Boveda recharge

CalvinAndHobo

Am I doing this right? based on some of the old threads I searched through it seems like I am but I just want to make sure, I've never tried it before. It should take about a week right?

CharlieHeis

That will work. I have a bunch in a tupperware container with a bowl of water in the center right now. Some guys just put them right in the water. I don't think it matters too much.
If you don't wait until they are hard, the recharge won't take too long. I swap mine out as soon as the corners get a little crunchy.

CalvinAndHobo

I do have a few in there that are as hard as a brick. Will those just take longer, or not recharge at all?

CharlieHeis

They'll come back eventually, I think. 

Patrickbrick

They will come back to full, I've been there a few times.  I toss them right in distilled water in a Tupperware, been doing it for years, no problems whatsoever.  There are several other threads on here on the subject.

CalvinAndHobo

Like you submerge them? Nothing bad ever happens to them? I'd be worried about that lol 

IndustMech

I put them in a freeer bag with a new Sponge soaked in distilled water

TX98Z28

I personally throw them in a tuba ware or bag straight in distilled water. Usually dried up ones are full in 3 days. Let packs air dry then their good to go. 

CalvinAndHobo

I'm just going to let it happen via passive permeability. I don't need them right away anyway. I've also got some spanish cedar pen blanks that I'm soaking to add to my coolerdor just to give it that smell. 

Yakster

If you forget them in the distilled water, they turn into balloons.

CalvinAndHobo

@Yakster
Is that just true when they're submerged or also when they're next to the water?

Yakster

I've mostly submerged them, then forgot them for a week or two.

First_Warrior

I put the dry bags in a stainless steel pot and cover the bags with bottled water and put a lid on the pot. About three days later I take the recharged bags out and lay them on paper towels so that the outside of the bags can dry. Back in the cooler then. 

jd50ae

There are many threads devoted to Bovedas. A lot come with photos.

TX98Z28

Don't forget them if using the submerged method! Damage to the membrane can occur if over charged! Has only happened though to one or two packs. I usually take a new pack and when the recharging ones feel about the same I remove them, you can weigh them also if want to be technical. 

CalvinAndHobo

Yeah I'm just doing to do it passively and take the risk away, I don't need them right away. 

TX98Z28

^Good deal, takes forever but not needing them on the fly will still achieve the same results. 

Markwell

Actually on the third and final day of recharging mine for the umpteenth time right now. All I do is dampen a few paper towels with distilled water and wrap them around each boveda. The towels should be damp but not dripping. Throw them into a ziploc this way and give them 3 days to suck up all the water.

By using this method there's no worry if you forget them because there's limited water in the towels. The towels should be dry by the end of 72 hours. 

BKDog

I use a clean mason jar about 1/2 filled with distilled water and can fit 4 of the 60 gram packs into it no problem and let it sit for a few days to a week, whatever it takes until they are full. Then, I take them out and pat them with a clean paper towel and pop them back into the humidor or an airtight zippy bag for storage. It only takes a few minutes for them to dry and look just like new.

I have been experimenting with the use of gel beads (I use JellyBeadZ Brand on Amazon) in conjunction with Boveda so I do not have to recharge them. The beads are not two way, but they release humidity at 69-70 and keep the Boveda close to topped off so far. The 69% Boveda will draw humidity in and as the beads get smaller over time and lose humidity, I can take them out and re-hydrate them with distilled water while the Boveda take over, and I've seen no issues yet. Again, I am just testing this and it works fine so far. The question I had was regarding the Boveda and hoped they would take excess moisture in and they do because they appear to be topped off or close to it after a few months. I will have to give this more time, and again it's just an experiment. I have some Heartfelt I will try at some point, too. Plenty of folks do not like to use anything else with Boveda, and I get it, I really do. Every climate zone will affect your micro RH environment differently, so what works great for you may not work as well for me, and vice versa. Keep that in mind.

