Winter tips desktop humidors

SRYOUNG4

so first, I live in Georgia not the great white north but I am a bit frustrated having moved here from Florida last year that my humidor doesn’t hold good humidity in the winter.
currently my cigars are removed from the humidor in a Tupperware container with a boveda pack, in a cooler with towels surrounding...I reseaosoned the humidor as well. It still seams to not be keeping humidity right in its place.
I have seen a number of types of advice so I pose the following questions...
should I just not use this humidor in the winter and store cigars like this in alternate makeshift humidor?
should I bite the bullet and buy a better humidor?
use the current humidor in another location of my house?

BKDog

I've just phased out my wooden desktop humidors because of the same problem. Every other time of the year, no problems, but winter rolls around and there are issues. I've got beverage coolers (Coleman Xtreme) and the coolidors, as well as acrylic jars (Wal-Mart has a variety of sizes).

Good luck with your cigar operation, and keep us updated if you feel like sharing.

matkn293

In dryer climates you may need to supplement the humidity with another source such as boveda or beads or something of that nature. Humidors function the best when they are 2/3 to full. If the additional humidity sources don’t help, another means of storage may be in order. 

peter4jc

If you have the funds, a wine fridge/cooler converted to a wineador would be a great solution.

Willy_MN

BKDog said:

...as well as acrylic jars (Wal-Mart has a variety of sizes).

I'm glad you mentioned these, @BKDog...I was just looking at them yesterday and wondering how they'd work. 

Patrickbrick

Place humidor in a cooler, problem solved, you're welcome.  @Bob_Luken needs credit for this "hack".

IndustMech

Patrickbrick said:

Place humidor in a cooler, problem solved, you're welcome.  @Bob_Luken needs credit for this "hack".

And that humidor is a beautiful thing

SRYOUNG4

Just to update everyone. I am trying a combination of things. I really can't leave the humidor in a cooler at least not in its location in my study. Now I could move it but that is a future option right now. I am also at this point not willing to shell out the $$ for a winador or whatever. Not that invested in this hobby (yet). 

So what I have done was re-seasoned the humidor and added back my sponge-based humidifier along with a dish of distilled water. I added painters tape on edges to assist in the seal. I have place my stogies  in zip locks each with a Boveda pack (2 bags) to keep the cigars safe or so I hope, while I am figuring out the rest. This worked well in keeping RH to 65 while I had the humidor in a different location. Bringing in back to its normal location the RH has dropped to 58-59. So I am looking at options to block the humidor from some of the air circulation in the room and if that doesn't work then I will either look to enclose it somehow or move it until spring.

BKDog

I'm sending my buddy out in Oregon an acrylic jar full of cigars with Boveda and a calibrated hygrometer. I wanted him to actually see what awesome is like.

Wooden humidors in low humidity environments are just a pain. I've recently heard of people using a ton of humidification just to boost the RH to be somewhere near 70 percent, and that's just not how I want to roll. Even with the great idea of Bob's by keeping them inside a cooler, I'd just toss them all into a cooler (why even use a damn wooden humidor?) and say forget it! But, I do get it. Sometimes it's nice to have something that looks nice, too.

SRYOUNG4

Thanks I will look into the jar. Funny thing is I live in Georgia...not low humidity at all just for a few months here!

jd50ae

At the beginning of the cold season I reseason. Not the whole process, just a wipe down with distilled water. The next day I add a freshly filled round holder of those squishy things and one boveda 69. Add my cigars which will change the reading and a digital meter. Let it go for 24 hours and check it, usually needs no more adjustments.
We keep the house temp at 68 to 72 depending on the time of year. I don't think the temp in this house affects the readings. The one time of the year when I have problems is when the humidity happens. That is usually solved by removing or changing the boveda to a smaller pack.
One humidor drove me up the wall with really wild and changing readings. This was fixed, like you did, by carefully using electrical tape wherever the wood was supposed to marry.
The one humidor I have never had a problem with is the big aging box. It has an electric/digital humidifier that is perfect and has never been a problem.

Rhamlin

Have you done the flashlight or dollar bill test to see where the leak may be. If not I highly recommend it. Especially the flashlight test as long as it’s not a glass top. Also how sure are you that your hygrometer is accurate? Did you salt test it recently? 

Hawkeye

I don’t have issues with my wood humidor in Iowa so seems to me like a seal issue, or not having the humidor full enough. 

jd50ae

Oh.
And as far as my digital RH readers and their accuracy go.
I keep the ones not being used in a seasoned humidor and if the readings don't match on one I replace the battery, 99% fix.
And I am sure everyone is aware that changing where in the box you put the thing the reading will change, often just a point or two, sometimes a lot. 
And believe it or not Putting them on the lid seems to work best. I bought a bunch of magnetic thingys on eBay and am in the process of converting all my humidors.