Worried about rh in humidor's.

[metro_habanos]

Hello everybody, I hope some of you can give me some assistance.  I started out storing my box's of cigar's in an airtight container and the humidity hold's at what Boveda's I have in there 69%. Recently I won a inexpensive 400 cigar chest humidor from Quality humidors. I've been seasoning it for 1 month with 2 320 gram and 4 60 gram 69% Rh Boveda's and cannot get the humidor to 69%. If I place all of the Boveda's in an airtight container I can get it to 69% in a matter of hours. I am having the same problem with my new Daniel Marshall Treasure Chest I just stole from a guy. I've placed 8 72% Boveda's in the humi and I can get it to 64%.

Now I am thinking, is it because the container's are airtight and the humidor's are not? Or is it because the container is plastic and the humis are wood? I'm going nut's over this. I have about 24 box's and would like to get some of those in to the humidor's.

Thank you for your help in advanced.

Tim

 

 

[PapaDisco]

1.  It's certain that the wooden humidors are more 'leaky' than the tupperdores.  By how much is difficult to say.  I have a cheap desktop humidor that, judging by the longevity of its Bovedas, is nearly as good as my tupperdores.  I've had the same Bovedas in that thing for 2 years.   But it's much more common for these things to be super leaky and need new bovedas every 3 months.

2.  I don't think Bovedas are very good for seasoning wood.  They just don't deliver enough humidity fast and hard enough.  I'd guess that your wood boxes are showing up at about 7-8% Moisture Content, which is what many woodshops would want to work the wood at.  That equates to maybe 40-50% rH in a room at 70F (rough guess on my part).  So you have to get all that wood up another 50% in Moisture Content, and the Bovedas will have a hard time doing that.  I wipe down the interior walls with distilled water several times over a week, and then have a go at measuring the internal rH.

 

[Philc2001]

I agree with @PapaDisco wood humidors have a hard time keeping a good seal.

Have you considered active electronic humidification? There are a couple of different devices on the market. I have a Cigar Oasis in my 300-count wood night table humidor. I eliminated the green foam it came with and replaced it with soil moist crystals. I add distilled water every 3-4 months as the water evaporates, and it holds rock steady at 62% RH at 76F.

[Buck14]

Here’s what I would do.  Remove cigars and Bovedas from humidor. Get a big bowl and fill it with about 10 ounces of DISTILLED water.  Put the bowl on the bottom of your humidor.  Get a good Hygrometer that you KNOW is accurate and put it in the humidor.  Open the humidor AFTER 72 hours NO PEEKING!

If your humidor is functional the rH should be 75 OR GREATER at this stage.  If so, remove bowl with distilled water, reinsert your preferred Boveda packs, check rH in 24 hours.  You should be right at or very close to your preferred rH.  Insert cigars.  Send @Buck14 nice box of aged RyJ Cazadores as thank you!

[retrofail]

I agree with @Buck14, except that instead of a bowl of distilled water, I soak a couple of sponges, lightly squeeze out the excess water and place on saucers inside the humidor. I think it speeds it up a little bit, but I could be wrong. Just personal preference. Both methods.will get you there. The point being you need excess moisture in the environment that the Bovedas can’t provide fast enough. 

[BarryNY]

don't wipe down the actual spanish cedar and the Daniel Marshall (unless damaged) should hold humidity as well as or better than anything out there.

i just "seasoned" a large 48" wide x 6' high cabinet to 73% RH with 9 bowls of distilled water sitting inside for 10 days.

i've since removed the bowls and installed my active humidification system which I keep set at 65% RH.  no boxes are in there yet.

in 2 days the RH has dropped to 70%.  I'm happy.

when seasoning use distilled water in bowls (with sponges or without) and keep a calibrated hygrometer in there.  don't even look for 5 days.

why 69%?

