When to give up on your humidor?

StoleIt

Long time lurker, first time registering/posting. I'd like to think I've read everything there is on humidors trying to get mine to hold humidity. I've conditioned it with mineral water and new/clean sponge probably over ten times by now over the course of months. I've done the flash light test and the dollar bill test. Added painters tape to the location that the bill wasn't as grabby but even then, that location still wasn't exactly loose. Reconditioned, added a wet sponge (not resting on the wood), and waited...the box would go from 90% to 70% in a day and then continue to drop. I'd wait til it go to the low 60's and then start over and reconditioned again...for weeks.

Finally added weather stripping thinking that must seal it! Reconditioned several times over the course of weeks. Finally, swapped the sponge out for 2 shot glasses of mineral water after another recondition and it's already dropped to 67% and seems to be going down 1% a day.

Have I missed anything?

Outside temp is usually 68*F and humidity is ~52%. I have 2 digital and 1 analogue gauge in the box and they are all in agreement on the indicated humidity.

genareddog

Fill it, put some bovedas in it and see what happens. Or toss it aside and get a cooler.

jd50ae

I have 8 desk size humidors. One gave me serious problems and adding rubber electrical type tape to the entire marrying parts around the lid and box, that made it "too" tight so I removed the tape from the lid. It took a few days, but the humidity finally settled down.
Don't know what else you can do, you seem to have doe it all.
Almost forgot. One new humidor did present a "different" problem. Found it because of light coming in around the key parts. Fixed that with a popsicle stick.

StoleIt

genareddog said:

Fill it, put some bovedas in it and see what happens. Or toss it aside and get a cooler.

Tried that too. Put in 6x 72% Bovedas + a wet sponge and it still wouldn't hold.

Bob_Luken

Now. Give up now. That's my answer to the question that is the title of your thread. I would give up now. I had five or so desk top humidors at one time and coolers too. The desktops were a constant battle. Some are worse than others. I'd say 50% of the Chinese made desktops are deficient. I ended up storing my remaining two desk tops INSIDE my coolers. I was done trying. That's my story. 

deadman

Try painters tape around the seal, humidity is getting out there or in the joints

Trykflyr_1

Gotta back up @Bob_Luken here.   Use it for storing anything else and go with coolers.   I've got 2 pricey desktops that now hold fly tying material. Cheap ugly coolers hold my cigars.

Amos_Umwhat

A couple questions come to mind. 

First, Mineral water?  Not distilled water?  I've never heard of using mineral water, although that may be my own ignorance, but I've always used distilled water, and I've NEVER wiped down my humidors with any kind of water.

Second, what's the humidity lever in the room where the humidor is?  And, is it in the path of airflow from an AC / Heating vent?  Lastly in this category, does the sun ever shine in directly on it?  My desktops won't hold humidity in the winter months unless I run a humidifier in the room where they are.  Even with 4 or 5 60 gram 69% bovedas in the humidor.  I've learned to make sure that they are out of the path of sunlight, and nowhere near the central air vents.

Lastly, I went for decades relying on plain old Tupperware.  Works every time. 

Good luck.

BKDog

Wood breathes. It's constantly fighting with the external air and thus humidity or lack thereof. Only the best and most expensive wooden humidors work, and that's depending on location. Some folks are lucky, they swear by wood and that's that. I haven't had this kind of success. Your environment will dictate the outcome with wooden humidors. Tupperware and air tight coolers seem to work best.

VegasFrank

The very last two things to try:

1. Get some thin weather stripping with adhesive and line the inside of the lid.  This probably won't work because it will not allow the box to close correctly.

2. Get some food grade silicone and run a bead down the seams of the wood on the inside.  You probably have a better shot with this than with the first one, but it's a lot of effort.

VegasFrank

You could always use that box to store your lighters and cutters. That way you still have it on your shelf if you like it.

StoleIt

Amos_Umwhat said:

A couple questions come to mind. 

First, Mineral water?  Not distilled water?  I've never heard of using mineral water, although that may be my own ignorance, but I've always used distilled water, and I've NEVER wiped down my humidors with any kind of water.

Second, what's the humidity lever in the room where the humidor is?  And, is it in the path of airflow from an AC / Heating vent?  Lastly in this category, does the sun ever shine in directly on it?  My desktops won't hold humidity in the winter months unless I run a humidifier in the room where they are.  Even with 4 or 5 60 gram 69% bovedas in the humidor.  I've learned to make sure that they are out of the path of sunlight, and nowhere near the central air vents.

