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Is it the humidor?

Ok I just got into cigars. I bought the starter set here that came with a humidor the starter set IV. I have been trying to season the humidor for 3 days now by both gently wiping(pleases dont yell) with distilled water and allowing a bowl of said water to sit. The hygrometer says 60% at the end of the day, but 80ish after I give it a wipe. Is it possible that the box is that dry? I calibrated the meter using the Boveda 72% pack and a ziploc. Currently my cigars are in a ziploc with some Boveda 72%(font changed on me). any advise?
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  • Usaf06Usaf06 Posts: 11,298 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Get a digital hygrometer. Buy some 65 or 69 boveda and your good
    "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

  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    I need the higher humidity packs as I live in AZ and we dont have humidity  B). But I will be getting a digi one soon. How long can I keep the Cigars in the bag?
  • arch72arch72 Posts: 772 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2016
    The RH that is stated on the bov and they will get within 1 to 2 % of stated RH. I live on the border of AZ in Cal and I am useing 65 % bov and they work fine. I know it is dry here but when put in the humi it should keep the RH up  Remember it is a closed environment in the humi. The only thing that will stay the same from outside of the humi to the house is the temp I had a hard time getting the temperature down so I bought a Newair CC 300 it keeps the temp down to where I want it and I use 20 65 % RH Bov packs and just recharge them when needed
  • arch72arch72 Posts: 772 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2016
    Oh just remembered you should do the dollar bill test on the humi just look at you tube for it
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 27,585 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most recommend seasoning with Boveda seasoning packs for two weeks, three days and the wood is still absorbing moisture. 
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  • dirtdudedirtdude Posts: 5,823 ✭✭✭✭✭
    65/69 work great near tucson
    A little dirt never hurt
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Usaf06 said:
    Get a digital hygrometer. Buy some 65 or 69 boveda and your good
    Counting here at the office on my fingers, I have, IIRC, four digitals and five analogs. I have frequently put one of each type in the same humidor or coolidor. In my experience neither type varies but a point or two. I do not see where more money and a battery makes any substantial difference. I've had a digital go totally out of whack to where I chucked it cause it was no longer adjustable. I've had analog go all out of whack and still be easy to adjust. Plus, you don't feed your analogs any batteries.

    Thinking right now where and how they are deployed. There's an analog reading the room, one of each in the coolidor full of home rolls, a digital in Kuzi's beautiful humidor, one of each in my 100ct humi, a digital in the wrapper cooler, can't remember if there's one at all in either of the leaf coolidors, and a spare in the drying box. From time to time I shuffle them just for the flatfish. Doesn't seem to matter enough to worry.

    My prob seems to be that it frequently gets so damp here. Opposite of @ThanatosPA. Right now it's 97%, according to weather.com. You pull out a stick, it's apt to studge up half way thru. Looking forward to Winter, smoking beside the hearth, where that won't happen.

    So I'm always puzzled when you guys invariably advise digital. 
    “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)


  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    Ok so what I am seeing here is.... Be patient and wait for the humidor to season. will the cigars be ok in the bag for a bit?
  • Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,708 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm sorry for your frustration. I'm gonna take a guess here and  say Your humidor seal is probably no good. All your work in seasoning it is being lost. Think of a door without weatherstripping losing it's heat in the winter. I've said it before and I'll say it now,........ starter humidors are usually junk. I know you don't want to hear it but,..........Bust it into pieces and use those pieces to give off a nice cedar aroma inside your new tupperdor.  

    And, before I forget,........... digital. 
  • NOGILLS2NOGILLS2 Posts: 156 ✭✭✭

    Just as everyone has said, it is going to take awhile to get the humidor adjusted. First check to see that it is sealed. when dropping the top from an inch or so it should puff air out of the box, should have a tight fit. The moisture should help the wood swell some to make a better seal. I use a weather station from Lowes and placed the outside measuring unit in the humidor, place the receiver on your bookshelf and you can monitor without opening the humidor. Make sure it reads temp and humidity. you should be able to find one for $20. Cigars should be okay for a couple of weeks in zip lock type bags with Boveda packs. I purchased a 25 quart igloo and made a coolidor instead. Took a few days to get RH adjusted and was in business. Sad part is this is the hardest thing to learn and it is at the beginning of the adventure. Once this is set, just enjoy the adventure of finding that perfect cigar, I haven't found it yet, although I am having fun on the journey.              

    Welcome to the asylum!

    I am a happy man. You have made me very grateful. For this is the very first time that the Crown Jewels have ever been adequately & deliriously praised by an unprejudiced person. Still it is the cigars' own fault that this is so for it is a cigar which excites envy & jealousy in the smoker because he knows & feels the truth of which you have said; that there is no other cigar that is just like it. There are cigars which resemble it but only in appearance, not in spirit & not in the ability to dare & do. There is no other cigar that can make a person want to go away & get by himself & think this life over & wonder if it is altogether worth while. I will send you some more when you get out. Let me know. Any man of fine intelligence who is acquainted with Crown Jewels prizes them above any other gems & saves them & hoards them. I gave Harry Rogers a box two years ago & he has them yet. Let me know when you are out.
  • NOGILLS2NOGILLS2 Posts: 156 ✭✭✭

    The next hardest thing is getting new cigars and allowing them to adjust in the humidor for a couple of weeks or longer before smoking them to allow them to hydrate before smoking them. Oh yea this can be painful. I have an order coming in today or tomorrow and I am glad I have others to smoke!


