Baffled: Humidor/Hygometer

ZAP

I typically keep my sticks in a baggie with a water pillow over the winter months.  Usually just a handful.  This time of the year I stock up and re-season my humidor...I wipe it all down with distilled water then set a bowl of distilled water in there for a week.

While I did this I put my cigars and a jar of beads in a plastic bag.  My hygrometer was reading 80+ so I tested the hygrometer with the salt test and it read high 70's...even after I turned it as far down as it would go.

Figured I'd just have to account for the higher reading so I put the cigars in the humidor that was now seasoned.  I have two jars of beads in this 50 count humidor.  Hygrometer was reading 60-61....which if you figure it is reading high to start with puts it in low to mid 50's...

Pulled the sticks and put in plastic baggie with one jar of beads.  Re-seasoning the humidor right now but the plastic baggie is now reading 83%.

I have no idea what would be better..keep them in the baggie which seems high in humidity or the humidor which is low. 

I guess to boil this down to a question would that seem off to have that high of a reading in the plastic bag with the beads in there and about 15-20 cigars?   I do not like over humidifed cigars but I'm kind of questioning whether my hygrometer is reading correctly.

A lot of info here...the humidor is not a top end model but not bottom of the barrel either and it does not appear to have any leaks..

deadman

A plastic container with a good seal and your done. 

VegasFrank

I'm sure ten other guys will tell you to ditch that analog hygrometer so I won't...but low is better than high every time

Yakster

B O V E D A

Wylaff

B O V E D A
O V E D A B
V E D A B O
E D A B O V
D A B O V E
A B O V E D

VegasFrank

I feel like there's a message there somewhere....

Amos_Umwhat

VegasFrank said:

I feel like there's a message there somewhere....

It seems, for some, an amazingly tough code to crack.

deadman

Amos_Umwhat said:

VegasFrank said:

I feel like there's a message there somewhere....

It seems, for some, an amazingly tough code to crack.

You need the decoder ring

it comes attached to the next cfed release.

ZAP

Amos_Umwhat said:

VegasFrank said:

I feel like there's a message there somewhere....

It seems, for some, an amazingly tough code to crack.

I assume you mean the

• 

Boveda Calibration Kit

They only sell them in packs of 12 and I don't need 12.  Also, the only local shop by me does not carry them.   I am using a digital hygometer for what it's worth.

Bob_Luken

I assume you mean the

• 

Boveda Calibration Kit

They only sell them in packs of 12 and I don't need 12.  Also, the only local shop by me does not carry them.   I am using a digital hygometer for what it's worth.

No, not necessarily the calibration kit. And they don't normally sell calibration kits by the dozen anyway. They sell the 60 gram Bovedas by the dozen. But you say don't need a dozen? Maybe you should splurge. They come individually wrapped in plastic and you can save some for later use. And frankly, I think by now, after you've spent over ten years on this forum, you should have your storage situation under better control. Your humidor is drying out seasonally and you just let it happen every year. You bag your sticks with a water pillow, ugh. Re-season again. That would make me so sad, I'd be depressed for a while every year after that ritual.   

There is another problem, a somewhat related problem here that needs to be examined. Your post counts are out of balance. You have started 100 threads and posted only 74 comments. What that tells me is that you like for us to talk about what you want to talk about, but you aren't really paying much attention or adding to the discussions that the rest of us are engaged in. If you had been paying attention for these ten-plus years, you would be better at this by now. PLENTY of discussions revolve around helping each other figure out our seasoning problems, humidity/hygrometer problems and our dried out dumb-wooden-humidor problems. You should have been paying attention. 

B O V E D A
O V E D A B
V E D A B O
E D A B O V
D A B O V E
A B O V E D
ALSO-
P L A S T I C
C P L A S T I
L A S T I C P
A S T I C P L
S T I C P L A
A R E Y O U
P A Y I N G
A T T E N T
I O N ?

peter4jc

@Bob_Luken, you get 1st prize for putting into words exactly what I was thinking.

ZAP1

Bob_Luken said:

I assume you mean the

• 

Boveda Calibration Kit

They only sell them in packs of 12 and I don't need 12.  Also, the only local shop by me does not carry them.   I am using a digital hygometer for what it's worth.

No, not necessarily the calibration kit. And they don't normally sell calibration kits by the dozen anyway. They sell the 60 gram Bovedas by the dozen. But you say don't need a dozen? Maybe you should splurge. They come individually wrapped in plastic and you can save some for later use. And frankly, I think by now, after you've spent over ten years on this forum, you should have your storage situation under better control. Your humidor is drying out seasonally and you just let it happen every year. You bag your sticks with a water pillow, ugh. Re-season again. That would make me so sad, I'd be depressed for a while every year after that ritual.   

