Heartfelt Beads in Aristocrat

[BrightonCorgi]

I bought a pound of beads for the Aristocrat and directions said to not add water.  Is 1 lb enough?  I added 2 tablespoon's of water.  1 lb didn't fill much of the reservoir. Any tips? 

The house was humid, so reading was at 69% RH at the time I added them and they are 65% RH beads.

[bsubtown]

MY experience with the beads in my winecooler and cooler is that the 65% beads hold around 67%. I have 3 pounds and haven't added water in months. How do you have them placed? I have sieve sleeves that hold about 1/2 pound in a few different spots in the containers. and they seem to hold humidity well. I am in my 9th week waiting my Avallo otherwise I would be able to give you a better comparison. 

[Cayman17]

How big is your Aristocrat?  

[BrightonCorgi]

1 minute ago, bsubtown said:

MY experience with the beads in my winecooler and cooler is that the 65% beads hold around 67%. I have 3 pounds and haven't added water in months. How do you have them placed? I have sieve sleeves that hold about 1/2 pound in a few different spots in the containers. and they seem to hold humidity well. I am in my 9th week waiting my Avallo otherwise I would be able to give you a better comparison. 

I just poured the beads into the reservoir that holds the water (instead of water) 

[BrightonCorgi]

2 minutes ago, Cayman17 said:

How big is your Aristocrat?  

38" Wide x 36" Tall

[Cayman17]

2 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

38" Wide x 36" Tall

You also need the depth to determine total volume. There is a calculator on the heartfelt website to figure it out. 

[BrightonCorgi]

1 minute ago, Cayman17 said:

You also need the depth to determine total volume. There is a calculator on the heartfelt website to figure it out. 

Never saw that calculator when ordering...

[BrightonCorgi]

Calculator says I need 2.5 lbs of beads.  Can I use the reservoir or am I only supposed to use the bags?  That's $100 in beads, am I wasting my money?  The water in the unit the Aristocrat came with has been fine, but a friend says "You need to use the beads..."

[bsubtown]

7 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Calculator says I need 2.5 lbs of beads.  Can I use the reservoir or am I only supposed to use the bags?  That's $100 in beads, am I wasting my money?  The water in the unit the Aristocrat came with has been fine, but a friend says "You need to use the beads..."

So again not 1:1 but I did buy an imported humidor that had heating and cooling as well as humidification. I sold it shortly after it arrived because I didn't like the way it worked and the large swings in the humidity level. I was using 3 pounds of beads in that as well and it could have been some of my issue. I am not sure how well the installed humidification worked with the beads in place of water. Which is the setup that you and I have/had. I went on Amazon and bought the bags at a cheaper price than they are sold on the HF site. 

[TBird55]

I use the system that came with my Aristocrat. In fact I removed one of the units to get a bit more space. Humidity holds steady with only one unit, but having it packed with cigars also helps.

[Lucass111]

I use the system that came with my Aristocrat. In fact I removed one of the units to get a bit more space. Humidity holds steady with only one unit, but having it packed with cigars also helps.

I second this. In my aristocrat I have the one humidifier. I put in one extra computer fan blowing up above the humidifier on the shelf above it and my humidity is rock solid on all levels. It helps if full too.

Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk

[joeypots]

I like the beads. Keeping humidity down is harder for me than keeping it up. The best way to remove humidity, I've found, is:https://smile.amazon.com/Dry-Gallon-Premium-Desiccant-Indicating/dp/B01N7OE6WK/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=dry+dry+silica+beads&qid=1555963273&s=gateway&sr=8-7

 

I have an aristocrat + and I use about 5 lbs of Heartfelt beads in bags. In the warm humid months I drop the humidity with the DrynDry. Just put them in a pie pan and place it in the humidor.

30 minutes ago, Lucass111 said:

I second this. In my aristocrat I have the one humidifier. I put in one extra computer fan blowing up above the humidifier on the shelf above it and my humidity is rock solid on all levels. It helps if full too.

Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk
 

I've always been jealous of this. If I use the humidifier that came with my Aristocrat + the moisture in the tank will give me 90% RH in the summer. It's hot and humid here and for over 20 years of keeping cigars in an air-conditioned house every humidifier I've had has soaked my cigars. Beads are best for me. 

[stogieluver]

Mine holds a steady 62% using both humidifiers. 

What prompted your friend to suggest going to beads rather than the system installed in the unit?

[SCgarman]

1 minute ago, stogieluver said:

Mine holds a steady 62% using both humidifiers. 

