65% Beads Not Holding Humidity


CigarB

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Hi Guys,

I'm really starting to go crazy with this humidity thing! I tossed the floral foam last week when I noticed some mold on

my humidifier housing. It was keeping solid humidity, but the sight of mold was too much. So I bought some 65% beads.No sign of mold, but I'm stuck at 58%. Hygrometer salt tested at 74% and when I check my two tupperdores that have Xikar jars they're right on. I have triple the amount of beads needed and if anything I have more distilled

water than not enough. Could over saturation cause low humidity? I'm confident in the seal from my previous readings

with the foam. Its very dry here now, winter season, but I thought the beads were

fail proof. Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks in advance!

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Ihad 3 lbs of beads going in my tower and it was driveing me bonkers so I put my CO2 back in with the beads and everything stays the way I like it now. I just keep the beads so if there is a chance it gets too humid, they will soak it up

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Hi Guys,

Its very dry here now, winter season, but I thought the beads were

fail proof. Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks in advance!

You need to keep the (distilled) water up to the beads. Are you sure your are saturating them? They need to go as clear as glass.

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Well I'm stumped. Have you added any new stock recently that might be dragging it down?

It doesn't stand to reason that over saturated beads would create a lower humidity. When I oversaturated my beads on one occasion the humidity was elevated by 10% to around 74-75% RH. I baked them in the oven on a cookie sheet and the world was right again. Other than adding something that would pull out the moisture, I'm not sure.

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It can be frustrating. If your beads are clear, and your hygrometer is reading in the 50's% RH, you may need to give them more time to begin working. Something isn't correct because the beads should not stay clear in that RH very long. No more than a couple days.

I may suggest making sure the beads are saturated per the instructions that came with them, close the door and check back in 3 days. The internal environment needs to stabilize, and that takes time.

My experience with humidity beads have been nothing less than perfect. Extremely accurate, long lasting, reliable. Hang in there, give them some. Let us know how it goes.

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Just a couple of questions. How long have the beads been fully saturated in the humi? And are you checking often?

I find that even when beads are fully saturated, they still can take some time to bring the RH back up to desired levels in a dry humi. Secondly, you may be checking too often. Constant opening and closing will reduce the RH, especially during the winter when you're most likely running a heater. During the winter, I pop in a a couple of 70% pucks as my gas ducted heater reduces the RH..

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My humidor has a built in housing for my humidification element on the inside roof of the lid (Ceder housing with 8 open slats). I had the mesh bag of beads in there. Last night I figured I'd take them out of there and just lay them on a box so they're more open. Woke up this morning and checked, 64% and with my hygrometer being -1 this equals dead on. So I guess this was the issue, I'm kind of perplexed though because I would think the housing with open slats would allow enough transfer, but I guess not. A little mad because now I loose some valuable storage space and it doesn't look as clean.

A quick side question, how close can cigars (open singles in this case) be to the beads. Can they be touching without causing problems? Thank you for the responses, very helpful and insightful!

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I would say they could be right next to the beads and there not be an issue. I personally wouldn't want them touching though, so I'd probably slip a piece of paper between the cigar and the bag of beads. Theoretically if the outside of the bag isn't wet, then they should be able to touch with out a problem, but once again, I wouldn't do it.

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Glad you figured it out! Sorry about loss of space but piece of mind is worth it.

Have you seen the tubes that beads come in from Heartfelt? They offer a few different sizes, long and skinny and some with a larger diameter. Seems these would be more efficient for space than the nylon bag.

Hope that is helpful.

And, I agree as close as possible without touching cigars for distance away.

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I may suggest you letting your box sit for a bit, maybe a week in that. Once it stabilizes I'd image you could use the humidification holder again. Or you could modify the lid so instead of 8 slots, maybe make it into 4 slots or even 2 for easier air exchange.

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Hi Guys,

I'm really starting to go crazy with this humidity thing! I tossed the floral foam last week when I noticed some mold on

my humidifier housing. It was keeping solid humidity, but the sight of mold was too much. So I bought some 65% beads.No sign of mold, but I'm stuck at 58%. Hygrometer salt tested at 74% and when I check my two tupperdores that have Xikar jars they're right on. I have triple the amount of beads needed and if anything I have more distilled

water than not enough. Could over saturation cause low humidity? I'm confident in the seal from my previous readings

with the foam. Its very dry here now, winter season, but I thought the beads were

fail proof. Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Hi there.

I would suggest replacing the battery in the digital hygrometer (assuming you're using a digital hygrometer, that is) and re-calibrate using the salt test (not a "calibration kit").

Also, if you only added a little h2o to the beads and they are now fully saturated - that would definitely lead me to believe that your RH is high and that the hygrometer isn't reading correctly.

You can dry the beads with a hair dryer set on low until they turn milky white and put them back in to absorb the excess moisture.

I hope this helps

~Mark

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Theoretically if the outside of the bag isn't wet, then they should be able to touch with out a problem, but once again, I wouldn't do it.

I would not either. I had a mesh bag with 65% beads sitting on top of a sealed zip lock with a dozen robustos in it. The top layer that had the plastic between the cigars and bead bag all absorbed moisture and ended up with exploding wrappers (zip locks are water proof to liquid but not vapor transfer) Discovery of 6 lost sticks was a good lesson. Nothing with high humidity gets next to any cigars that are not in a cedar box.

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