There is another problem, a somewhat related problem here that needs to be examined. Your post counts are out of balance. You have started 100 threads and posted only 74 comments. What that tells me is that you like for us to talk about what you want to talk about, but you aren't really paying much attention or adding to the discussions that the rest of us are engaged in. If you had been paying attention for these ten-plus years, you would be better at this by now. PLENTY of discussions revolve around helping each other figure out our seasoning problems, humidity/hygrometer problems and our dried out dumb-wooden-humidor problems. You should have been paying attention. 

B O V E D A
O V E D A B
V E D A B O
E D A B O V
D A B O V E
A B O V E D
ALSO-
P L A S T I C
C P L A S T I
L A S T I C P
A S T I C P L
S T I C P L A
A R E Y O U
P A Y I N G
A T T E N T
I O N ?

1. If you click on the link to the Calibration Kit you can see they come in bricks of 12 for $50.  They are also back-ordered.  You can splurge on 12 of them if you'd like but I'd prefer to splurge on cigars instead of 11 calibration kits I will not use.

2. I have not spent 10 years on this forum.  I check in sporadically mainly in the summers when I am enjoying some cigars.   Other than that I do not live, breath and die cigars year round and do not frequent these forums when I am not smoking.   Do I get fined for that?   Sounds like I may have a hefty one coming. 

3. I live in a climate where smoking cigars in the winter is not an option (unless you'd like to try it in -30 weather for weeks on end).   As much as I enjoy cigars I can make it though the winter without them.  I usually burn my cigars down to nothing in the fall and let the humidor sit until spring when I reason it.  If this is not good to do, I apologize for not being a great cigar humidor mind.  I assumed once you re-season it all would be good again but again clearly I have no idea.  Not sure if there is another fine for this or perhaps I can perform some physical labor to pay for my crime here.

4. Great research on my post "started threads" to "only commented" ratio.  I had no idea but I'm not much into the analytics like some.  I guess I owe an apology for starting too many threads or something?  I do not have a lot of knowledge to add to the discussions so that is the reason for the low "only commented" tally.  I am what you would call a novice who dabbles in the hobby a few months out of the year.   I post a ton on a craft beer forum because that is what I know.  Cigars, I would not add a lot if anything.  So I guess the morale of the story is I should have know that if I am not consistently providing my worthless chatter on the forums that I have no right to post "started threads" so often...or at all perhaps?  Again, I'm ready for whatever punishment you great helpful, welcoming cigar enthusiasts deem proper.

5. As for not paying attention.  I guess I didn't realize I there were  prerequisites required and I needed to study up on all the discussions on this forum before I'd be accepted as worthy of posting to your great cigar minds.   I have in the past read a ton of posts and replies on humidors, seasoning, humidification, etc.  That is where I learned about the cap salt test, and how to season a humidor in the first place.

I thought this was a unique deal in that it reads so high in a plastic baggie with the beads and so low in the humidor with the beads after it was seasoned.  Perhaps my humidor is wrecked from letting it dry out too many times.  That I did not know but of course like I said I am a dumbass overall on humidification methods despite reading posts here.  And yes I have used Boveda before and it doesn't help keep the humidor at any higher of a level according to my hygrometer.

6. I have a much better understanding of the community here now and how things work so you won't be bothered by ol Zap very often in the future. 

peter4jc

Now look what you've gone and done @Bob_Luken!

@ZAP1 I just googled Boveda Calibration Kit; the very first thing that come up is a single kit at Amazon for $7.95.  So what give you the idea that they can only be had in packs of 12?

https://www.amazon.com/Boveda-One-Step-Hygrometer-Calibration-Kit/dp/B000A3UBLA/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=241563098289&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9018847&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=984393316961354728&hvtargid=kwd-27588322846&keywords=boveda+calibration+kit&qid=1555445881&s=gateway&sr=8-1

ZAP1

I guess that would be a good option.  Didn't think of that.  Just so used to ordering here.

https://www.cigar.com/p/boveda-calibration-kit-humidification/1490235/#photoviewer-line-1490235-2

deadman

Zap if you only use the humi a few months a year why fool with it at all. Plastic “Tupperware” style container with boveda packs then put away for the winter. 

ZAP1

deadman said:

Zap if you only use the humi a few months a year why fool with it at all. Plastic “Tupperware” style container with boveda packs then put away for the winter. 

Thanks.  I wasn't sure if storing long term in plastic was a good thing to do.   I must have missed that if it was discussed previously.  Sounds like that is what I should be doing.

