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When to give up on your humidor?

StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
edited February 2020 in Cigar 101
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.



Comments

  • genareddoggenareddog Posts: 4,025 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Fill it, put some bovedas in it and see what happens. Or toss it aside and get a cooler.
  • jd50aejd50ae Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    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.
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    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.
  • deadmandeadman Posts: 8,804 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Try painters tape around the seal, humidity is getting out there or in the joints


  • Trykflyr_1Trykflyr_1 Posts: 2,500 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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.
    I'm still troubled by what I did for that Klondike bar...
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,405 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    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.
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  • BKDogBKDog Posts: 1,229 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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.
    "Love is a dung heap, Betty and I am but a c.o.c.k. that climbs upon it to crow."
  • VegasFrankVegasFrank Posts: 16,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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.


    Don't look ↑
  • VegasFrankVegasFrank Posts: 16,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    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.
    Don't look ↑
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    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!
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    edited February 2020
    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.
    Post edited by StoleIt on
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    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.
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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. 
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    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).
  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8
    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!
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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.

    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • TX98Z28TX98Z28 Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Return woody, buy cooler. 
    If you quote me do the @TX98Z28 in your text or I won't be notified of your quote, Thanks.
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Coolers are cooler.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • StoleItStoleIt Posts: 8

    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!

  • ShawnOLShawnOL Posts: 8,284 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good luck. Remember, there's always Tupperware.

    Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.

  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,527 ✭✭✭✭✭

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

    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

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

  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 15,315 ✭✭✭✭✭

    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.

    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,527 ✭✭✭✭✭

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

    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • EgoBoundaryEgoBoundary Posts: 2,159 ✭✭✭✭✭
    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.
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