Help with My Humidor

[beenblownup]

Hi all,

I seek some of your wisdom. I got my first humidor over Christmas and i am having a few issues. I read up on hoe to season it etc and spent 5 days preparing it for my lovely mixed box of Siglo IV's , Trinidad Coloniales, And Monte 4's. Before i put the cigars in the humidity was holding at 68%. The cigars were held in their packaging till i put them in the humidor. But now that the cigars are in there the humidity is very low 55%. I suspect this just do to the presence of the cigars and will slowly rise as the cigars soak up the moisture? Am I wrong? Have i done something wrong? I soaked the pad for a 1/2 day in distilled water and it is still very wet?

Can anyone offer me some advice on this please?

Thanks From Ireland.

[dicko]

Welcome! Shoot us an intro post in the "newbie introductions" sub-forum so we can say G'day.

I would say some of your problems might be from the 'pad'. If it's one of those tacky foam jobs you get with a new humidor it needs replacement with either beads (heartfelt etc) or a puckifier (pretty much beads). This will help regulate your humidity A LOT better.

Other guys will chime in with much better advice, there is some serious humidor experts here.

Cheers,

Dicko

[El Capitan]

Hi and welcome to FOH.

How long have the cigars been in your humidor?

If you have been storing your cigars in their packaging under ambient RH, then it will take a while for your humidor to stabilise after you add them. Give it a few days, resist opening to check all the time and relax, my experience with desktops is that if they are of a decent quality then they pretty much take care of themselves.

Enjoy those Siglo's!

Cheers,

Mark

[beenblownup]

@ Dicko, i put up a little hello up in the newbie section. Yes i am using the green foam pad. I have the crystals and i will swap it out soon.

@ elcaptian, your probably right the cigars are only in there about 24hours. Ill just have t be patient.

Thanks to both of you for your replies. If i don't see the humidity rise in 3-4 days i may just try to re-season the humidor.

Thanks again for your help

[Erm310mce]

Welcome to the forum!

I find that if desktops are less than 60-70% full with cigars the humidity it is much harder to keep a steady, I find I need to add more water to keep the humidity at a good range, once the desktop is mostly full it stabilizes nicely.

I also second the advice to get rid of the sponge and go to beads, you won't regret it.

Good luck!

[kcheek]

Hi Beenblownup,

I agree with what has all been said here. If you spent 5 days seasoning your humidor, and it was holding at 68%, I see no need to re-season it. You said you kept your smokes in their packages while doing this, so if your ambient RH was lower than 68% your cigars are a little drier and are pulling the humidity out of the air in your humidor. Give it a few days and your RH should slowly climb back up.

While you are waiting on your RH to climb, now would be a good time to order some humidity beads. I like the 65%, but they sell 60 and 70% as well, it's up to what you prefer. Good luck!

[CanuckSARTech]

@ Dicko, i put up a little hello up in the newbie section. Yes i am using the green foam pad. I have the crystals and i will swap it out soon.

@ elcaptian, your probably right the cigars are only in there about 24hours. Ill just have t be patient.

Thanks to both of you for your replies. If i don't see the humidity rise in 3-4 days i may just try to re-season the humidor.

Thanks again for your help

Hey there, BBU.

All of this info given is right on. A few points though:

If you go with the crystal humidifiers (ie - Madelaine, etc.), as well as virtually anything, be sure to stay with pure, distilled water. Don't use PG solution in the crystals (or on beads or active humidification [ie - Cigar Oasis], for that matter). The PG solutions are only "kinda" good for using with the green foam elements, and for making company's money.

If you seasoned it for 5 days, that's more than enough. With putting fresh cigars in a new humidor, you're looking at anywhere from a week to a month for it to stabilize, depending on all the variables. With you stating that your RH is at 55% or so, that's not a thing to fret about either. If you're 50 or lower, or higher than 75, then there may be an issue. But, just give it time, and let it sit. Don't open it every day - give it a few at a time, and let it be. Just let things slowly adjust on their own.

I wouldn't even consider re-seasoning the humidor - if it was done, and you had it up to the right humidity, re-seasoning it now could damage the wood of the humidor, and/or lead to potential over-saturating of the cigars. Just give it lots of time, and re-moisture the humidification element as needed.

Another issue, like Erm310mce stated, is that it all depends also on how full your humidor is. If you have 50 cigars in a 150-count humidor, that's a little on the light side. But, if you're running about 40 cigars in a 50- or even 70-count box, you'd be right on. Either way, most would also agree that your humidor should have about 3/4 of it's space occupied to keep an easy-to-maintain and stable environment.

I too recommend the RH Beads - depending on your smoking preferences, all seem to like the 65% best for Cuban cigars.

[harryleech]

I had a similar issue with my first desktop humidor - I did everything that the books and forums said I should, but the RH level plunged from 70% to 55% as soon as I put the cigars in.

Two days later it was still there. I was so nervous that I was checking it two to three times a day for the next week, which just made the situation worse. After about 10 days it normalised itself and yours probably will too, but for peace of mind and the best results go for the humidity beads.

If you get some good beads (I always use a 65% Puck) add distilled water and leave it closed for a few days, you won't have to worry about keeping a close eye on it.

[beenblownup]

Gents,

Thanks for all the advice. Swapped to the beads earlier today, going to give it a few days and see how she goes! Really appreciate all the input!

Spot on boys

Derek

[El Presidente]

Gents,

Thanks for all the advice. Swapped to the beads earlier today, going to give it a few days and see how she goes! Really appreciate all the input!

Spot on boys

Derek

and Derek.....Relax

If you are still concerned let us know but cigars are tougher than we give them credit for and they will be fine. It will work itself out before you know it.

[ZAZ]

I too recommend the RH Beads - depending on your smoking preferences, all seem to like the 65% best for Cuban cigars.

These, by far, have helped out any humidity 'issues' that I've ever had. Just make sure you get enough for the size of your humidor, use distilled water only, and you'll be set.

[cloganplatt]

Welcome -I'll third, fourth, and fifth the Heartfelt beads - Had some issues holding RH in the zone until I got these. They work like a charm! A little patience goes a long way too.

Cheers!

[Van55]

I'm going to reiterate what I have found and recommended for years -- odorless silicon cat litter beads are every bit as effective as the beads sold by Heartfelt and others and far, far less expensive.

http://www.amazingcatlitter.com/litter-facts-faq.html

[fred170]

I recieved a humidor from my wife ( thank you baby) which holds 100 cigrs for X mas and my method for seasoning it is simple:

Beads, Puck, and spanish cedar linings from my cuban cigar boxes. I swap out the humidification element that came with the humidor because the humidification element that come with most humidors are not sufficient in maintaining RH in your box. I would let my cigars rest in there for about a week then rotating them to assure proper humidification. I live in the mountains so the air is dry. On occasion when the winter hits, like now, I throw in a Boveda pack to maintain the RH at 68. I would let them rest there for about 2 to three weeks then light up.....They should taste awesome....