Lastly, I went for decades relying on plain old Tupperware.  Works every time. 

Good luck.

Mistyped. It is definitely distilled water. Did you just use an 82% or whatever bovada instead of the gently wiping the interior wood?

It's out of the sunlight on the bottom shelf in the picture. Humidity in the room was ~40% but I've been having issues with since summer when the outside humidity was much higher.

I'll have to double check there isn't a vent over there though. Solid advice, thanks!

StoleIt

VegasFrank said:

The very last two things to try:

1. Get some thin weather stripping with adhesive and line the inside of the lid.  This probably won't work because it will not allow the box to close correctly.

2. Get some food grade silicone and run a bead down the seams of the wood on the inside.  You probably have a better shot with this than with the first one, but it's a lot of effort.

Hard to see from the picture, I guess, but I did exactly that. The black stuff around the lip is weather stripping.

Silicone is next I guess.

StoleIt

VegasFrank said:

You could always use that box to store your lighters and cutters. That way you still have it on your shelf if you like it.

Yea, just trying avoid that.

This is actually the humidor I got from my cigar bar/club membership that I took home to season. Just trying to make sure I exhaust every seasoning option before I ask them for a new one.

ShawnOL

No offense @StoleIt but if this is the quality of humidor they supply, you'll likely have the same issues with any replacement.  If you are intent on having a wooden humidor, you'll want to spend the extra money to buy a better quality humidor.  I learned this lesson myself.  You get what you pay for.  

Rhamlin

Are you sure your hydrometers are accurate. Done the salt test? Most are generally off a little. Mine is a digital and its off by 3 percent. 

StoleIt

Rhamlin said:

Are you sure your hydrometers are accurate. Done the salt test? Most are generally off a little. Mine is a digital and its off by 3 percent. 

No salt test, but I've put them in a ziplock with a 72% boveda and they were spot on. Also, I have 3 of them in the box for that exact reason (2x digital, 1x analogue).

StoleIt

ShawnOL said:

No offense @StoleIt but if this is the quality of humidor they supply, you'll likely have the same issues with any replacement.  If you are intent on having a wooden humidor, you'll want to spend the extra money to buy a better quality humidor.  I learned this lesson myself.  You get what you pay for.  

Yea, I'll give the shot glasses another week or two and then talk to the cigar guy. I just wanted to make sure I exhausted every approach. Thanks!

0patience

I have to agree with everything that is said. If you are losing humidity in the humidor, then there is a leak somewhere or it wasn't seasoned properly.
Even if it isn't leaking, you will lose some humidity over time, unless you have proper humidification.
That is, of course, assuming that your hygrometer is reading correctly.

That being said, I probably have a dozen or so humidors that I no longer use for cigars. Cooler or tupperware really work well.

TX98Z28

Return woody, buy cooler. 

webmost

Coolers are cooler.

StoleIt

Update: Took saran wrap and made a couple laps around the lid. Added a wet sponge to the 2 shot glasses already in there and........HUMIDITY WENT UP!

Re-wrapped, waited til it was in the high 70%'s and swapped it out for 72% boveda's and no saran wrap. Next day it was already back down to 63%.

Good news I guess, I know it's a problem with the seal of the lid now. New problem: WTF else can I do to seal it? I guess I'll take the weather stripping off because that isn't working and maybe try masking tape again.

Oh well, the quest continues!

ShawnOL

Good luck. Remember, there's always Tupperware.

Yakster

Many people like the Sterilite Gasket Boxes Clear with Latches or the IRIS Weathertight Gasket Boxes which stack and come in different sizes.

Bob_Luken

https://forum.cigar.com/discussion/comment/1128115#Comment_1128115

That is a trick I have not heard of before. I applaud your idea for its diagnostic success in identifying the problem.

peter4jc

I agree with @Bob_Luken. So now that you know, you can just sock in a good supply of Saran Wrap and wrap her up every time you open and close it.

Or you can do what maybe should've been done a while back; pitch that sumbitch and don't look back.

Yakster

You can always put your prized humidor inside a humidified cooler and just take it out when you want a cigar.

EgoBoundary

I applaud you on your trouble shooting ...not that it’s anywhere close to being this dry where I live , but I have a boat load of the 84 bovedas and I also use the silica beads that Brian Glenn uses from cigar obsession

https://cigarobsession.com/2014/04/25/how-i-maintain-my-humidity-beads/


That guy lives in Florida though... but I thought I would add ... something.