Humidor humidity creation alternatives
blonjuan44
Posts: 5 ✭
in Cigar 101
I am familiar with boveda. Why would not placing increasing larger bowls of water not work to get to humidity level in humidor? Would adding salt to the water help increase humidity and if so why? Any other old school methods that existed before boveda type products? Cigars have been around a long time...surely there were methods.
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Comments
Stick with boveda.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
a bowl of water increases the chance of over-humidifying your cigars, especially when the ambient humidity is high and requires monitoring. Just removing the bowl of water does nothing to correct that problem.
I'm familiar with the automobile, why would not putting roller-skates on a horse provide the same end result?
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DZR
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It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.
LOL haven't heard his name in a while, quite possible if this is a one and done poster.
Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.
I have another suspect in mind.
Cool meme's - I used Boveda in a humidor, they didn't work. My son is in cannabis business and he explained to me the downside of Boveda - which I will spare you since you clearly sold on that kool-aid. But, if if this a collection of people in the know, what did cigar aficionados do before Boveda existed? (my son would not know the history regarding cigars and it is more of an issue with cigars than cannabis.) On Boveda's website they list the short-comings of gels etc, but in the meantime - I used several Boveda in 1 humidor and the cigars dried out, I am trying more airtight containers and a better seal, but shouldn't someone know what Winston Churchill used?
From Boveda: Before cigar connoisseurs were relegated to humidifiers that would only add moisture whether or not the cigars needed moisture. Other options included distilled water or sponges or other various foam and chemical solutions that were messy, labor intensive and beyond frustrating. - Maybe this is correct, but Boveda %'s on the package were not matching my electronic instrumentation indicators. Also, "add moisture whether or not the cigars needed moisture" - is also something I am skeptical about, and so part of the testing. How often can you open a box and keep it close to the moisture level? - I can see it being tough in the midwest in winter if you open it once a day.
Yes, we are clearly sold on the kool aid as you so eloquently put it. We’re not cannabis smokers. We’re cigar smokers that have used several different methods and have come to a general consensus that Boveda works best. I apologize that your “electronic instrumentation indicators” did not indicate this. Perhaps the calibration on them is off. Perhaps not. Fact of the matter is that we don’t give a shít. You asked a question, we answered, and now all you want to do is prove this answer wrong. Based on what? Your extensive years of dealing with cigars in different environments? Your electronic instrumentation indicators? Out of the regulars here there are hundreds of years of combined experience. It’s a great forum to search and find answers. Not such a great place to argue with the answers you’ve been given.
I am curious about how they kept cigars 50 or 75 years ago.
Also curious about the downside of Bovidas. @blonjuan44 please explain.
I know, You're a big dog and I'm on the list.
Let's eat, GrandMa. / Let's eat GrandMa. -- Punctuation saves lives
It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.
Same here. Instruct us @blonjuan44, please.
Just because I'm right, doesn't mean I can't be more right.
Propylene glycol has been used as a humectant since the 50's.
Terracotta has been used for centuries.
I used floral foam and Propylene glycol 15ish years ago but I also used vhs
People aren't taking you seriously here bro because we all know why you don't want to use boveda. It's expensive. What people did in the olden days is probably something that wasn't technologically advanced and could be homemade and or cheap. Wasn't hard to sleuth that one.
A bowl of water will always humidify. I have successfully used bowls of water in leaky humidors here in Las Vegas where the ambient humidity is most often less than 20%. The bowl of water would work, the humidor would stay at 55 or 60, then the water would evaporate, by the humidity would drop and I could refill the bowl. The problem is the bowl of water will humidify. If your humidor is at 90%. The bowl of water will humidify if your humidor is at 97%. You don't want something to humidify your humidor at 90 or 97%. That's why humidors are made of wood. The wood absorbs the excess moisture. Sure a bowl of water works. It is excellent one way. Humidification.
What people did in the olden days was not keep them in humidors. They would buy a box of cigars and smoke the box of cigars. The last few would be dry.
Just like a cigarette. Do you keep your camels and winstons in a humidor? No. You just smoked them fast enough so that they aren't dry by the time you finish the pack. That's what people did with cigars!
People who did keep humidors often kept copper lined units. Yes that's right. They were not made of Spanish cedar. They were usually pieces of furniture that had a compartment in them that was lined with a thin sheet of copper. Don't know what the theory behind it was, don't care. It wasn't for aging cigars as a hobbyist or enthusiast. It was for holding your current box of cigars that you were smoking.
Look man. If you don't want to spring for the boveda packs, I don't blame you. Especially if you're not getting them on the auctioneer. Make your own homemade packs. Easy to do. Make your own homemade silica bead container. Fill it up with distilled water and do it that way. You can buy 12 oz of dry beads, which is the equivalent of 35 football stadiums full of beads when soaking wet, for like 8 bucks on Amazon. Get a plastic container. Put the beads in the container a quarter of the way up. Phil, the container halfway up with distilled water. There's your humidification.
Or, put a bowl of water in your humidor. Your cigars are more resilient than you are. They will smoke pretty good at 70% humidity. They will smoke pretty good at 50% humidity. They will smoke pretty good at 45% humidity and they will smoke Even ok at 80 or 85 as long as they're not moldy. Of course, they'll smoke Really good between 58 and 69. You can go higher if you want, but then you're going to grow mold. If your temperature spikes also you'll grow beetles. This is just how life is brother. Good luck with it.
Explain to me why dope heads don't want bovedas. This has to be good.
And I'd like to point out that the speech to text on my new phone is total **** horseshit bro. Clearly I didn't misspell "fill" with Phil. That's why you'll find a lot of extra random periods in there too. You're just going to have to live with it. You know I'm the best.
The economics of Boveda are pretty good when you find out that you can refill and reuse them. Refilling is easy, unlike silica beads where you have to be precise with the water you add.
I was not gonna post in this thread again, I just expected it to fade away, but since Frank slapped it back to life, I don't mind adding something.
Or, if this is a legitimate new newbie, we don't want him. We don't tolerate dumb azzwholes. It was a rude way of asking the question and the follow up posts were rude too. (Which brings me back to #1.)
The question itself, if it were asked politely, is a legitimate question. We do a lot to ensure our humidity levels are precise. How did they manage to handle this task a hundred years ago? I think Frank hit on a good point, they didn't. Back in the day men could buy cigars anywhere and didn't need to maintain a humidor. The term fresh cigars exists because sellers back then assured buyers they were not selling them old, dried out tobacco. Even today online retailers still say "your order will arrive fresh, guaranteed".
I've done my own search on the same question and there's not much to be found. I would assume that ever since the day you could buy a cheap hygrometer, men have been worrying about their humidors far more than they did beforehand.
Soak a sponge with tap water, squeeze most of it out and throw it in on top of your cigars. Good to go.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
My old humidor from the '40s or 50's is heavy thick cherry wood, lined inside with 1/4" thick milk glass. It has one of those aluminum grid covered humidifiers mounted on the lid. So, that's what they were using 70+ years ago. My pipe smoking grandfather kept a slice of apple in his tobacco. HTH.
I used the slice of apple in a pouch of pipe tobacco trick, but it's a good mold growth medium so I don't risk it these days.
Wait...we're supposed to keep our cigars humid? Oh shoot...
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