Is it safe to leave a glass of water in the desktop humi?

[nick87night]

hey guys, so i've searched the forums here and at puff. I have a small desktop humi (150 count) that i keep my single NC's in. recently i got bored and decided to take them all out and reorganize by region. in the time frame i think i lost a lot of moisture in the cedar. i'm holding my RH steady around 60-61 but that's with my heartfelt beads more than 80% wet and a shotglass half full of distilled water. My question is, is it safe to leave the shotglass of water in there for the winter? thanks in advance! =)

[polarbear]

Keep a really close eye on it

If you're concerned about re-seasonig your sitcks I would take them out of the humi and put them in a tupperware container with the beads and leave the glass of water in the empty humi for a while

That being said, 61% isnt that low and our resident humidity expert (Pigfish) makes a good case for storeing cigars around the 60% mark anyway.

How are they smoking?

Any tunneling or burning hot?

[nick87night]

i haven't experienced any tunneling, but the last one i had from the box smoked pretty fast compared to normal. maybe it is time to re-season the humi for a week. i was hoping i could avoid doing that since my coolerdor is pretty full.

[paulF]

I believe re-seasoning will do the humidor well but putting a glass of water in the humidor while keeping an eye on it won't do any harm from my experience.

Had a similar situation when i had to move my humidor from one room to another much warmer one. HR levels went down to around 56% so I put a small glass of water in the humidor with a tablespoon of distilled water and in less than a day, HR levels were back to 61-62 % which is the perfect level of HR to my smoking preferences. Left the glass of water for a few days while constantly watching the levels and after a few days when i removed the glass of water, the HR level was still stable at 61-62% and still is so to my mind, the Cedar must have been re-seasoned by that water. Might be wrong on this one though but that's what happened.

Just make sure you don't spill any water on the cigars

[Colt45]

Personally, I do not wet my media directly, but put small containers of distilled water in my humidors as necessary.

[nick87night]

i just don't have any free space in the coolerdor to clear out the desktop. so maybe i'll leave the glass in for the week and see how it does. i'm hoping the water in there will help even it out. i really hate winters. i have to resort to shorter sticks to smoke so i don't freeze my fingers off and my humidors suffer from the furnace blasting all day haha.

thanks for the help guys. i'll just keep an eye on the hygrometers for now. worse comes to worse i'll make some space in the coolerdor and reseason the humi.

[Smallclub]

I don't understand how an humidor that have been left open for a couple of hours – I presume you didn't need more time to reorganize a 150 count humidor – would need to be reseasoned… (unless you live in an extremely dry environment, of course).

[AlohaStyle]

You sure your hygrometer is reading correct? If you already have moist beads and a shot glass of water in there, I would definitely recalibrate your hygro and make sure it's reading correct. And if it is reading correct and you want to get the Rh up, leaving a glass of distilled water in it for a bit won't hurt.

[CaptainQuintero]

I'd stick with beads personally; doing anything for speed reasons with humidity and cigars never seems to go well in my experience

It seems more likely that you simply lost the correct rh air in your desktop by leaving it open too long. Being a small desktop with no airflow it will probably take two or three days without being opened for the humidity to get back to what it was.

Personally I'd remove the glass of water, close the humi up (youre probably opening it up every few hours to check on it and putting yourself back to square one) and forget about it for three days and then reassess the situation. Patience and slow and steady is how to go

[nick87night]

i just use a calibration bag from boveda last month. i even took a hygrometer from another humi and it read the same. it's holding at 61% right now. i'll just watch it for the next couple of days and see what happens.

[Edwhatever]

The first time I did that it was during spring time. It got warm for a few days and half my sticks went moldy.

The second time I did it (havent learned my lesson apparently) the glass tipped over and spilled water all over. The humidor cracked a day after.

[Smallclub]

I suppose it's safe until someone bumps into it…

[sengjc]

That's how I seasoned my humidors.

Make sure to not leave it in for too long otherwise you may get mold growing in the humidor - put a calibrated hygro in with it and once it touches about 75% to 80%, take the glass out.

Put in beads or other implements of your choosing to let it stabilize at the RH of your choice for a few days. If it stabilises below your desired RH, repeat seasoning step until a stable RH is reached.

Hope this helps.

[madandana]

I would use a small plastic container with a sponge in it and poke holes lid. It would really suck if the glass tipped over.

[sengjc]

That's a good idea too.

[nick87night]

Well I decided to pull the glass out this morning.my beads are saturated. So I just need to control my urges to open it. I taped it shut to keep myself from peeking haha.

[CaptainQuintero]

When you do check test the feel of the cigars, trust that over any hygrometer. They should be crisp to the touch but with a little spring/bounce to the main body if the cigar.

If there is no crackle when you gently roll a cigar between your fingers it's probably over humidified

[nick87night]

thanks captain. i'll leave it alone until the weekend. i don't think the weather is going to be nice enough for me to sit outside and enjoy one. i might just have to dip into the CC humi and smoke something from there. haha.

[lovesmallrg]

Mine are larger than a desktop.

I frequently will put in a sponge saturated with distilled water for a while, sitting on a round plastic lid that has a small lip.

The sponge has more surface area than even a bowl. You do want a sponge that has a bit of holes in it rather than a really smooth surface.

Works great and no worries about liquid in the humidor.

I only leave it in till I reach the desired RH or 1% above and take it out.

[winelover]

I have a desktop humi at work. The ambient humidity plays havoc with my cigars especially in winter when the heating is cranked up. It nearly killed off c.70 sticks which went down to about 45% rh. I had to rescue them with drastic action - glass of water in humi. It did the trick and the cigars don't crack. Now keep the wster topped up. I used a small plastic cup and cut off most of it leaving it about one third of its original height.

Best of luck

G

[fokker4me]

Rather then all that get some 63-66% boveda packs. They work wonderfully.

[Cigar Surgeon]

i just use a calibration bag from boveda last month. i even took a hygrometer from another humi and it read the same. it's holding at 61% right now. i'll just watch it for the next couple of days and see what happens.

Digital hygrometer?

Look at the worst case scenario for a shot glass of water. It spills ruining multiple cigars and potentially your humidor. My recommendation is to get a large boveda pack and drop it in there.

They're excellent for low humidity winters.

[nick87night]

Maybe I'll grab a large boveda pack and toss it in there.

The rh now is running about 63 without the shotglass of water. I only use digital hygrometers now.

[jpastin]

I would steer clear of the shotglass method, too much chance for spillage and ruination. My place gets crazy in the winter, super dry. I toss a bunch of the gel jars in there, they tend to overhumidify so I regulate with Bovedas. Bovedas alone dry out too quickly in my place, I cant recharge them faster than they dry out. But I've had pretty good luck with the method I just described. I tend to always be at right around the Boveda setting.