Now, "WHY" I choose to experiment with this passive recharge method I mentioned above:

The Boveda packs are an excellent product, just be careful with them. If you puncture these, even tossing them around you may not be aware, just keep in mind you will want to discard them because (if they are dried out) the salt crystals may puncture the inner membrane and affect how well they work or could result in leakage after recharging in water. There's no sense in ruining your cigar collection to save a little money. Rob Gagner from Boveda is where I got this information, by the way. And of course, they recommend discarding the Boveda packs after they are dead and buying new ones. People who claim they work fine after years of using them and recharging may not know (according to Rob, again) that the salt crystals inside will fuse together when they dry out completely. When you recharge them at room temperature and pressure, the salt will become over saturated and liquefy, and this won't allow the proper amount of moisture to be present for the Boveda pack to work as intended. They will work, though. We know they work after recharging because lots of people have done it. The **** in the punch bowl is this: You'll get less than 3 months of use per pack, rather than 6 to 12 with a new one. Now, I'm not going to go on or claim I know everything and suggest that Rob Gagner from Boveda is lying just to promote more sales, nor would I assume that he's 100% correct, either. But, he would know far more about this than I do, so I will do some experimenting on my own. Just try it and see for yourself, just let it be known what's potentially at stake in case I am wrong or anybody else is wrong.

I've noticed no serious issues after the first few recharges I've made from low Boveda packs, but I have noticed on several that had gone completely dry that they dried up again rather quickly. Far too quickly. And this is why I am experimenting with the gel beads and Boveda, to see if I can find a nice zone to maintain the packs while they still contain moisture.

Rhamlin

I’ve recently started up again recharging. Don’t expect them to be like new. And I think they don’t last as nearly as long but you can probably get a year out of one. I learned the hard way to let the paper dry before putting them back in the humidors. 

Rhamlin

Yakster said:

If you forget them in the distilled water, they turn into balloons.

I’ve never seen that happen 

IndustMech

I get a new sponge, the kind with the green scrubber side, moisten it with distilled water, place it in a ziploc freezer bag green side up and place the bovida packs on top of the sponge.

Yakster

I put a cookie rack over an aluminum pan and put the wet recharged Bovedas on there to dry.

Yakster

Ok, so this time I only had a little distilled water left in the jug and didn't want to open the next one since my wife uses it for her CPAP machine at night. I put the water in the tupperdor with the Bovedas and left them there for about a week and they absorbed all the water, fully recharged and were dry on the outside when they were done. I think I like this method better than fully submerging the Boveda packs in a lot more distilled water.

rsherman24

This system has worked the easiest, quickest and cleanest for me. Cut a piece of wire mesh to fit in a Tupperware and put distilled water in the bottom. Recharge in a couple days. I have been using this container for years. Will hold 5-6 packs

silvermouse

Why use distilled water if you are relying on water vapor to recharge the bovedas? Dissolved solids will stay with the water under the screen.

rsherman24

I have no idea. I assumed the same reason you were always told to use distilled water in the old sponge type humidity devices. Impurities will ruin your humidor and cigars.

jlmarta

@silvermouse said:
Why use distilled water if you are relying on water vapor to recharge the bovedas? Dissolved solids will stay with the water under the screen.

I’ve still not figured out why there are any dissolved solids in distilled water in the first place. I was taught that they were left behind when the steam travelled upward and then down through the condensing coil.

And yet, water from every gallon of distilled water I’ve ever purchased will leave a white residue (dissolved solids?) in the custard cup I use in my humidor when the DW has completely evaporated.

Any ideas? Anyone?

deadman

I made a video on this while I was out this year but never edited it together.

Then you guys ran @Scotch_n_Smoke off.

TX98Z28

I need to recharge mine, got like a variety of 80 that I'll dunk in distilled water in a container for 2-3 days, also reminds me I need to buy some more.

VegasFrank

@jlmarta said:

@silvermouse said:
Why use distilled water if you are relying on water vapor to recharge the bovedas? Dissolved solids will stay with the water under the screen.

I’ve still not figured out why there are any dissolved solids in distilled water in the first place. I was taught that they were left behind when the steam travelled upward and then down through the condensing coil.

And yet, water from every gallon of distilled water I’ve ever purchased will leave a white residue (dissolved solids?) in the custard cup I use in my humidor when the DW has completely evaporated.

Any ideas? Anyone?

The only two things that I can think of are that your distilled water may just be boiled water, which is pretty unlikely, or that the particulates are coming from the cup itself. I would try putting the water in some sort of plastic bowl and see if you get the same thing. If you do, then it has to be coming from the water. Maybe that means the water is boiled instead of distilled?