[ender.lmm]

Bóveda also sells a "humidor seasoning kit" at 84% humidity. You just those and it will jump start the humidity in a few days.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[PigFish]

You have a differential hysteresis problem. Basically and input/output problem.

Cheers! -Piggy

[rcarlson]

69% is too moist IMO.  If you're in CC's I'd take it to 63-64%.  You'll get much better burn and taste.  NC's are something different though.  

[Nattyboh74]

Normally you'll see a lot RH at the top and higher at the bottom. Thus leading you to store your CCs at the top and your NCs at the bottom. Usually about 2-3rh higher at the bottom. While now ideal, it's better than 63-65 for NCS

[metro_habanos]

3 hours ago, PigFish said:

You have a differential hysteresis problem. Basically and input/output problem.

Cheers! -Piggy

Pig, I was thinking that may be the problem. So I will remove all Boveda's and place in several bowls with new sponges and distilled water  and check in 10 days. As far as the Rh, I read that for storing/aging cigars, you want the Rh 68 ~ 72 mainly holding steady and at 70f also no fluctuation. If not at 70% I will try the moist wipe's.

Thank's everyone.

Tim

[PigFish]

3 hours ago, smfdff said:

Pig, I was thinking that may be the problem. So I will remove all Boveda's and place in several bowls with new sponges and distilled water  and check in 10 days. As far as the Rh, I read that for storing/aging cigars, you want the Rh 68 ~ 72 mainly holding steady and at 70f also no fluctuation. If not at 70% I will try the moist wipe's.

Thank's everyone.

Tim

... that is a little wet for my blood my friend but Lord knows I don't want to conflict with what you read! -LOL

Best of luck on your project. Cheers! -tP

Oh, do yourself a favor and get another hygrometer to set outside the wooden humidor. I say this, so you an get a bead on when to remove water prior to your cigars getting moldy, or add water before they get too dry. The best way for you to correlate the water output of your box is to attempt to track its reaction to low/high rH at a given temp.

[metro_habanos]

@PigFish what then would you recommend as the optimal Rh for ageing your cigars in a airtight container?. I did as @PapaDisco suggested and moisten some sponges with distilled water, wiped of any drops or excess water and closed her up tight. Within the hour she reads 72%Rh. Will let that sit and check in 24 hrs and again in 48 hrs. As for the Daniel Marshall, I blew it out to remove the dust and cigar droppings, tobacco wrapper leave and placed a 69% 320gram Boveda. 

[PigFish]

Aging is not my forte. I am about smoking. That said, I am very particular about how I store. Storage is a personal thing as is smoking for taste. I smoke for taste, therefore store for taste. I like dryer cigars.

I like cigars with an equilibrium moisture content based on 70F and 60rH. But that is me, and there it is, because you asked.

Your challenge will be in reducing the likelihood of mold. 70rH is pretty high (MHO). This means that dips in temperature can create excessive water in your cigars. (Bad!) That could mean mold (Worse!)

If using Boveda, you might want to attempt to keep you environment as even temperature as possible. A warm afternoon can cause excessive evaporation of your products, cigar included, and then a corresponding reduction of temperature can cause actual condensation in your AT container. Watch for that. In order to avoid this, I would store dryer, and attempt to keep temperature stable. A few degree variation is not serious. A 20F spread, well that can cause some chaos!

Hope that helps. Cheers! -Piggy

[stogieluver]

Agree with Piggy.  60% rH @ 70dFis it for me (all CC"s).  Absolutely no higher than 65%.  Negative effects on burn and taste anything over low 60's. 

[metro_habanos]

Ahhh. Got it. From the beginning of my cigar hobby I have kept my containers in an interior bedroom closet. My home was built in 1956 and has lath and plaster walls and ceiling and hardwood floors. No sun, even on the door. The warmest I have seen it get on my thermometer is 72f and then drops to 64 in the early morning. Is this 8 degree drop a problem? As for Rh, when in the closet it sits at 67~70 throughout the day.