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New Humidor

AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
in Cigar 101
Hi guys,  my wife recently bought me the 100 count 5 Vegas humidor.  I put in a distilled water wet sponge. I also added the humi care rectangle humidifier along with the green foam humidifier that it came with. I hydrated everything with distilled water. Not planning on keeping foam humidifier.  Just using it to aid in the seasoning process.  I figured it is a big humidor it would need more humidification to season.  It's been 3 days.  The digital hygrometer reads 73%. The hygrometer is sitting at the base of humi.  Am I on the right track? I have 65% heartfelt beads for when it's ready to add cigars.  When do I add them? You guys were very helpful with my first humidor,  which is now filled almost to the brim. 
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Answers

  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    2 Weeks to season.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Your best bet would be to pull everything out. Put the 84% seasoning Bovedas in. Seal it for 2 weeks. Then pop your beads and hygrometer in and see what you read.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    My local B&M didn't have the seasoning kit. It would take a few days before I could get my hands on it
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would wait the couple days and do it up right. Your looking at a long term investment here. 
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • PatrickbrickPatrickbrick Posts: 7,966 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just put a couple of shot glasses withe distilled water for about 10 days, should do the trick.  What's stated above works very well too.
    "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".  Winston Churchill.
    MOW badge received.
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What pat of the country are you in? Some of these places you can just let it sit open for a week :wink:
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    I'm in NY. I always wondered if I could leave it open in humid weather. Last week, the humidity was in the high 80s. It has calmed down this week.

    I know the boveda is fool proof but because of the wait time I already started. I had the humidor 2 weeks now. My local B&M told me a few days and I waited and it didn't come. Again he told me few days. That's why i went and started. I know it's not ready now. But lets say in 10 days, how do i know it's ready. Is there a particular humidity reading i should look for? When do i remove the green foam humidifier and sponge? 
    I was planning on keeping the humicare humidifier in the humidor with boveda. I figured it'd work the same way my other humidor is working.

    My other humidor is a 50 count, glass top i got of Amazon (still a newbie, and didn't know any better). It holds the humidity pretty well at 64-65% with two boveda 65 packs. I originally had 2 drymistat tubes which i kept in there. figured it'd keep the boveda charged. It's been 3 months and running pretty well.  

    I have my extra cigars sitting in the Xikar caddy with a 62 Boveda. It's been in my truck. I hope the heat didn't affect it too much.

    Sorry for the rant, my wife don't particularly care when i talk about cigars and my friends all think it's a bad habit. Only place i can talk.  
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The green foam can be tossed now. All it tends to do is mold. As for leaving the humicare in, I wouldn't in your climate. The Bovedas will be working to remove humidity, not add it. You would probably be well served with some kitty litter (esquisicat) in there to help absorb the excess. 
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • Gray4linesGray4lines Posts: 4,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would probably just assume it's ready in that time. My final step would be to put in the beads, and take out the extra humidification (leaving in the humicare) and give it a day. If it stabilizes in the 65-70 range, fill it up!  

    If it's not seasoned enough, the humidity will drop too low and you'll know it's too early. 
    LLA - Lancero Lovers of America
  • Gray4linesGray4lines Posts: 4,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wylaff said:
    The green foam can be tossed now. All it tends to do is mold. As for leaving the humicare in, I wouldn't in your climate. The Bovedas will be working to remove humidity, not add it. You would probably be well served with some kitty litter (esquisicat) in there to help absorb the excess. 
    Absolutely, if it's too humid go with just beads.
    LLA - Lancero Lovers of America
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,898 ✭✭✭✭✭
    AaeJay said:


    Sorry for the rant, my wife don't particularly care when i talk about cigars and my friends all think it's a bad habit. Only place i can talk.  
    And that is why we're here.  Not one person here looks at you like you have lobsters coming out your ears when you describe a cigar as "delicious".
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Amos_Umwhat said:
    AaeJay said:


    Sorry for the rant, my wife don't particularly care when i talk about cigars and my friends all think it's a bad habit. Only place i can talk.  
    And that is why we're here.  Not one person here looks at you like you have lobsters coming out your ears when you describe a cigar as "delicious".
    Lobsters? I'll go get  the butter.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yummy! Lobster!
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    Thank you all for the fast replies. Yesterday morning I took out the green foam.  RH was still at 75%. I hydrated sponge with distilled water and put in the heartfelt 65% beads. This morning rh was at 78%. I took sponge and humicare humidifier. Kept beads in,  still looked white so I'm guessing it didn't absorb to much.  I'll check again tomorrow.  If RH is at 70 I'll put sticks in.  Or should I wait till it comes down to 65 first?
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would highly recommend being patient and waiting. It takes a true and solid 2 weeks to properly season a humidor and 78% is perfectly fine while it is seasoning and having the wood absorb the humidity and stabilize. The less you can play with it the better it will turn out at the moment, I know it is hard to do but that will treat you the best if you can be patient and wait it out ;)

