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First humidor - Help and Advice Welcome

CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
Alright, I'm super excited. Here we go. 
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Comments

  • jd50aejd50ae Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Take it out of the box.
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2018

    Here's the inside. those thing in the middle of the shelves facing sideways (for instance, right above the circular hygrometer, and in between the circular and lower rectangular hygrometers.) are spanish cedar pen blanks, 10 for $10 on amazon. great way to separate singles. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Next I wiped it down with one of those seasoning wipes. It's a 600 count, so I bought 4 black ice 8oz beads. I'm going to put my bovedas right on top of them. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭

    distilled water in the bowls. Now I wait and wipe it down again tomorrow. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Alright. This is my first time seasoning a humidor. I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything correctly based on searching old threads but if anyone spots anything wrong please let me know. I just have one question, I used the dollar bill test on the door and I didn't feel like there was enough resistance when I pulled it out. Should I get weather stripping for the door? Or should I just use scotch tape? 
  • GuitardedGuitarded Posts: 4,643 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Beautiful humidor!
    1. Patience
    2. Weatherstripping for the door seal, but check it after seasoning. The wood will swell a bit, and you may not need it.
    3. Bovedas on the shelves, not on top of the black ice. They will "fight" each other to regulate the rh.
    4. Don't be **** about the rh, calibrate the hygrometers, and one high and one near the bottom are more than enough.
    5. Find a place in your home where the temp is relatively stable, and under 70. It is a shame to hide a beautiful humidor in a closet, but that may be the best place to keep temperature consistent.
    6.More patience!
    Enjoy!


    Friends don't let good friends smoke cheap cigars.
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Guitarded
    the hygrometers are all calibrated, I just took those pictures right after putting them in and having them in various places. 
    I've got a place set aside for it, away from windows and heaters/ac. 
    I know about the patience part but ugh lol. I was ready to start putting everything in there right away. 

    I've heard that I should let the rh get to 80 before it can be considered seasoned. I'm going to make sure it stays above 80 for a few days, while also looking into how much time machines cost. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The analog one on top doesn't have a way to be calibrated but I don't plan on trusting that one for anything. I would just throw it out if it didn't leave a hole. 
  • dirtdudedirtdude Posts: 5,641 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mrs. Dirt gave me one for Christmas that is real similar, only 200 count. Mine has a rubber seal around the door, I noticed locking the door pulls it a little more snug.
    A little dirt never hurt
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,408 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    Very nice setup calvin and congrats on your new eye candy! I’m not sure I’d agree 100% about getting it to 80 and staying there for a while, it can sometimes be a challenge to then drop it back down to below 70 at times. I would also agree to separate the black ice and boveda packs as they should not be on top or next to each other. The good thing about the bovedas is that you can lay them on or next to cigars without any trouble or worry, so stick a boveda in ever shelf and drawer would be how I’d go. Lastly the rH you end up keeping it at is up to you, but most people find that 70% rH is plain too high. I live in a high plains desert here along the front range in Colorado, so the air is thin and dry here and I found over time that not only do my sticks age better but smoke far better too by keeping my rH between 61-64% rH tops. Maduro, Anejo, and heavy ligero cigars tend to gum up and get hot and acrid along with discharging some tar near the cap when you smoke them at too high rH, at least it does here where I am. My point is too many new to cigars people think 70rH and 70 degrees is gospel and it simply isn’t. Anything between 60-70% rH is plenty fine to be honest. 

    Brett
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • ForMudForMud Posts: 2,336 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Is it full yet?  :)

    Nice score for sure!!!!
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @90+_Irishman
    That's true and I feel the same way. I find that when I smoke them at 70+, I also have burn issues with one side burning faster than the other. Part of that is most definitely due to me being a newish smoker and therefore smoking them too quickly, but also because of the moisture in the half of the cigar that was touching either wood or other cigars, as opposed to air. I have much fewer issues when smoking a cigar in the 60-65 range. My plan for this humidor is to use it as long term storage. I plan to use either my cooler, or a mason jar, as the humidor that I open all the time to smoke from, while filling it up once every few weeks when it runs low. I don't like having to get up all the time to get a new cigar because I'm lazy, and I also smoke enough to the point where the humidity levels in the cooler would probably resemble this (WWWWWW) over the course of one of my days off. I want this new humidor to be able to hold a cigar for years in perfect condition, without risking anything. I'm probably going to have some 65 rh bovedas in the cooler/jar, and the black ice 70rh one way humidity tubs in the aging humidor, with some 72 rh bovedas on the shelves to keep things from getting out of hand. At least that's the plan for now, unless I learn something else. 
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,408 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I hear a lot of newer smokers talk about smoking too fast, there’s a very easy and simple method to know if you are smoking too fast or even too slow. When you ash the cigar the “coal” or ember that is still smoldering should be flat. If you have a “cone” or “bump/hill” that means you are smoking too fast as the outer edges of the tobacco are burning faster than the core of the cigar and it’s burning too quick. Conversely if you ash and it looks like a pit or reverse cone then you are smoking too slow. Smoking at the correct pace so that when you ash it’s flat will dramatically change not only the heat of the cigar and smoke, it will make it smoother and change how it tastes as well. 