    I am a happy man. You have made me very grateful. For this is the very first time that the Crown Jewels have ever been adequately & deliriously praised by an unprejudiced person. Still it is the cigars' own fault that this is so for it is a cigar which excites envy & jealousy in the smoker because he knows & feels the truth of which you have said; that there is no other cigar that is just like it. There are cigars which resemble it but only in appearance, not in spirit & not in the ability to dare & do. There is no other cigar that can make a person want to go away & get by himself & think this life over & wonder if it is altogether worth while. I will send you some more when you get out. Let me know. Any man of fine intelligence who is acquainted with Crown Jewels prizes them above any other gems & saves them & hoards them. I gave Harry Rogers a box two years ago & he has them yet. Let me know when you are out.
  • EmceeEmcee Posts: 132 ✭✭✭
    Here in Florida, we can just set 'em out in the garage for a week.  They can soak up any moisture they need in that time.
  • Diver43Diver43 Posts: 2,169 ✭✭✭✭✭
    NOGILLS2 said:

    Just as everyone has said, it is going to take awhile to get the humidor adjusted. First check to see that it is sealed. when dropping the top from an inch or so it should puff air out of the box, should have a tight fit. The moisture should help the wood swell some to make a better seal. I use a weather station from Lowes and placed the outside measuring unit in the humidor, place the receiver on your bookshelf and you can monitor without opening the humidor. Make sure it reads temp and humidity. you should be able to find one for $20. Cigars should be okay for a couple of weeks in zip lock type bags with Boveda packs. I purchased a 25 quart igloo and made a coolidor instead. Took a few days to get RH adjusted and was in business. Sad part is this is the hardest thing to learn and it is at the beginning of the adventure. Once this is set, just enjoy the adventure of finding that perfect cigar, I haven't found it yet, although I am having fun on the journey.              

    Welcome to the asylum!


    This is a for sure.

    I purchased an inexpensive humidor from a local shop and the lady told me about the sponge and wiping with distilled water every hour for days. Seemed like it worked except each time I opened the humidor the Rx dropped.  Sent for the seasoning boveda packs and just closed the lid and let it sit, and sit and sit. I so bad wanted to lift the lid and see what the Rx was but left it alone as instructed.  My humidor has been sitting right at 69% for a couple months now, just using the boveda packs on the lid.  Take your time, its difficult to not open that lid but let it sit as instructed, you wont be sorry.

    Logistics cannot win a war, but its absence or inadequacy can cause defeat. FM100-5
  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    So I did the dollar bill test and the humidor passed on all 4 sides. So I guess when the seasoning packs get here tomorrow I will throw them in and ignore it for a week.
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 27,585 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Two weeks would be better. 
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  • dirtdudedirtdude Posts: 5,823 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just takes time, maybe a little more in the desert.
    A little dirt never hurt
  • GuitardedGuitarded Posts: 4,705 ✭✭✭✭✭

    image
    Friends don't let good friends smoke cheap cigars.
  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    Ok so it has been a couple of weeks. I loaded the Humidor and it still would not hold RH. So I bought a cooler and just stuck the whole thing in there  B). I leave the Humi lid open and the thing is now holding at about 70%
  • dirtdudedirtdude Posts: 5,823 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I bet you could even close the lid in the cooler
    A little dirt never hurt
  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    yep lid on cooler is closed but the Humi is open
  • Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,708 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2016
    You ain't the first. I've had my humis in coolers for years. I waved the white flag. 
  • NOGILLS2NOGILLS2 Posts: 156 ✭✭✭
    My cigars are sitting in old cigar boxes with the tops, lids removed, just keeps everything neat and in order. It also allows me to store cigars in groups as they arrive, it helps me keep track of the cigars and dates they were put into the cooler. As of now I have two boxes with cigars. When my next orders arrive, I'll add more boxes to the cooler. Fortunately, my B&M charges $1 for boxes when I purchase random cigars with it.   
    I am a happy man. You have made me very grateful. For this is the very first time that the Crown Jewels have ever been adequately & deliriously praised by an unprejudiced person. Still it is the cigars' own fault that this is so for it is a cigar which excites envy & jealousy in the smoker because he knows & feels the truth of which you have said; that there is no other cigar that is just like it. There are cigars which resemble it but only in appearance, not in spirit & not in the ability to dare & do. There is no other cigar that can make a person want to go away & get by himself & think this life over & wonder if it is altogether worth while. I will send you some more when you get out. Let me know. Any man of fine intelligence who is acquainted with Crown Jewels prizes them above any other gems & saves them & hoards them. I gave Harry Rogers a box two years ago & he has them yet. Let me know when you are out.
  • GoCardsGoCards Posts: 146 ✭✭✭
    I've been trying to run a cooler for aging and a 100 ct humidor for smoking, holding the cooler at 69 and the humidor at 65.  With the weather change the humidor dropped from 65 to 60, and is holding 61 even though I have switched in 4 72 Bovedas.

    For those with coolers - does it bother you that you are opening that cooler and letting the humidity out every time you want a cigar?  I thought you didn't want to open an aging box very often.
  • ThanatosPaThanatosPa Posts: 14
    I would think that you would run 2 coolers 1 for aging one for smoking. My cooler recovers humidity very fast and I only open it once in a while.
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 27,585 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Only 2 coolers?  Newb.  :D
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