    Brett
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    And don't put the beads in yet, they will be sucking up the moisture that the cedar needs.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    It was too late by the time i saw posts saying to hold off on beads. Its been in there since Thursday morning.  I didnt want to open it until tomorrow to see what rh is.
    I'm  trying my best to be patient. The problem is, until this humidor is ready I can't buy any more cigars. My wife made me promise I won't get addicted :smiley: If she seems me storing cigars in zip lock bags and Tupperware she'll think I lost my mind. 

    BTW for future reference, my attic is usually very hot and humid in the summer. Can I get a humidor and just leave it open up there for 2 weeks. Will that in theory season it?
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,369 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Interesting idea. As long as there is no cigars in it, I would try it and see what happens. Just make sure no dust or bugs get in.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • Usaf06Usaf06 Posts: 11,383 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just don't put any 5 Vegas gold cigars in there you will be just fine
    "I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form."
    -- Winston Churchill

    "LET'S GO FRANCIS"     Peter

  • RolanddeschainRolanddeschain Posts: 898 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Usaf06 said:
    Just don't put any 5 Vegas gold cigars in there you will be just fine
    Or Gurkha.........just sayin.

    Long days and pleasant nights,

    Roland
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,898 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Any mold spores in your attic?
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    My attic is completely finished. It's more like a third story. It's a walk up and i'm able to stand up in it. Its a closet for all our clothes. Dust is very minimal. 
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,898 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Y'know, it might work. 

    But, patience will work.  How long are you planning to use this humidor?  Look at the set-up time as a ratio. 

    I once answered a question with "but that will take years", to which the person I was talking with responded "Are you planning to be alive, in 'years'?"

    Think about it.
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • AaeJayAaeJay Posts: 23 ✭✭
    So just an update, my humidor was still sitting at 70 on Sunday with just to the beads. I threw in my cigars from my old humidor. About 30-40. This morning humidor was at 65 at bottom and 67 at top. Ordered some Trinidads and Rocky Patels, waiting for it to come. Thanks to everyone for helping  me  with great advices
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Congrats and enjoy glad it worked out for you, patience is key here ;)

    Brett
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • Sketch6995Sketch6995 Posts: 4,495 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2016
    I used the sponge distilled water method, which put my humidity at 91%........added the crystals and it's coming down nicely.
    As I understand it, the xikar crystals will actually suck up the extra moisture.
    Or did I completely misunderstand it?
    And it's chilly this morning lol
    The higher.......the fewer.  ( Alexander Rozhenko)

     What you can't forgive......you will become.
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hey Sketch, to a degree the Xikar will absorb some extra humidity. Its good to see you using the digital hygrometer as the analog ones just flat out suck lol. As I said in another post, patience is key. It typically takes a solid 2 weeks to properly humidify a humidor and as a fellow Colorado smoker I will say that after doing this for over 10 years (12+ at this point) that most of our cigars smoke best at 62-65% humidity as the thinner and drier air can cause smoking issues if it is much higher with cigars coming apart, blowing up, getting hot and acrid etc. Lastly, when you add cigars in there the humidity will likely drop a few points anyways. When you start seeing your humidor stay around the 67% mark or so I would personally feel safe dropping sticks in there and seeing where it levels out at. Will shoot you a PM with my number in case you have any other concerns or questions.

    Brett
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • Sketch6995Sketch6995 Posts: 4,495 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Should I put a jar of those crystals on the bottom as well as the top?  It will fit 70 or so cigars in it.  I noticed the humidity on the bottom always reads a point lower than the top.
    The higher.......the fewer.  ( Alexander Rozhenko)

     What you can't forgive......you will become.
  • Lee.mcglynnLee.mcglynn Posts: 5,960 ✭✭✭✭
    I use boveda packs since they are fool proof! In winter I add beads as well but IMO xikar jelly really only releases moisture unless they are a tad dry. I agree with @90+_Irishman that 65-62 is the better rh to go for. If you have any doubts check the mold vs plume thread...I have more plume then mold. The one wrapper you don't want too dry is the Cameroon since it is very thin. But at max I'd say 67rh. It's all trial and error but that's why we stick around here and give our advice
    Money can't buy taste
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