How to achieve 66%-67% rH in wineador?

[jonnyfromiranny]

I live in Southern CA (very low humidity) and currently using 65% heartfelt beads. I find that my rH tends to dip into the low 60's very often. I know that I need to buy more beads to get to my ideal rH (66%-68%), but my question is: would it be smarter to buy 70% beads and mix and match with my current setup to try and get to my optimal humidity? Or should I double-down on the 65% and keep spraying to try and get the humidity up to 67%?

I also have 65% and 69% Bovedas I can use as well.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. For what it's worth, I generally prefer my cigars to be >65%, than <65% rH (I know I'm probably in the minority there).

[Islandboy]

I’m not familiar with beads, but FWIW, I know here in Hawaii, where ambient humidity is higher than average, it takes 62% Bovedas to achieve a steady 65%-66% in my humidors, so it appears there’s a fair bit of variability with them depending on conditions.

[jackupster]

How full is your wineador? More beads or Bovedas would help. If your wineador is 50% or less full you will find it harder to hold RH IMO. Boxes and more beads and Bovedas act as a ballast to keep RH stable. 

[jonnyfromiranny]

25 minutes ago, jackupster said:

How full is your wineador? More beads or Bovedas would help. If your wineador is 50% or less full you will find it harder to hold RH IMO. Boxes and more beads and Bovedas act as a ballast to keep RH stable. 

It was definitely <50% full, and I recently pulled all of my sticks out because I was having trouble holding a steady rH. I have 4 boxes on the way. I also have some empty cigar boxes i can stick in there, but these are probably pretty dried out. Is there a good way to rehumidify these boxes? 1 of them is a wooden cohiba cabinet (I am considering using this to put my beads in) and I have 3-4 RyJ/Monte 2 boxes that I think I cardboard/wood.

[jackupster]

15 minutes ago, jonnyfromiranny said:

It was definitely <50% full, and I recently pulled all of my sticks out because I was having trouble holding a steady rH. I have 4 boxes on the way. I also have some empty cigar boxes i can stick in there, but these are probably pretty dried out. Is there a good way to rehumidify these boxes? 1 of them is a wooden cohiba cabinet (I am considering using this to put my beads in) and I have 3-4 RyJ/Monte 2 boxes that I think I cardboard/wood.

I would just add more beads and Bovedas...The empty boxes wont help that much. Just keep recharging the beads until it comes up. The cigars are fine at 60-65rh so that shouldn't be concern. I would only worry if it drops below 58 or so. Are you running the the temp control and what is the ambient temp in the room?

[jonnyfromiranny]

4 minutes ago, jackupster said:

I would just add more beads and Bovedas...The empty boxes wont help that much. Just keep recharging the beads until it comes up. The cigars are fine at 60-65rh so that shouldn't be concern. I would only worry if it drops below 58 or so. Are you running the the temp control and what is the ambient temp in the room?

Ambient temp is ~68F-70F. Before I stopped using it, I kept it unplugged to see if that would help stabilize rH, but perhaps keeping things cooler could help my situation.

[jackupster]

If thats your ambient you are fine...leave it unplugged. Just keep rechaging the beads and buy more boxes! LOL. Is the drain plug still open? Sealing that might help a little too. 

[jonnyfromiranny]

2 hours ago, jackupster said:

If thats your ambient you are fine...leave it unplugged. Just keep rechaging the beads and buy more boxes! LOL. Is the drain plug still open? Sealing that might help a little too. 

Will definitely try sealing it and try out some 70% beads.

Thank you for your help!

[BigGuns]

Not sure about the mixing and matching of different RH% to achieve an ideal level.  I know that is the case with bovedas - they will keep fighting each other and wear out quicker.   Not sure if that is the case with beads, as I believe they’re one-way. If you use both, I would suggest the bovedas are the same RH as the beads.

[jonnyfromiranny]

11 minutes ago, BigGuns said:

Not sure about the mixing and matching of different RH% to achieve an ideal level.  I know that is the case with bovedas - they will keep fighting each other and wear out quicker.   Not sure if that is the case with beads, as I believe they’re one-way. If you use both, I would suggest the bovedas are the same RH as the beads.

Got it. Thank you.