Ice Crytal Gel

y2pascoe

I have a 150 count humidor that I got recently as a gift that came with a couple of those rectangular humidifier blocks. I would prefer not to keep those in there because I read they get moldy real easily. So, I replaced them with a 4oz jar of Ice Crystals to maintain humidity, but I notice that when I just have the ice gel in there, the humidity starts to dip. To compensate I put one of those blocks back in the humi on the bottom shelf. Should I put another jar of Ice in there? I don't want to over-humidify, but I don't want to keep the sponge in there either.

blurr

I've been having issues with the crystal gel jars myself so I don't like using them anymore. In the winter, like now I can't get my humidity up above 60, they just can't keep up. Plus they only last like a year, for the price its just not worth it to me, but they may work well for you. I started supplementing my crystal jars with the brick humidifier, but I would only use those if you are using a propylene glycol/distilled water 50/50 mix which you can purchase here. The reason I use that is it stays better at 70 percent, & I believe it has a mold fighting/preventing aspect to it. Overall I'm moving more toward using the conservagel beads now so you may want to look into those or heartfelt beads. See what everyone else says but thats my opinion and what I do for best humidity control now.

Diamondog

Here's your friend, beads, beads, beads....

http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-CONSERVAGEL
http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/categories.asp?cat=Humidity+Beads

Different companies, same results

mfotis

I believe the 4oz jar is only supposed to support 75 cigars. Might have to get the 10 oz jar. With that being said I second DD on the beads idea, it’s the only way to go and they're pretty cheap comparatively.

y2pascoe

Probably worth adding, while it is a 150 count humidor, I only have about 30 cigars in it currently. Not sure if how much gel I would need is based on the size of the humidor or the number of cigars in it.

mfotis

Not to insult your intelligence by no means but did you season the humi before use? And does it have a good seal?

y2pascoe

My girlfriend seasoned it prior to giving it to me on Christmas, and it would appear to have passed the "dollar bill" test. It's holding at 66% RH right now. Going to leave it alone till the weekend to see if kicks up to 70%, if not I'll go a different route. To my own discredit, I've been openning and closing it a lot to show off to people. May be the problem.

gmill880

Boveda Packs. Drop them in and forget about them. Work perfect ... idiot proof ( not calling you an idiot ) haha . They are the most consistant thing I have ever found .

bandyt09

y2pascoe:

My girlfriend seasoned it prior to giving it to me on Christmas, and it would appear to have passed the "dollar bill" test. It's holding at 66% RH right now. Going to leave it alone till the weekend to see if kicks up to 70%, if not I'll go a different route. To my own discredit, I've been openning and closing it a lot to show off to people. May be the problem.

Nothing wrong with 66%.

docbp87

66% is perfect, and actually HIGHER than I usually keep my humidors, personally. If it is consistent at 66%, I would not change a thing. Other than that, there are two options for headache free humidification, and they have both been mentioned... Beads, and Boveda. Beads are a larger initial investment, but Boveda is more expensive over time, as the packs need replacing more often than beads. Both of them work in such a way that you can use more than is necessary, and it will only serve to more solidly stabilize, rather than cause problems. In other words, if the size of your humidor calls for 1/4 lb. of beads, using 1/2 lb. isn't going to hurt anything, and will actually just help better maintain your RH% when opening and closing it.