Severe Heartfelt beads dusting. Defective product?

[davidskch]

Hi all. I just received my heartfelt bead 65% last week and today i took it out to recharge. However, when i grabs my nylon mesh bag with hearyfelt beads i felt something sandy. 

I put the bag on my desk and noticed a lot of fine white particles coming off the beads.

I searched the forum and could not find anything. Also, all my cigars are coated with this fine dust of white particles. 

I hope it is not toxic as I don't want to ne sucking on them.

Pics attached

 

[zyxwvu44]

Mine do that too... I don't know if it's normal or not though.

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[prodigy]

How do you wet them? I dont use them, but I have heard that over wetting them causes them to crack and burst. They only need a very small amount of water to saturate and can easily be over watered.

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[davidskch]

I soak them in a bowl of distrilled water 

[xtcat9k]

Did you get those beads directly from Heartfelt? I generally don't get much cracking from the Heartfelt beads, but some of the other brands crack badly. Also, did you get the mesh bag from them as well? 

[Corylax18]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:05 PM, prodigy said:

How do you wet them? I dont use them, but I have heard that over wetting them causes them to crack and burst. They only need a very small amount of water to saturate and can easily be over watered.

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Yup, 100% this. I "soaked" the first batch that I had and they can actually absorb too much water, then break. The dust is broken beads. Do as they instructions recommend and spray the beads. They dont need nearly as much water as you would think. 

[Silverstix]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:19 PM, davidskch said:

I soak them in a bowl of distrilled water 

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That is a no-no. Get a cheap little spray water bottle from the dollar store, fill with distilled water, give them a spritz and put them back in your humi. Wait a couple days, if you don't see your RH climbing, repeat the process. Remember its much easier to just give them another spritz and recharge them slowly than it is to dry out the oversaturated beads

[BG1165]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:05 PM, prodigy said:

How do you wet them? I dont use them, but I have heard that over wetting them causes them to crack and burst. They only need a very small amount of water to saturate and can easily be over watered.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 

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The easiest way I've found is to get them dry (white in color) and then saturate the percentage of beads that you want you humidity to be. So I basically eyeball it and saturate 2/3 of them, shake excess off and let them set for a couple hours and then mix in the dry beads. I'll lean to over saturating  because a quick second or three with a blow drier will bring them down.

[davidskch]

 

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:27 PM, BG1165 said:

The easiest way I've found is to get them dry (white in color) and then saturate the percentage of beads that you want you humidity to be. So I basically eyeball it and saturate 2/3 of them, shake excess off and let them set for a couple hours and then mix in the dry beads. I'll lean to over saturating  because a quick second or three with a blow drier will bring them down.

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When you saturate them do you soak or spray? I have learned from this cigar guru's youtube channel called Cigar Obessesion that soaking them is fine as well. 

[Corylax18]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:34 PM, davidskch said:

 

When you saturate them do you soak or spray? I have learned from this cigar guru's youtube channel called Cigar Obessesion that soaking them is fine as well. 

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Yes, it does work. But you can very easily over saturate the beads and burst them, drastically reducing their useful life. I know from experience. 

[xtcat9k]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:34 PM, davidskch said:

 

When you saturate them do you soak or spray? I have learned from this cigar guru's youtube channel called Cigar Obessesion that soaking them is fine as well. 

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He also runs them under the sink faucet too, which obviously isn't distilled water, so he is doing it exactly opposite the way Heartfelt says to do it. 

[prodigy]

Even just dipping them into and then immediately out of a bowl of water is likely way too much water. Seems like we have identified your problem.

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[SCgarman]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:34 PM, davidskch said:

 

When you saturate them do you soak or spray? I have learned from this cigar guru's youtube channel called Cigar Obessesion that soaking them is fine as well. 

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Don't take that guy's word as gospel. IMO he is a sanctimonious idiot. A genius in his own mind. I stopped watching him years ago.

[dvickery]

I NEVER ever wet my beads ... beads are in nylon and water source is a florists foam brick I trimmed to the size of a cake of soap .

when humidity is needed ... I soak the florists foam ... then put it in my cooler(s) .

some of my beads are over 20 years old ... never had so much as a single bead crack (or mold) ... but they do eventually turn a light brownish sort of colour .