What prompted your friend to suggest going to beads rather than the system installed in the unit?

I also ask? I have heard the set and forget humidifiers Bob sells work pretty much flawless. I have an end table style cabinet 60 box capacity and use the largest unit Cigar Oasis makes and it has worked very well for 11 years. I have somewhere between 40-50 boxes in there. For cabinet style humidors I tend to think active humidification is the better way to go versus beads which are passive. 

[BrightonCorgi]

4 hours ago, stogieluver said:

Mine holds a steady 62% using both humidifiers. 

What prompted your friend to suggest going to beads rather than the system installed in the unit?

He did and likes it.  Not filling the water as much.  I've had the Aristocrat about 15 years and was just looking to try something different.  I originally wanted to buy the wick material on Amazon which then lead to this whole fiasco...

[smokum]

10 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

He did and likes it.  Not filling the water as much.  I've had the Aristocrat about 15 years and was just looking to try something different.  I originally wanted to buy the wick material on Amazon which then lead to this whole fiasco...

I use the Amazon wicking in my Aristocrat . Bob told me how to hot glue them to make correct size. I have never had an issue with mine going too high in humidity. I have also never had any condensation form from the cooling units. What temp are you keeping yours at ?

[Miner]

The humidifiers in the Aristocrat puts moisture into the unit but it wont take moisture out. My understanding is that beads will do both but you'll need the correct amount of beads.

I have never run the humidifier units in my Aristocrat, my problem problem is keeping the humidity down when the cooling units are working in Summer. I use beads and damp-rid to maintain around 66% Humidity

[BJRPorter]

Where do you experience these temps @mtapia3?

I have a M+ 25D THC. Only using one humidification unit. 3/4 full on boxes, singles tray near full. Temp and RH have been holding steady at 67F 63RH.

No beads, but have heard of others using them with good results.

[PigFish]

Sorry mate... you got sold a bill of goods!

I could go on about the practical aspects of beaded desiccants as rH/temp buffers, however I would rather just say this. Why try to fix what ain't broke?

Beaded desiccants have their purpose. However there is not much benefit beyond illusion as a passive buffer, in a porous, actively humidified humidor in a net rH negative enviornment.

Cheers! -Piggy

[BJRPorter]

Same here. SoCal. I believe Piggy is too. He has more experience finding the sweet spot than anybody body else I’ve read.

All I can say is, living in the same region, that our weather changes make us excellent lab rats, and seem to push almost all set-ups to their limits.

Here, and on other forums, I have read about similar experiences in each type of cigar storage. The only thing that I have learned is that there is no magic bullet, that will work everywhere, all the time. Patience is the key. I thought 2019 would be cooler than 2018. We’ll see.

[Homer]

I have had lots of beads in my previous humidors but because my beads have had sone sort of chemical smell I changes them to Bovedas.

Right now I have same problem with two different electronic humidifiers (le veil and cigar oasis plus3.0)

if I set the humidifiers to 70RH the humidity stabilizes to 60-62Rh. If I set it to 71 both humidifiers start to run constantly and the humidity jumps to >70RH.

Has anybody have this kind of problem?

 

[SCgarman]

Personally I would go the Boveda route over beads if I desired passive humidification. These 320 gram ones are huge and they would work in a cabinet humidor. 

[Derboesekoenig]

6 hours ago, NYgarman said:

Personally I would go the Boveda route over beads if I desired passive humidification. These 320 gram ones are huge and they would work in a cabinet humidor. 

I do both simply because better safe than sorry, and the fact that I live overseas and my stock is being cared for by someone else. It's easier for them with the boveda, but the beads are just in case. I keep a stock of several large tupperware with me here and use only boveda in these. They hold steady at 65/65.

In the end, it's personal preference and what works for you.

[shippers]

3 hours ago, Derboesekoenig said:

I do both simply because better safe than sorry, and the fact that I live overseas and my stock is being cared for by someone else. It's easier for them with the boveda, but the beads are just in case. I keep a stock of several large tupperware with me here and use only boveda in these. They hold steady at 65/65.

In the end, it's personal preference and what works for you.

+1

In my flat the humidity can get quite high in the winter and the cabinet can struggle. Since I started using both it's not been so much of an issue. Lots of beads and the 320g bovedas. Mostly leave it alone now.

[BrightonCorgi]

So far, my Aristocrat has maintained humidity at 70% rh with 40% of the calculated beads needed.  I'll order more at some point if the humidity falls below 65%.  Once we get into AC season, the humidity may go down, but most summers I don't plug in the humidifier; so who know?