Humidor is too humid

Big T smokes

I bought a small 20-count Colibri humidor today and the gentleman at the cigar shop set it up for me.

He wet it with a sponge with distilled water and filled up a humidyfing device that attaches with velcro and told me to wait 4-6 hours and then fill the thing with every cigar I have.

I did... about 20 in all. But my hydrometer is reading 85-90 and I'm freakign out because I got some nice cigars for my b-day and I dont want them ruined.

Any tips on how to keep my humidor at a level that will keep my cigars safe will be appreciated.

aron325

your guy at the b&m, hate to tell you, definetly rushed you. you should be waiting anywhere between 1-7 days before the humi is ready. you need to properly season it and not rush it. a possible reason your hygro reads 85-90% is because when you put ur sticks in, it was like put 100% humidity into a 0% humidity place. it will read the air first. get your sticks out of there and put them in tupperware right now with your humidification device. if you dont every single one of your sticks may be ruined. search seasoning in the bar and follow very carefully. do not rush it trust me. you will regret it.

Big T smokes

ok. so I get em out and wait until my humidity drops to what? then I put em in?

See a friend bought me a huge sampler for my bday and they are really nice and I REALLY dont want to ruin my cigars.

Big T smokes

I should maybe share what he did.

He soaked the cedar really well aand sponged up the sides. Then he dumped the exess water out and told me to leave the humidor closed for 4-6 hours. I waited the full 6 and put about 15 cigars in there and my humidity readings were upwards of 85-90%.

Now I'm reading many conflicting schools of thought on how I should proceed. I see that Some people recommend wetting it for two days or so and then putting the cigars in.

Others reccomend using a sponge and setting up a shotglass and waiting upwards of a week, continuoiusly checking the shotglass and keep filling it until it stops evaporating more or less.

Any reccomendations from experienced smokers will be appreciated on how to proceed. I took out my cigars already and put them in a herfador my friend is lending me. The others I put in a tupperware container but there is fog in the container and I'm getting nervous about that. I REALLY don't want mold getting on my cigars... very nice smokes, you see.

aron325

i got a boveda seasoning kit with mine and had no problems i just dropped it in there and let it sit for a about 3 days. i then took a shot glass of DISTILLED WATER, very important you dont use tap water, and set it in there for another 2 days. mine has been at 65-70% since then. again search the forums for seasoning and listen to all the wise BOTL's. trust me you wont regret it

aron325

and also do not wet down the sides of the humi with a sponge unless you have ba11s of steel. you could very possibly warp the wood in your humi

Big T smokes

i have a humidifying pillow that came with one of the boxes of cigars... should i just let THAT sit in there in absence of a humidifying kit?

Big T smokes

I guess my main question is what is reccomended? Should I leave the humidifying device in the humidor? should I leave it closed for another few days? Should I leave it open? Are my stogies ok in a herfador for the time being? Are they better off in the tupperware?

aron325

you can use the device with your sticks until your humi is ready to go, you dont need it in your humi right now. get a shot glass of distilled water and put it in your humi with lid shut for how ever long it takes to get you hygro stabil at 65-70% after that you are good to put ur sticks in.

j0z3r

Just leave the lid closed for 2-3 days with the charged humidifier in. The idea behind seasoning your humidor is to get the wood to soak up moisture, though not too much at once. While you are seasoning, you can keep the cigars in a herfador, tupperware, ziploc bag...whatever as long as it's sealed and you have a water pillow in with the cigars.

Big T smokes

there a lil bit of fog on the inside of the tupperware... is this ok? My knowlegde of microbiology tells me that means it's a breeding ground for bacteria but I could be mistaken.

j0z3r

Try cracking the lid on one corner of the tupperware, this will help some of the humidity escape...don't leave a big gap or anything, just enough to get some air exchange.

Russ55

Might want to take all the sticks and the water pillow and swap them over to a big ziploc bag then. They may have gotten a little too humid and they're just releasing some of that moisture. Make sure it's not too hot either. Should be fine while you season the humidor. Also, look into a digital hygrometer with a temperature, and humidity readout, and then calibrate it. Assuming you haven't already.

Edit: Or just listen to Joe. It's what I'd do.

j0z3r

Russ55:

Edit: Or just listen to Joe. It's what I'd do.

What's up Russ? Think you might be able to make a Saturday herf?

Russ55

j0z3r:

Russ55:

Edit: Or just listen to Joe. It's what I'd do.

What's up Russ? Think you might be able to make a Saturday herf?

Heya. I was just about to post in there. The wife is sick with a cold/flu/hanta virus right now. She's like 2 days into it. So far I'm fine though. As of now I think I can make it as long as I don't catch it, but I don't want to commit because then it's pretty much guaranteed that I come down with it.

Big T smokes

thank you, gentleman. i will take your suggestions into consideration.

Big T smokes

OK I re-seasoned it according to a few of the more trusted sources I found. Lots of different schools of thought on this. I put the shotglass in there and I will close it for another 24 hours.

