Helping a Newbie with Humidor

[Scarhead]

A colleague of mine who is rather green to cigars wants to get a cabinet style humidor. He asked about a humidifier and I told him that he doesn't have to get caught up in the particulars. A standard humidifier one would use to humidify a room would work. The goal in the end is to create and maintain relative humidity in the humidor. I am not an expert by any means, but I feel comfortable in my theory here. In other words, a regular humidifier with a humidistat that would turn it on and off would work just as well as one designed specifically for a humidor. Am I correct?

[Cohiba Stevie]

Absolutley not.

Humidifiers for home usage like the ones used for medical reasons cannot REGULATE humidity, all they do is continually pump moist air into the surrounding atmosphere. Your friend would be better going with humidity beads, like the clay or silica type because these will actually absorb moisture as well as dissipate it. If not go for a much more appropriate active system that is aimed at cigar storage.

Hope he gets sorted.

[Figaro]

A colleague of mine who is rather green to cigars wants to get a cabinet style humidor. He asked about a humidifier and I told him that he doesn't have to get caught up in the particulars. A standard humidifier one would use to humidify a room would work. The goal in the end is to create and maintain relative humidity in the humidor. I am not an expert by any means, but I feel comfortable in my theory here. In other words, a regular humidifier with a humidistat that would turn it on and off would work just as well as one designed specifically for a humidor. Am I correct?

Technically speaking, a humidifier is a humidifier. Whether it's to humidify a room or cigars, the principle remains the same: release

humidity in the air.

However ...

A room humidifier has a high error margin (sometimes up to 25%) and will only result in improper storage. The most advanced active cigar humidifier has an error of less than 1%. Air inside the cabinet must also move around to allow an even and constant ageing of the cigars. Most room humidifiers blow humidity in one direction only. For that reason, the interior design of the cabinet is very important. Humidity rises so any obstruction will prevent it from rising up (or at least, only a small part will). There should be room in the back of the cabinet and fans in different locations. The most advanced cigar humidifier rotates the air in a convection manner.

Unless your friend opts for a good active cigar humidifier, I suggest to use beads and fans to move the air around (a lot easier to set up too).

Absolutley not.

Humidifiers for home usage like the ones used for medical reasons cannot REGULATE humidity, all they do is continually pump moist air into the surrounding atmosphere. Your friend would be better going with humidity beads, like the clay or silica type because these will actually absorb moisture as well as dissipate it. If not go for a much more appropriate active system that is aimed at cigar storage.

Hope he gets sorted.

I though the same until I found out that that few "premium" cabinet humidor makers (Pendergast, Davidoff and Oettinger) use a traditional room humidifier (and fans to move the air up and around). Simply ridiculous when you pay several thousand dollars. Moreover, they all have a very high RH% error margin.

[Scarhead]

I suggested the beads, but he wants an active humidifier after seeing my setup. At a very rudimentary level I presumed the humidifiers (assuming they have a humidistat to turn it on and off) would be the same. Of course, hygrometers placed in the cabinet are necessary.

[CanuckSARTech]

For the cost, getting a standard humidifier (commercial, home-use one like you mentioned), versus getting a cigar-specific one like a Cigar Oasis or a Hydra unit, it just makes sense to spend the minimal few extra dollars and get set up correctly from the get-go.

[Scarhead]

I don't really understand the difference. If the end result is only to humidify an area to a given percentage, then why not just use any device that will get it there? For example, I have a cabinet that is roughly 1' 5" deep by 3'3" wide by 3' tall and I use an "Air O Swiss" humidifier that is intended to humidify a room. I do not have any problems maintaining RH at or around 65%. I have two hygrometers in the cabinet that read the same percentage (+/- 2% for each). The readout on the Air O Swiss humidifier deviates roughly 10% from the hygrometers, so I have the humidistat on the machine set accordingly. The humidistat controls when it turns on, so when the humidity in the cabinet falls below the percentage I have it set at it will turn on until it reaches the set percentage and then turns off. My goal is to get the humidity in that cabinet in the range of 65 to 70 percent, so it doesn't matter how I do that. Whether I use an active humidifier that is said to be designed for humidors or a humidifier that I would use in a living room I am still humidifying the air. I don't see why it would matter what device I use to get me to the end result. Again, am I incorrect about this?

[CanuckSARTech]

Scar, when you are trying to get your cigars into the 65 to 70% RH range, a humidifier that "deviates roughly 10% from the hygrometers", that can be a HUGE margin of error.

Firstly, is that 10% the manufacturer's guarantee, or just what you're finding right now? I'm curious, as this can potentially become a gap that gets bigger with time and operation of the unit, depending on how it was designed. But, saying that this thing is at 10% deviation, and then your digital hygrometers are at about 2%, a presumptuous potential 12% is too big of a gap for my comfort.

Lower than 60%, and you can risk drying out the essential oils of your cigars, leaving them tasteless and a waste; higher than about 72%, and you risk a mold and/or beetle infestation. If you're shooting for 65-70%, the margin of error leaves both of these extremes in the range of posibilities.

I just look at the value of what you're protecting. If you spend over $1k-$3k on cigars (an averaged presumption of mine, based on the potential box storage that I figure you could squeeze into the size explained in your post), isn't it worth it to spend $100 on proper humidification, rather than to spend $40 or so just to save a few bucks? I think that there's other areas (lighters, cutters, etc.) to potentially save money on with your cigars, if that's what you're after. I wouldn't cheap out, unless the alternative was just as much of a sure bet as a more cigar-specific option (such as with cooler-dors over cabinets, for example).

Just some thoughts.

[Scarhead]

Thanks for your feedback Canuck. Let me explain. The humidifier has a digital readout that shows the current and desired humidity levels. In addition to this, I have two digital hygrometers at opposite sides of the cabinet and if they are not reading identical to one another they are one percentage point away. I've found that the readout on the humidifier is, on average, 10% below the readouts on the hygrometers at a given time. I've read in numerous places that digital hygrometers are typically accurate to +/- 2%. So, I base the humidity levels off of the hygrometers and not the readout on the humidifier. I then set the humidistat on the humidifier to turn on the machine when it falls below 55% which would equal 65% on the hygros. It may seem like a lot to go through, but it really isn't and I've found that conditions within the cabinet to be very stable. The most important thing is I really like the taste of the cigars kept in these conditions.