humidor problems

[garn3372]

i just received a brand new Cuban Crafters 120 count humidor, i primed it with my half pound 65% heartfelt beads and a tray of distilled water to help along the way, I let it sit for over 36 hours and the humidity got to the right %. Now i have put 1 box of 10 and several singles in it and within 12 hrs it dropped down to 58%. I was just wondering should i put the small tray of water back into it or let it go for another 24 hours and see if it rises again. Any help would be an god sent as its got me stuffed why it has dropped so much as i had them in an tupperdor and had no problems. Cheers

[PigFish]

Everything in your humidor has its own adsorption/desorption characteristics. Not all items, confined in a small space will conform to ERH at the same time or at the same rate. You may find that while the cigars are dry, the box is wet or visa versa. The point being, that you can wreck the humidity level on an individual item, while you are waiting for something else to come to equilibrium. You simply don't know what is drying your humidor! Water takes time to migrate at 60 to 70 DF. If need be, I can post a data log of dry desiccant in a sealed test chamber drying the chamber via a passive method. Using a data logger taking samples every few seconds will show that it takes many hours to come to ERH via this method. Active systems move much more quickly but are not practical in a lot of circumstances.

Checking your humidity at the same time, or more importantly, the same temperature everyday is also important. If the first time you checked it, it was 65 degrees F, and then the next time it was 75 DF, the humidity (RH) might change (will change) while the absolute humidity may not have! Having the humidor in a stable temperature environment will help sort out this problem. RH at a given temperature is the goal. 65 RH at 60 degrees F and 65 RH at 75 degrees F, represent two completely different environments. The 75 DF environment has a lot more water in it (relatively).

My best advice is not to be too hasty on jumping into adding more water into the system. Give it some time. 58 RH is not going to ruin any cigars and (IMHO) dryer is better than wetter. Passive systems work slowly. Every time you open the box you get an air exchange. You should post a hygrometer outside your humidor as well. In this way you know what you are fighting; dry air, or moist air.

Good luck. -Piggy

[garn3372]

Cheers Piggy It fluctuates between 59F and 66F as im never home during the day my place gets cold (still winter here) i put my heater on and it rises again. So if i persevere with it by your answer it should be fine. Thanks heaps for the reply.

A good friend Splitty