Humidor Seasoning help/guidence
As you guys know, I just got my humidor in. I am seasoning it as we speak. I have calibrated the hydrometer and placed the sponge with distilled water (on a plate) inside.
Well it keeps reading about 82% humidity, so I put the 65% dry heartfelt beads in there after 24 hours. (according to the sesoning guide I am going by) I let it air out a bit and it dropped to about 73%. This was about 8pm last night.
This morning, right before I left, around 8 am, it was reading again at 82%. So I took the plate and sponge out, wet the beads with distilled water now.
Is this normal and am I on the right track?
I'm really thinkin this 100 count is too big for me. I told my wife (who was opposed to this before) last night and she said..."WHY?" Sometimes, I just dont know if its a good thing or bad thing...lol.
Well it keeps reading about 82% humidity, so I put the 65% dry heartfelt beads in there after 24 hours. (according to the sesoning guide I am going by) I let it air out a bit and it dropped to about 73%. This was about 8pm last night.
This morning, right before I left, around 8 am, it was reading again at 82%. So I took the plate and sponge out, wet the beads with distilled water now.
Is this normal and am I on the right track?
I'm really thinkin this 100 count is too big for me. I told my wife (who was opposed to this before) last night and she said..."WHY?" Sometimes, I just dont know if its a good thing or bad thing...lol.
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And no, your humidor is not too large - start saving for a 300-count
How thick is the wood in your humidor? 1/2"? 5/8"? And it's kiln dried to probably 20% humidity or so. Your hygro is reading moisture out of the air and that moist air is slow to penetrate into the wood. Just because it says 82% for a day or two doesn't mean that all the wood in your humidor for it's entire thickness is at that moisture level or anywhere near it.
It takes a long time to get your humi fully and completely humidified to the point where you are just maintaining the humidity. In the meantime you'll need to keep a close eye on the hygro and keep making adjustments until it finally settles which, for me, usually takes several weeks.
So I am doing this right then? When should I put my cigars in there, after it reads closer to 65% humidity right? Which should be another day I'm guessing.
About the RH swings...I counted my sticks last night and I have a grand total of....drumroll please........23 sticks. What should/will my RH be around when I put them in so I'm not giong crazy with all the number changes?
Thanks bro, you have been very quick to answer a lot of my noob questions.
Humidor is 5/8" thick. Patience is the key I guess here.
But I should not put any sticks in until its closer to what my bead % are right, which is 65%, and it should read that for at least a day on a consistent basis right. Then I know it will move a bit since I am adding some sticks in there and it will settle in right?
Oh, so I should have taken the distilled sponge out right and just left the beads in?
Also, when to put them in is a bit of a judgment call, since you don't know exactly what the wood's absorption is; I like to put mine in when the humidity is around 70% or higher with my beads in there, but then again, I probably jump the gun by a day or two.
As for what to expect with a less than half the humi filled, that depends on the humi. If it's one of WaxingMoons, the RH isn't gonna budge if you have 1 or 100 cigars in there due to the tight seal his humi's have on them; if it's a store-bought humidor, my experience has been that the RH can jump up and down 5-10% from one day to the next (but then again, the humidity in my room varies a lot, so your mileage may vary).
You gotta remember that the spanish cedar and the cigars are the primary humidifiers - the beads are only a back-up secondary humidification. If the wood isn't fully seasoned or there's not enough cigars, then the RH isn't being maintained as much as it would be with a full humi.
Lastly, I gotta disagree a bit with bigharpoon - I only disagree with it taking several weeks (several days IMO is about right); other than that, he's correct - it takes time for the humidity to penetrate the wood. My experience is it takes anywhere from 3 days to a week.
I wish it was a Waxingmoon humi, but its a store/online bought humi. Its the 100 ct, 5 Vegas one with tray.
I get what you are saying. So when I get home tonight after work, I will see what the % is at and go from there.
Large 65% Rh (BLUE Cap) Heartfelt Humidity Tube
The new tube allows for much better transfer of humidity to your cigars. We now offer a Large Humi-Tube of Heartfelt Beads. This tube will control the humidity in a humidor up to 1080 cubic inches.
I checked this morning and these are the readings, it has beads inside and a shot of distilled water...
71 temp and 73% humidity on the digital but on the analog one, its shows 70% ...
The beads are 65%..
still ok or do I need to be doing somthing different?
I have digital and analog hygrometers and they can differ by up to a few percent. As long as both have been calibrated and they're reading within a few percent of each other I just take the average of the two.
I'm not familiar with using beads but if your beads are charged you could probably take out the shotglass and see how your humi holds humidity at this point. If after ~24hours with just beads in there your getting 65%+ then you should be good.
Thank you for the info.
I think I opened the box too many times, once at 8am then at 8pm when I had the sponge in there. The humidity on my hydrometer kept reading around 77%.
So should I just put a sponge (soaked in distilled water on a small plate) in the humidor and just leave it alone for 2-3 days and dont even open it?
Do I leave the tray inside as well that the humidor came with or leave the tray out?
My readings on the digital hydrometer was 71 and 88%, I let it air out a bit and I put some heartfelt beads in tubes in (dry). So when I closed it, it read 71 and 81%.
So when I go home tonight around 8pm, am I suppose to open it again and check the % and if the rh has dropped in the 70s, I should just take out the sponge and leave the beads in? Do I have to spray some more distilled water on the beads though?
It read 73 and 91% !!! I was shocked to see. So I took out the sponge and left the beads in there after spraying them with distilled water. Should I keep a shot glass of distilled water in the humidor along with it? how long should this take for it to go down to about 70%?
There is nothing giong on in the humi right, like when I open it, steam comes out, or has a certain smell...its just a box and the temp on the hydrometer needs to read around 65%-70% right?