    Brett
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Update. After wiping down the humidor daily with the seasoning wipes, and leaving the bowls of water in there, it was at 78 yesterday and 79 today. I'm going to load it up tomorrow. to prepare, I filled my black ice beads with distilled water. I THOUGHT I was being careful and only filled them like 2/3 of the way up, but now the cap is popping off of them. I'm going to pour them onto a paper towel and let them dry up a little overnight unless someone tells me that's a bad idea. Tomorrow the plan is to take out the bowls of water, add the black ice containers, and let it sit for an hour or two. Then add the cigars. I know that the moisture rises to the top, so my thinking is to put the cigars that I want to age on the top shelf, and the ones I'm going to be smoking soon on the bottom. I'm also going to be adding sticker labels on the shelves saying what is what, will that be ok inside the humidor? Will they stay stuck, or will they be too moist? Any other pieces of advice from anyone?
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I just took all the beads, put them into a bowl, and then refilled the little sections so that they weren't overflowing. Now I've got a bowl of extra beads that I'll let dry up and use to replace them as needed. 
  • MarkwellMarkwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    I did the same thing when watering my black ice beads for the first time...easy mistake to make. 
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • 90+_Irishman90+_Irishman Posts: 12,408 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I personally use either boveda or kitty litter but to each their own :)
    "When walking in open territory bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them."
  • deadmandeadman Posts: 8,804 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I personally use either boveda or kitty litter but to each their own :)
    I do both. 65 boveda packs spread out and two small containers of kitty litter 
  • jd50aejd50ae Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Markwell said:
    I did the same thing when watering my black ice beads for the first time...easy mistake to make. 

    I spent 2 hours trying to pick up the squishy escape artists thingys off the sink and floor (I was having visions of X-Files). Only use the closed round ones now.
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    jd50ae said:
    Markwell said:
    I did the same thing when watering my black ice beads for the first time...easy mistake to make. 

    I spent 2 hours trying to pick up the squishy escape artists thingys off the sink and floor (I was having visions of X-Files). Only use the closed round ones now.
    I heard multiple stories about this happening so I was like "I'm just going to fill them 2/3 of the way up". Even then they were pushing the lids off, but they weren't to the point of turning me into the black alien spiderman. Now I've got a bowl of extras. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    And it’s all loaded up. Took a little time to get everything sorted how I want but definitely worth it in the end. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Also, everyone should take the time to sort their cigars when they get an itch to buy more. I thought I had about 100 total. It was like 250. The ones I thought I had almost finished, I had like half of them still left. 
  • CharlieHeisCharlieHeis Posts: 8,144 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I hate to be that guy but I would season it for a week or two before I put any cigars in. 
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @CharlieHeis
    I've wiped it down 3 times earlier this week and it has been holding at 78 for the past three days. I think it's good but if it's not I'll just put everything back in the cooler and let it season longer. 
  • CharlieHeisCharlieHeis Posts: 8,144 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @CharlieHeis
    I've wiped it down 3 times earlier this week and it has been holding at 78 for the past three days. I think it's good but if it's not I'll just put everything back in the cooler and let it season longer. 
    I have no experience with the wipes so I should not have offered an uninformed opinion on how this affects the seasoning time, so go for it I guess. It just seemed like a short turn around from receiving to filling it up.
  • CalvinAndHoboCalvinAndHobo Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @CharlieHeis
    It might be, we'll see. And yeah the wipes are these completely unnecessary things that were included with a digital hygrometer and 16 oz bottle of juice that I won for like $12 on an auction site. You wipe down every surface of wood in the humidor every 12 hours or so with them. It just speeds up the time it takes to get the wood seasoned. It seemed to work, the past 3 days when I checked it was 78, 79, and 79 today with just the bowls of water in there. I don't know that I'm right though about it not being too soon. I might be being impatient. It won't be too hard to dump everything back into the cooler and season it more though if I need. 
  • MarkwellMarkwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The number one rule of thumb with seasoning is patience. Like Charlie, I've never used seasoning wipes either...always been hesitant to rub liquid directly onto the wood. That's just me though. Not an old man, but very set in my ways lol. Hopefully things are all good with it though!
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • MarkwellMarkwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    jd50ae said:
    Markwell said:
    I did the same thing when watering my black ice beads for the first time...easy mistake to make. 

    I spent 2 hours trying to pick up the squishy escape artists thingys off the sink and floor (I was having visions of X-Files). Only use the closed round ones now.
    I heard multiple stories about this happening so I was like "I'm just going to fill them 2/3 of the way up". Even then they were pushing the lids off, but they weren't to the point of turning me into the black alien spiderman. Now I've got a bowl of extras. 
    Yeah, that's when I decided to make the switch to 100% Boveda. No mess, no worries...unless you're @dirtdude :D
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
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