Is this actually going to make my humidity go down?


Are my cigars OK to smoke out of the bag/tupperware or do they need to be in the humidor for a few days before I smoke them bad boys?

I had a nice 5 Vegas Limitada 2010 last night and it smoked great and tasted great to me. Being it's Friday and all I'd sure liek to sit out front of my house with a Heineken and burn one.

j0z3r

Reading back on this thread, I didn't see any mention of what style hygrometer you're using. If I missed something forgive me, but are using analog or digital?

Big T smokes

I am just using the Analog hygrometer that the humidor came with. My buddy has a spare digital hygrometer I should be getting from him on Monday. I'll probably buy one from cigars.com anyway next week.

Thank you, sir, for all of yor advice and wisdom. I truly appreciate it. These cigar forums are filled with gentleman and it's not something I'm used to with forum behavior haha.

I know I ask alot of questions but I really appreciate everyone's help and advice.

kuzi16

Big T smokes:

I am just using the Analog hygrometer that the humidor came with. My buddy has a spare digital hygrometer I should be getting from him on Monday. I'll probably buy one from cigars.com anyway next week.

good... digital hygrometer is the way to go.

i read through the thread again and you keep asking over and over about how to bring the humidity down.
if you are a few days in and the humidor is above 70% i would not put cigars in there. i would let it get down to 70% on its own then add the cigars.

since you are new you would have had no way to know this but there is a product out there that will bring your RH down when it is high. however, you dont own them yet. this product is humidity beads from Heartfelt industries
when you click on that link you will see a list of products on the left hand side of the screen.


when i buy a humidor to season this is the process i use:
1) buy humidity beads and build a box for them
2) buy humidor
3) buy digital hygrometer and calibrate it
4)check the seal of the humidor ( i like the flashlight test )
5) place beads in homemade box (as they came in) into humidor
6) place low flat dish of distilled water in humidor
7) add hygrometer
8) close lid

every day or so check to see what the RH is. one the RH is 5 points higher than what you want, take out the dish of water. add your cigars in. the beads should take care of the rest of the ambient RH. for the first few days or so keep an eye on the RH and if it gets low charge your beads with distilled water only. you may have to do this often for while everything settles down. you should be all good from that point.

j0z3r

We try to help each other out if possible, at some point we were all "that guy" asking questions and such...it comes with the territory. Stick around and I guarantee you'll learn a thing or twenty pretty quick.

Ok, so back to your humidor. Analog hygrometers are notoriously untrustworthy, they can tend to stick, be way off, or just plain inaccurate, so don't trust what it is saying. As far as seasoning your humidor, this is a step you really don't want to rush through, and I'd suggest giving it at least an additional 48 hours with humidifier and shotglass, you want that wood to soak up as much moisture as it wants and that will keep it from leeching the moisture from your cigars.

I understand that you don't want to mess up your cigars, but let me tell you that cigars are more forgiving than they're given credit for. As long as you keep them in a sealed container, such as the tupperware you're using, they will be fine on their own for a couple days, anything more than 1-2 days and they'll need a water pillow to keep humidified. Basically the main thing is to not leave them exposed, that is what will ruin the cigars, not a slightly low/high RH.

I hope that clears things up a bit for you, and if you've got any more questions I'll do my best to help you through. Oh yeah, about smoking one tonight...you ought to be fine just pulling one out of the tupperware, they haven't been in long enough to matter much. Enjoy.

Big T smokes

OK So I got the humidifier and the shot glass rockin in the humidor. The humidity is reading WAY high but that is to be expected. From what I am gathering, I should let that go for another couple of days and the humidity shoudl come down once the wood soakes up the needed moisture.

Once I get my digital hygrometer on Monday I'll be able to calibrate it and put it in the humidor and (hopefully) the humidity will be down a ways.

I assume thats how all of this will work. Am I right?

MrMoke

aron325:

and also do not wet down the sides of the humi with a sponge unless you have ba11s of steel. you could very possibly warp the wood in your humi

Mine are made of Titanium!!!

Seriously, I have setup 5 humis so far without any warping. The secret is to make a distinction between a "wipe down" and a "wetting".

I got a foot locker (400 count) on Tuesday, I wiped it down, and placed 2 gel jars, a small dish pf distilled water and a hygro in it, closed it and left it till last night.

When I wiped it down the 'wet' from the sponge had pretty much evaporated or been absorbed where I started by the time I had finished, this is the difference between a wipe and a wetting if you can't tell the difference you are better off going the shot glass no wipe route.

The shot glass routine does work! it just takes longer

Having said all of that the time difference with a smaller humi would be less pronounced.

