only recharge maybe once. next winter, be more aggressive with the humidification. i agree with the above comment about not wiping down the humidor... adding too much moisture too fast can warp or crack.
    Thanks guys. I'm taking everyones advise here. Kuzi, I'll have to get in contact with you some time over the summer. I know my wife has a couple more business trips coming and and I'll get a sitter so we can get NE Ohio Herf going. I know you had one last year but I couldn't make it. I'll see what I can do this year and get you the dates.
  • laker1963laker1963 Posts: 5,046
    undulac:
    kuzi16:
    if your cigars have been at 60% Rh all winter and you take em all out and get the humidor back to 70% then add the cigars back, because they are hygroscopic, the cigars will suck up all that moisture and bring the humidor down.
    i find myself recharging my beads every few days in the winter. in the summer i only recharge maybe once. next winter, be more aggressive with the humidification. i agree with the above comment about not wiping down the humidor... adding too much moisture too fast can warp or crack.
    Thanks guys. I'm taking everyones advise here. Kuzi, I'll have to get in contact with you some time over the summer. I know my wife has a couple more business trips coming and and I'll get a sitter so we can get NE Ohio Herf going. I know you had one last year but I couldn't make it. I'll see what I can do this year and get you the dates.
    Here on the coast it doesn't get dry during the winter months, usually. The last few years tho it has been different thru the winter and we haven't had as much rain. With the humidity bouncing around a lot, it can be difficult to maintain the RH.

    In my coolerdor, I have two pounds of beads and like Kuzi mentioned they sometimes require maintenance every few days. I purchased a bottle of Distilled water for this purpose. I decided to try an experiment. I placed the bottle inside the coolerdor, I placed it into a corner and have it wedged there against some boxes. I took the lid off the bottle and just left it in the coolerdor.

    Now when I open the humi the range of RH has gone from bouncing up and down to being stable within 3% which is also pretty much the range of the beads. So now when I open the coolerdor, if the reading is at 67% or higher I just screw the lid back onto the bottle. in a couple of days it will drop to around 64% and I just remove the bottle cap again. This has been working great for me this winter, with a LOT less maintenance time. I can't say it will work for everyone, as it may depend on the RH of your area, but if you are on the coast at least give it a try.
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