Another humidor thread - Need to re-season periodically?

jadelt

OK we need another one. I have a few humidors. I like to use the small 20-30 count ones with the nice magnetic latch for special sticks that have been aged and are ready to smoke. I have several of these small humidors along with a big one for long term storage. Anyway, I am going to send a small one to my son with some sticks so I transferred the contents to a different humidor. This humidor has been in service a long time and held humidity well with the use of beads.

So just for grins I emptied it and put a digital hygrometer in to see what the humidity is empty. Turns out it is very low, like 50%. So my question is, do humidors need to be 're-seasoned' periodically, or do they just work fine when full of sticks and beads?

I put a small container of DW in to help it absorb some more moisture into the cedar. I will watch the humi over the next day or so.

Cigary

Humidors do need to be seasoned,,,,either passively or with a lightly damnpened sponge...keyword being "lightly" seasoned. As long as you are using a good type of RH media you should be fine. Any humidor needs to have at least 3/4 of the unit be filled with cigars to keep the environment stable...half filled usually means your RH will rise and fall esp. if you are in and out of it.

ehehat

Seasoning is, I think, obvious (especially if you spend any time on these boards) but I didnt know about needing to re-season. I would have thought that if you maintain your humidor at your desired level and you're misting your humidity source (whatever that is) when the RH starts to drop, your cedar would automatically absorb moisture as it goes along. Is that not true?

Cigary

It is true and most well made humidors will not require more than one seasoning....I made the mistake of buying a few cheap humis and it sucked up RH like a fish. When you start having issues with your humidor where it is constantly losing RH then check everything before reseasoning....check your hygro first...check your media and lastly reseason your humidor. Ensure that you keep at least 3/4 of your humidor filled as that helps to regulate humidity as well. There is always the dollar bill test/light test but I wouldn't think this is an issue esp. if you didn't have problems before.

LiquidChaos66

Cigary:

It is true and most well made humidors will not require more than one seasoning....I made the mistake of buying a few cheap humis and it sucked up RH like a fish. When you start having issues with your humidor where it is constantly losing RH then check everything before reseasoning....check your hygro first...check your media and lastly reseason your humidor. Ensure that you keep at least 3/4 of your humidor filled as that helps to regulate humidity as well. There is always the dollar bill test/light test but I wouldn't think this is an issue esp. if you didn't have problems before.

I looked on YouTube for the dollar bill and light tests... Couldn't find anything. How do those work?

Cigary

LiquidChaos66:

Cigary:

It is true and most well made humidors will not require more than one seasoning....I made the mistake of buying a few cheap humis and it sucked up RH like a fish. When you start having issues with your humidor where it is constantly losing RH then check everything before reseasoning....check your hygro first...check your media and lastly reseason your humidor. Ensure that you keep at least 3/4 of your humidor filled as that helps to regulate humidity as well. There is always the dollar bill test/light test but I wouldn't think this is an issue esp. if you didn't have problems before.

I looked on YouTube for the dollar bill and light tests... Couldn't find anything. How do those work?

Dollar Bill Test.....close the top of your humidor over a dollar bill and pull the bill out...it should not pull out easily...you want it to have some resistance as that will tell you if the seal around the top is good enough so that means you need to do it on at least 3 sides. Light Test....put a small light source inside your humidor...put it in a dark closet and turn the lights off...if you see light coming out of the humidor you will know you have a problem. You want a good seal from your humidor top so relative humidity isn't escaping which is where a lot of problems come from.

Rhamlin

Cigary:

LiquidChaos66:

Cigary:

It is true and most well made humidors will not require more than one seasoning....I made the mistake of buying a few cheap humis and it sucked up RH like a fish. When you start having issues with your humidor where it is constantly losing RH then check everything before reseasoning....check your hygro first...check your media and lastly reseason your humidor. Ensure that you keep at least 3/4 of your humidor filled as that helps to regulate humidity as well. There is always the dollar bill test/light test but I wouldn't think this is an issue esp. if you didn't have problems before.

I looked on YouTube for the dollar bill and light tests... Couldn't find anything. How do those work?

Dollar Bill Test.....close the top of your humidor over a dollar bill and pull the bill out...it should not pull out easily...you want it to have some resistance as that will tell you if the seal around the top is good enough so that means you need to do it on at least 3 sides. Light Test....put a small light source inside your humidor...put it in a dark closet and turn the lights off...if you see light coming out of the humidor you will know you have a problem. You want a good seal from your humidor top so relative humidity isn't escaping which is where a lot of problems come from.

on the dollar bill test. You want to do it on all for sides of the humi. Assuming yours has a lift top.

scarlin

You should only have to season your humidor after it has been dried out (whether it be a new purchase or sitting open and idle with no humidification). You shouldn't have to do it if you have a constant humidity in there when you are storing your sticks.