My humi was reading 73%RH last night so I felt safe loading it with boxes (that's what I bought it for, I'm waiting till I am sure it is stable before loading loose cigars. This morning it read 71%RH, which I expected the 'dryer' boxes to absorb some, I've been keeping the boxes in ziplock bags with humi pillows for a few weeks, they don't keep it at a nice 70%RH for aging but do stop them drying out

Pull your sticks and leave it with the lid open for a few hours, overnight if necessary, close the lid, with the shot glass and hygro in there and see what it's like after 6 hours, if it shoots up again, open the lid again, try to get it down to low 70s, high 60s over a 12 hour period before you consider loading it

Remember that it will probably drop once you load up so i prefer to go on the high side

Big T smokes

OK... I opened up the humi after it getting a 100% reading (lol... cant wait for my digital hygrometer on Monday)

I'm going to leave it open while my lady and I go out to movies and dinner. Once I get back I'm gonna wanna burn one of my sticks anyway so I shall check on the humidor.

After that part is where I guess I'm getting confused. If I am reading my facts correctly I am to put the shotglass back in, close the humidor, and it should go to about 70% give or take by the morning?

cabinetmaker

MrMoke:

aron325:

and also do not wet down the sides of the humi with a sponge unless you have ba11s of steel. you could very possibly warp the wood in your humi

Mine are made of Titanium!!!

Seriously, I have setup 5 humis so far without any warping. The secret is to make a distinction between a "wipe down" and a "wetting".

I got a foot locker (400 count) on Tuesday, I wiped it down, and placed 2 gel jars, a small dish pf distilled water and a hygro in it, closed it and left it till last night.

When I wiped it down the 'wet' from the sponge had pretty much evaporated or been absorbed where I started by the time I had finished, this is the difference between a wipe and a wetting if you can't tell the difference you are better off going the shot glass no wipe route.

The shot glass routine does work! it just takes longer

Having said all of that the time difference with a smaller humi would be less pronounced.

My humi was reading 73%RH last night so I felt safe loading it with boxes (that's what I bought it for, I'm waiting till I am sure it is stable before loading loose cigars. This morning it read 71%RH, which I expected the 'dryer' boxes to absorb some, I've been keeping the boxes in ziplock bags with humi pillows for a few weeks, they don't keep it at a nice 70%RH for aging but do stop them drying out

Pull your sticks and leave it with the lid open for a few hours, overnight if necessary, close the lid, with the shot glass and hygro in there and see what it's like after 6 hours, if it shoots up again, open the lid again, try to get it down to low 70s, high 60s over a 12 hour period before you consider loading it

Remember that it will probably drop once you load up so i prefer to go on the high side

I sprayed the inside of cabinet humi with water until it puddled, waited for it to dry up and did it again.. Huge balls...

MrMoke

Big T smokes:

OK... I opened up the humi after it getting a 100% reading (lol... cant wait for my digital hygrometer on Monday) I'm going to leave it open while my lady and I go out to movies and dinner. Once I get back I'm gonna wanna burn one of my sticks anyway so I shall check on the humidor. After that part is where I guess I'm getting confused. If I am reading my facts correctly I am to put the shotglass back in, close the humidor, and it should go to about 70% give or take by the morning?

That depends on how much your guy at the B&M over saturated it, it might take longer, but leave the shot glass in it anyway, the high humidy will **** thee evaporation from the dish

Suggestion
You need two shot glasses, fill first one with distilled water place in humi, leave there, whether lid is open or closed. Second glass, fill with tequila, drink, repeat last two steps till you are no longer worrying needlessly about your humi!!!

In other words chill and let it takes it's time!!

from what you told us I would expect to wait 48 hours at least for the humi to dry out, in the meantime your sticks will by fine in a tupperdore with a humi pillow.

Big T smokes

haha I aint worrying about it anymore then. A friend got me some nice cigars so I don't want them ruined. If you read enough of some of these forums people will have you panicing over what they decide is a "ruined" cigar.

You guys have chilled me out a bit. I'm looking forward to getting my smokes in the humi. I think, tonight, I'll have to take one out of the tupperware and get smokin.

Big T smokes

OK... so I left the humi lid open for about 5 hours last night. With the shotglass in. Then I wanted to close it overnight.

Now the hygrometer shot back up to 100% RH.... I'm thinking of keepin the lid closed before I go to work and taking the shot glass out. what do you guys think?

bsjones7

If it were me I'd leave the lid open probably over night. Keep my cigars in Tupperware. Allow that thing to dry out. However I wouldn't start the process over until I got a digital hygrometer. Analog sucks 99.7% of the time.

fla-gypsy

Down here this time of year humidity can go crazy. I have had some big up swings with my 125 ct too. I usually remove the humidifier when it climbs to crazy numbers.

Big T smokes

I just did the salt test at 7 AM. It is now 2 PM and my hygrometer is reading 85%. Is this possible???

Here's how I did my salt test:

1) I got a bottled Soda Cap filled with salt.
2) A few drops of water to get it the consistancy of wet sand
3) Put the cap and the hygrometer into a ziplock bag at 7AM.