Humidor/Humidifier Question

phobicsquirrel

Recently my humidor was broken due to my wife dropping it while she was dusting.. long story.. but now I can get a new one! lol. I'm thinking of getting a 250-300 ct. The one that I had, had only one level that held 50 cigars but the one I'm looking at has two trays. Where is the best place to keep the Humidifier, in the bottom or the top? The humidor comes with a tray that holds two round Humidifiers and a hygrometer. Would it be better to get the beaded tubed Humidifiers and put one in the bottom and top tray?

Also the humidor I'm looking at is at cigar.com and wondered if anyone had ordered one through them? I had a bad experiance ordering a humidor through a online store, the thing did not keep a good seal. Does cigar.com check their humidors?

Thanks for any advice you all have, and it's great to be here!

kuzi16

i keep a few beads on the top tray and a few beads on the bottem tray. since humidity is heavy, when i charge them i only charge the top beads. I usually over charge em a bit. its worked well for me so far.

phobicsquirrel

Thanks Kuzi.
So basically keeping some at every level of a humidor is a good idea? I found this  Bad Boy which is probably what I'm going to get; so would everything be good if only the bottom and middle shelf has a Humidifier? or would I need to put some in the top section as well?

zoom6zoom

I think it's probably a pretty safe bet that many of us here use and recommend the beads. It's really easy to stick them in several places in your humidifier. They work so much better than the stupid sponges.

kuzi16

thats a good lookin humi. its large enough that i would get an oasis for that thing though. for me the make or break point for an oasis is 300 - 350. any bigger and an oasis may be the best way to go. just use a smaller amount of beads to soak up extra humidity if needed.

phobicsquirrel

Thanks for the info guys. Looking at oasis's site it seems I would need a Cigar Oasis XL Plus for this humidor. The only thing is the power cord has me worried as the back is all solid. This does seem tempting.

j0z3r

The Oasis XL Plus comes with a thin ribbon cable that should be able to squeeze right under the front of the door and run underneath it with a minimum of exposed cord and no appreciable loss in humidity.

phobicsquirrel

Well That is good to know, thanks. Just about how often does the oasis need to have the cartridge replaced?

rusirius

I know many replace the cartridge every time it's empty... How often that is really depends on the ambiant humidity, seal of the humi, how often you get in it, etc...

However, I've also heard it suggested to refill the cartridge up to about 4 times and replace it the 5th...

j0z3r

I don't see any reason why you couldn't refill the cartridge pretty much indefinitely as long as only distilled water is used. I mean, it is a pretty well sealed unit, so I don't think there would be too much of a potential mold issue. I can't say that with 100% certainty, as I've only had my Oasis a couple months now.

urbino

As I recall, the manual (or maybe it's their website) says there's no reason to replace the cartridge unless it's broken or something.

rusirius

urbino:

As I recall, the manual (or maybe it's their website) says there's no reason to replace the cartridge unless it's broken or something.

Interesting... Yeah I was just thinking about potential "eww slime" build up.. I know the new cartridges contain an algecide, but would imagine it would dillute/wear out after a few refills... Of course if you were using one of the distilled with an algecide already mixed in then yeah, I don't see any reason to ever replace it... If not, and just using distilled, I dunno...

urbino

I think -- and don't quote me on this -- the sponge is pre-treated with some kind of stufficide. I'm sure that wears off eventually, but probably not for a good long while.

phobicsquirrel

Thanks for the info fellas, I thought I read something about it lasting a year or more but from my experience specs never quite work as well as practical use would have them. But maybe in the cigar world specs are actually derived from practical use.

kuzi16

ive seen some other guys replace the entire bottom of the oasis with a custom made container that holds a polymer. you fill the polymer much the same as beads but since it soaks up the water there is no chance of spill. this polymer is not at a set RH. it just hold it. the oasis will get the water from there. when its empty, just refill. $0.89/gal. doesnt get much better than that.

dont ask me HOW they did it. I just saw pics and read a bit of the discussion. since i dont have an oasis it didnt mean much to me.

rusirius

urbino:

I think -- and don't quote me on this -- the sponge is pre-treated with some kind of stufficide. I'm sure that wears off eventually, but probably not for a good long while.

Can I get a bottle of that for here at work? There's lots of "stuff" I'd like to "cide"... LOL

urbino

You'll have to check your local hazmat regulations.