Did you get the digital yet or are you still trying to use the analog? If you are using the analog then it is not unbelievable that it is reading 85%. I would stop trying to use the analog all together. They are hardley ever right.
What is the temp. in the room ? room temp on my meter said between 65 f to 75 f. if it gets hotter than that humidity goes up. let it go for 12 to 24 hours for best results.
So reading through here.... Did you ever calibrate your hydrometer and get the accurate % for the salt test? You may need to leave your hydro out for a few hours in the open air before you salt test it if you immediately tried to calibrate it after having it in a 100% environment.
I have a bunch of advice to try to giving on the "Season your humidor on a homeless person's budget" but I don't want to start a flame war here, haha :-P
Lemme know if you want some budget advice - but if Kuzi or anyone else murders me for it - I'll blame you!
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?
The shot glass is not going to make a difference if the RH in the humi is 100%. No water will be able to evaporate from the shot glass to the air in the humi. You can take it out but will want to put it back in once the RH drops below 70%.
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.
What you did is fine but you're being impatient, a drop from 100% to 85% is pretty large over 5 hours, analogs react to changes in humidity slower than digitals, when you get a digi try it, put them both in a humi, leave for a couple of days until you see them read close to the same (assuming both are calibrated), then after the humi being closed for 12 hours or so open the lid and watch both displys, the digi will react in a matter of swconds as the humidity in the humi stablilizes to the room humidity, the analog will react more slowly, you may become bored and give up watching, as it could be several minutes before you see anything notable. That's why so many BOTL dislike the analogs, they don't fit in with the "gimme it now" philosophy of todays society, we grow impatient easily these days.
That said, you are saying wait a few days-which I shall. I was just worried about my sticks being in a plastic container for several days when I have a delicious smelling humi waiting for me. I'm a little anxious to get em in there before anything bad happens to them. The humidity in a tupperware container is so hard to control I've already noticed one or two starting to "bell out" at the clipped end of the cigar- so I want them in a humi to rest out.
It might come off as impatient bbut I bought this thing WEDNESDAY and the humidity is still very unstable. Oh well.. I'm getting a digital hygrometer on Monday so hopefully that'll work things out.
If it makes you feel any better - for the first probably 3 weeks I even owned cigars, I didn't even own a humi, let alone a working one. I just kept them all together in a old cigar box I bought from the B&M. Took me about a week and a half to get my coolidor working properly and stable enough to put my sticks in from the regular old cigar box. And I can safely say - all my sticks made it out A-ok.
I hope nothing bad happens to your sticks my friend... and if your sticks are belling out you may consider just tossing them into a cigar box without any humidification (or dryboxing) them for a day.
In my opinion, it's much easier to re-humidify a cigar by leaving it in a seasoned humi and being patient, than it is to fix a cigar with too much humidity. That's just me though. Truly - Good luck!
also keep in mind that an empty humidor is very hard to keep steady. the more cigars you have in there the easier it will be to maintain.
since cigars are hygroscopic, they can act sort of like a humidifier.
when a humi is empty, and you open it, all the humid air escapes. when you open a full humidor the humid air still escapes but the humid cigars (that lose humidity WAY slower than air) are still in there. they will help recovery time. if you have your seasoned humidor at about 60-80% but cant get it to settle (back and forth from one extreme to the other), just add your cigars. this should settle it right down.
I got 65% RH beads today so once I get my new digital hygrometer all set up I intend to use them in my humi. After I stabilize the one I have, my next project will be building a coolidor.
So I calibrated my new digital hygrometer and my old analog one. It's still in the bag I did a new salt test about 12 hours ago and I'm gonna let it sit for another 12 hours.
But the hygrometer was definately the problem.
My digi is reading 75%/75 degrees F
The analog one is reading about 83%.
Like I said, I'm going to leave them both in there for another 12 hours because there's no rush and I want to be sure but I think my humidor was fine all along. It was the hygrometer that was the problem
Comments
I have a bunch of advice to try to giving on the "Season your humidor on a homeless person's budget" but I don't want to start a flame war here, haha :-P
Lemme know if you want some budget advice - but if Kuzi or anyone else murders me for it - I'll blame you!
The shot glass is not going to make a difference if the RH in the humi is 100%. No water will be able to evaporate from the shot glass to the air in the humi. You can take it out but will want to put it back in once the RH drops below 70%.
What you did is fine but you're being impatient, a drop from 100% to 85% is pretty large over 5 hours, analogs react to changes in humidity slower than digitals, when you get a digi try it, put them both in a humi, leave for a couple of days until you see them read close to the same (assuming both are calibrated), then after the humi being closed for 12 hours or so open the lid and watch both displys, the digi will react in a matter of swconds as the humidity in the humi stablilizes to the room humidity, the analog will react more slowly, you may become bored and give up watching, as it could be several minutes before you see anything notable. That's why so many BOTL dislike the analogs, they don't fit in with the "gimme it now" philosophy of todays society, we grow impatient easily these days.
Well I googled "salt test" and I did what they said. 4-6 hours so I did 5. I wasn't being impatient I was trying to follow directions accurately.
http://cigars.about.com/od/humidors/qt/hygrometers.htm
That said, you are saying wait a few days-which I shall. I was just worried about my sticks being in a plastic container for several days when I have a delicious smelling humi waiting for me. I'm a little anxious to get em in there before anything bad happens to them. The humidity in a tupperware container is so hard to control I've already noticed one or two starting to "bell out" at the clipped end of the cigar- so I want them in a humi to rest out.
It might come off as impatient bbut I bought this thing WEDNESDAY and the humidity is still very unstable. Oh well.. I'm getting a digital hygrometer on Monday so hopefully that'll work things out.
I hope nothing bad happens to your sticks my friend... and if your sticks are belling out you may consider just tossing them into a cigar box without any humidification (or dryboxing) them for a day.
In my opinion, it's much easier to re-humidify a cigar by leaving it in a seasoned humi and being patient, than it is to fix a cigar with too much humidity. That's just me though. Truly - Good luck!
since cigars are hygroscopic, they can act sort of like a humidifier.
when a humi is empty, and you open it, all the humid air escapes.
when you open a full humidor the humid air still escapes but the humid cigars (that lose humidity WAY slower than air) are still in there. they will help recovery time. if you have your seasoned humidor at about 60-80% but cant get it to settle (back and forth from one extreme to the other), just add your cigars. this should settle it right down.
But the hygrometer was definately the problem.
My digi is reading 75%/75 degrees F
The analog one is reading about 83%.
Like I said, I'm going to leave them both in there for another 12 hours because there's no rush and I want to be sure but I think my humidor was fine all along. It was the hygrometer that was the problem