Once again (a bit late) ... don’t wet yer beads (ever) .

derrek

[BG1165]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:34 PM, davidskch said:

 

When you saturate them do you soak or spray? I have learned from this cigar guru's youtube channel called Cigar Obessesion that soaking them is fine as well. 

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I bought 1 lb, and two of the mesh bags. I put roughly 2/3 in one bag, put it in a shallow dish and add water(distilled) a tablespoon at a time until they get clear. I shake them around a few times in the process.

[joeypots]

I put a sponge soaked in distilled water in a dish and put that in the bottom of the humidor when the RH gets low.  In a few days I take it out and all is well for a month or two.

[dar24601]

No definitely don't soak em in water, best solution I've found is use combination of beads and bovedas. So when you remove the beads bovedas keep rh.

  To recharge the beads I just get a washcloth get it damp with distilled water, wrap the beads in them toss it in a zip lock and let em sit 2 days.  Gets them where I want.  Note my beads are divided into 1/2 lb bags

[LLC]

  On 10/18/2018 at 3:25 PM, Silverstix said:

That is a no-no. Get a cheap little spray water bottle from the dollar store, fill with distilled water, give them a spritz and put them back in your humi. Wait a couple days, if you don't see your RH climbing, repeat the process. Remember its much easier to just give them another spritz and recharge them slowly than it is to dry out the oversaturated beads

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Exactly  

I spray with distilled water when I see humidity has gone down a bit. You don’t want them totally wet because they are meant to absorb or release moisture. I’ve used the same beads for years without ever having an issue. 

[BeerPimp]

I just started using them.   I have mine in holders that came with my humidor that originally contained the green foam.   I try to wet about 50% of them when it is time to add water using the syringe they sell on their website which works well.

[IanMcLean68]

I have used Heartfelt for about 5 years now. Soaking them is a big no-no, as you will just end up having to dry them out with a blow dryer. They need very, very little added water!

The powder is partly from the beads cracking, but it is also the beads shedding the compounds they contain for both sucking up and releasing humidity. If this comes off the beads, Rh balance is affected, and they wont work as specified.

Mine keep perfectly now at 65% Rh, and I keep them almost dry - I only add a few drops worth of water, sprayed on, every 6 months or so.

 

[clickbangdoh]

I switched to bovedas after dealing with the beads for a few years. What turned me off was a batch of beads that was definitely NOT keeping the correct humidity, they were 65%, yet even if left in a plastic bag with a water source for weeks, they never seemed to absorb moisture, just stayed pure white. May have just been a mix up, but was pretty disappointing to have spent the coin on them only to have them not function well.

[IanMcLean68]

After experimentation, I have found a good way to hydrate the Heartfelt beads when needed. If you draw some distilled water into a clean syringe - I use a 10ml one, with a blunt tip needle, and then push the plunger all the way down on the syringe to expel all the water, and then if you draw the plunger back out on the syringe again, there is just enough water left in the syringe for 1/2 pound of beads. Quickly pushing the plunger back down on the syringe releases that tiny amount of left over water as a fine mist, and that is enough for at least 6 months for 1/2 pound of beads.

[mt1]

Mine used to do that too even though I used a spray bottle to rehydrate (I probably over did it).  I got fed up, threw em out, got Bovedas and never looked back.

[IanMcLean68]

I nearly gave up on the beads too. However the secret really is to keep them almost dry. After making the same mistake of over-hydrating and seeing humidity average 5% higher than it should have been, I completely dried them out with a blow dryer. I did not rehydrate them. As they cooled from being blow dried, they absorbed enough moisture from the atmosphere. I put them back in my humidor, and I haven't had a problem since. A very, very light mist with distilled water every 6 months to a year now is enough (just a drop or two of waters worth maximum).

Basically I went from having 30-50% of the beads clear and hydrated, the rest milky, to having only about 5-10% of the beads clear and hydrated.

[Oscar300]

 

 

Mine did this, I had these beads for years, and they are great, but changed to boveda now and will never go back.