ZAP1

deadman said:

Zap if you only use the humi a few months a year why fool with it at all. Plastic “Tupperware” style container with boveda packs then put away for the winter. 

Long term like all summer long.  Rather than a few weeks.  I have in the past had a few extra when winter hit early and did store them in baggies for the winter but wasn't sure if that was good to do or not but being it was just a few cigars I took a shot.

Wylaff

ZAP1 said:

deadman said:

Zap if you only use the humi a few months a year why fool with it at all. Plastic “Tupperware” style container with boveda packs then put away for the winter. 

Long term like all summer long.  Rather than a few weeks.  I have in the past had a few extra when winter hit early and did store them in baggies for the winter but wasn't sure if that was good to do or not but being it was just a few cigars I took a shot.

Most of us use plastic exclusively. It does not absorb humidity so if you throw sticks and bovedas in plastic, the sticks will be at whatever the boveda is.

ZAP1

deadman said:

A plastic container with a good seal and your done. 

Thanks for the help.

IndustMech

And your cigars might benefit from ageing over the winter.

The plastic box your looking for will have a gasket and latched lid. 

ZAP

deadman said:

Zap if you only use the humi a few months a year why fool with it at all. Plastic “Tupperware” style container with boveda packs then put away for the winter. 

Sounds like a plan.  That is what I am going to do from now.  Thanks for your help and the others who tossed out this idea.

VegasFrank

There's a very nice one at Walmart called the Rubbermaid airtight.  Works beautifully...14 bucks

Bob_Luken

I apologize @ZAP and @ZAP1 for being so cranky. After I have my coffee and the squirrel inside my brain starts running on his little wheel, I'm an arrogant ****. I meant what I said but, sometimes I should not say everything that pops into my head.  I actually want you to have success and peace of mind with your cigar storage.

It's crazy for cigar.com to sell the calibration kit only by the dozen. I didn't realize they did that. Most other places sell single kits. And I wasn't suggesting you needed 12 calibration kits. I was suggesting you consider buying a dozen of the 60 gram bovedas.  

And I also apologize for not addressing your basic question, No I don't think it was abnormal for you to get a high reading from your hygrometer inside the bag with cigars and beads. But I would try pulling the beads out of the bag and pull any other humidification out to see if that brought it down some. Actually your cigars would be fine inside a ziplock bag without any humidification devices for weeks at a time if kept away from sunlight and temperature swings and all would be fine until you're done re-seasoning. Also consider replacing hygrometer's batteries if they're more than a few years old. As for the low reading inside the humidor, there could be numerous problems contributing to that low reading. If you are willing to ditch the humidor and move on to a plastic container, I think you'll be happier with that storage method.   

peter4jc

But...  I think you were right, Bob, in wondering why someone has been a member for so long, rarely if ever engaging the community, and not being aware of a basic storage question that has been discussd here ad nauseum.

Now @zap1 has only 7 posts... what is going on here?

IndustMech

@zap = @zap1

shenanigans

ZAP

Bob_Luken said:

I apologize @ZAP and @ZAP1 for being so cranky. After I have my coffee and the squirrel inside my brain starts running on his little wheel, I'm an arrogant ****. I meant what I said but, sometimes I should not say everything that pops into my head.  I actually want you to have success and peace of mind with your cigar storage.

It's crazy for cigar.com to sell the calibration kit only by the dozen. I didn't realize they did that. Most other places sell single kits. And I wasn't suggesting you needed 12 calibration kits. I was suggesting you consider buying a dozen of the 60 gram bovedas.  

And I also apologize for not addressing your basic question, No I don't think it was abnormal for you to get a high reading from your hygrometer inside the bag with cigars and beads. But I would try pulling the beads out of the bag and pull any other humidification out to see if that brought it down some. Actually your cigars would be fine inside a ziplock bag without any humidification devices for weeks at a time if kept away from sunlight and temperature swings and all would be fine until you're done re-seasoning. Also consider replacing hygrometer's batteries if they're more than a few years old. As for the low reading inside the humidor, there could be numerous problems contributing to that low reading. If you are willing to ditch the humidor and move on to a plastic container, I think you'll be happier with that storage method.   

No problem.   And thank you for the thoughts here.  Until I can get the Boveda ordered and in house I will pull the beads from the baggie and just leave the cigars in there.  I also had not thought of the battery angle.  Maybe that is the issue.   Long term I'm going to use the plastic container.  Thanks again.

ZAP

IndustMech said:

@zap = @zap1

shenanigans

Not really.   At work I could not log onto the website with my original ZAP account.  It pulled up my name and account but would not log me into the forum so I made a new accounnt ZAP1.  It appears there have been some changes made to the forum log in over the past year.  At home, I then found out that I can still log into the regular ZAP account and that too shows my name.  I then took a closer look the original Zap account and see it has my work's old e-mail before they shortened the end of the email address.  Both e-mail addresses still work and go to my work e-mail account.  Anyhow I do apologize for the confusion and will be back to the regular ZAP account with the huge amount of "threads started" and low number of "commented on" statistics.

ZAP

peter4jc said:

But...  I think you were right, Bob, in wondering why someone has been a member for so long, rarely if ever engaging the community, and not being aware of a basic storage question that has been discussd here ad nauseum.

Now @zap1 has only 7 posts... what is going on here?

I answered your question on ZAP vs ZAP1 below.   As for your other thought I think I summed that up in my initial reply but I hope you can consider in the future that not everyone is glued to this forum every day for hours on end from the first day they sign up for an account to now.  Some of us dabble and check in occasionally, read a few threads and leave.   I go many moths without touching a cigar and rarely check in then.

I honestly have never seen a thread about using tuperware instead of a humidor.  And yes I have read many threads and comments.  Perhaps I missed a thread that was right there with the answer or forgot reading it somewhere along the way when browsing and not having an issue but many of the replies to my questions were simply cryptic BOVEDA,...No kidding.  I know how to get the packets and I've used them in my humidor in other years when I couldn't keep the humidification up and they didn't do any better of a job than the beads so that was of no help.  Once someone tossed in "hey why not try a plastic container and use Boveda for that since they are the most accurate"..Boom problem solved.  Was that solution elsewhere on the forum?  I'm sure it was.  Should I have spent a few hours researching looking for it, I guess that is what you are saying.

Like I said I post a ton on a craft beer website (1,950 posts.  I just looked it up since I was curious.  I do not have further analytics though on "posts started" to "commented on" ratio's etc. but I'm willing to bet it would shine a better light on me there).  I know from being on that forum to look around, see if there are any other threads similar to what you're posting, etc.  But at the same time we get awful simplistic questions (at least to those of us real into craft beers) that we gladly answer without questioning why they do not post more, and why they just tick reviews and not add more depth to their reviews,etc.  Everyone is different.  Some just drop in occasionally and are novices and learning about the hobby.  Most of us are willing to help them and if not in the mood just don't post a reply.  Rarely have I seen people like yourself concerned that someone shouldn't be posting a question because they haven't been involved enough in posting comments over the course of their membership.

peter4jc

Spin it any way you want.  If somebody was a long-time member on any forum I've ever been a part of but only shined around when they wanted something (or wanted someone else to do their thinking for them) they would get the same flack you got here.  And if I was a frequent flier on your beer forum and somebody came along and said "I've read and searched but couldn't find an answer and I don't know when I should pitch my yeast" even though that was discussed every stinking week, I'd give him the same flack.  Forums are primarily meant to be a group discussing various aspects of whatever subject that forum centers on, and secondarily a place where a noob comes for answers, gets answers and rarely if ever comes back to contribute.  You feel you have little to contribute cigar-wise?  Well we have plenty of outstanding members who do little beside post pics of what they're smoking.  You could be a giver here, but it looks like you want to be a taker.

Bob_Luken

ZAP said:

Rarely have I seen people like yourself concerned that someone shouldn't be posting a question because they haven't been involved enough in posting comments over the course of their membership.

  

Redacted

ZAP

peter4jc said:

Spin it any way you want.  If somebody was a long-time member on any forum I've ever been a part of but only shined around when they wanted something (or wanted someone else to do their thinking for them) they would get the same flack you got here.  And if I was a frequent flier on your beer forum and somebody came along and said "I've read and searched but couldn't find an answer and I don't know when I should pitch my yeast" even though that was discussed every stinking week, I'd give him the same flack.  Forums are primarily meant to be a group discussing various aspects of whatever subject that forum centers on, and secondarily a place where a noob comes for answers, gets answers and rarely if ever comes back to contribute.  You feel you have little to contribute cigar-wise?  Well we have plenty of outstanding members who do little beside post pics of what they're smoking.  You could be a giver here, but it looks like you want to be a taker.

I'd have no idea how to post a pic.  But that's kind of funny that you would consider me worthy if I posted a few pics of cigars.   And I guess despite having registered for this forum years ago I consider myself a noob.  I guess that is not welcomed.  I thought it was a place for people who know more about cigars, etc to share knowledge with people who don't.