Humidity Problem

[rjfunk]

I have a cabinet style humidor that is temp/humid controlled. It was made by Bob Staebell in Texas. I've been talking to him about not being able to get the humidity to drop below 76 (it get as high as 78). The temp in my house is 72 and 60% humidity. He told me to remove the water reservoir but still no drop in humidity. He told me to raise the temp to 68 and still no luck. Any suggestions?

[genevapics]

» I have a cabinet style humidor that is temp/humid controlled. It was made

» by Bob Staebell in Texas. I've been talking to him about not being able

» to get the humidity to drop below 76 (it get as high as 78). The temp in

» my house is 72 and 60% humidity. He told me to remove the water reservoir

» but still no drop in humidity. He told me to raise the temp to 68 and

» still no luck. Any suggestions?

First off, congratulations on your purchase! From everything that I have read and seen, Bob's humidors are fantastic. I also hear that he will make things right... so don't sweat it. (I know... this problem is driving you crazy. Hang in there it will get corrected.)

Now a few questions:

How long have you had the humidor and how long has it been up and running?

Roughly, what are the interior dimensions of the humidor. Cubic feet?

How many cigars do you have in the humidor? Singles? Boxes?

What has been the range of the RH?

What has been the temp range of the humidor?

[El Presidente]

Remove the water reservoir and reduce the temp to 63 F.

I have always found new units take a few weeks to settle in. She will come right ;-)

[anacostiakat]

I have one of Bob's endtable units and it is great. Except it is full. It does take some time for them to settle in.

[habanohal]

What I did when that happened is , remove the gars, open the door and point a fan inside for a while to dry it out a boit. Worked for me

Right now I have a cigar oasis + and a cigar oasis 2 in mine. I have had them both shut off for over a week now and still have %67 RH

[cf2112]

Buy some unscented kitty litter and put some in an empty cigar box. Put this in the humidor for a few days and the humidity will drop.

I do this every spring and remove in the fall and it works like a champ. I also take out my canisters and have nothing to add humdity during this time.

Rob

[n2advnture]

» I have a cabinet style humidor that is temp/humid controlled. It was made

» by Bob Staebell in Texas. I've been talking to him about not being able

» to get the humidity to drop below 76 (it get as high as 78). The temp in

» my house is 72 and 60% humidity. He told me to remove the water reservoir

» but still no drop in humidity. He told me to raise the temp to 68 and

» still no luck. Any suggestions?

Buy more cigars! The cigars and boxes will help absorb some of the excess moisture. :-D

Otherwise, I would add empty boxes or use the media to absorb the excess moisture. Once the media gets full, pull it out and dry it with a hair dryer and put it back in.

Good luck bro

~M

[cigarnv]

Rob has suggested the easiest and best way to get rid of excess moisture using the silica gel kitty litter. They are very easily dehydrated by baking them at 300F for an hour in the oven. Just put them on a cookie sheet. The drier they are the more capacity for absorbtion they have. I actually have some "indicator Beads" that you mix in with the litter. They are bright blue at low humidity and turn a very light pink when your beads reach about 45-50% humidity. When the beads are pink just bake till they turn blue.

I would be happy to send you a few... just PM me your addy.

[greenpimp]

If your consistent relative RH is around 60 in your house you're golden. I would just leave the (empty) cabinet open for a week to let the wood even out. 60%rh is a pretty great RH for Cuban cigars anyway, I find.

[Taino]

Go for the beads!

beads along with electrical humidifier work great with cabinets.

Just live time for the humidor to adjust after you add the beads and set the humidification unit.

[Well Armed]

» If your consistent relative RH is around 60 in your house you're golden. I

» would just leave the (empty) cabinet open for a week to let the wood even

» out. 60%rh is a pretty great RH for Cuban cigars anyway, I find.

Very good advice. Time will heal your humi.

[Claudius]

» I have a cabinet style humidor that is temp/humid controlled. It was made

» by Bob Staebell in Texas. I've been talking to him about not being able

» to get the humidity to drop below 76 (it get as high as 78). The temp in

» my house is 72 and 60% humidity. He told me to remove the water reservoir

» but still no drop in humidity. He told me to raise the temp to 68 and

» still no luck. Any suggestions?

Raising the temperature will decrease the relative humidity as warmer air can absorp more water. Therefore, with the same amount of humidity, the RELATIVE humidity will be lower. But you'll still have the same amount of water in the air. I fail to see how this can be desirable advice, as you bought the cabinet with temperature control to LOWER the temperature a little.

OTOH, removing the water reservoir makes much more sense. However, that will only work if you also leave the cabinet open for a while, as the water in the air wont just go away through the closed door. :-)

If the RH in your house is 60% at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, then if you want to set your cabinet to 65 degrees and 65% RH, I dont think you need any humidification device at all, as the 60% RH will increase to roughly about 65 - 67% RH when you lower the temperature from 72 to 65 deg F.

I would:

1/ remove all humidification devices

2/ leave door open for 15 minutes every 3 hours or so until RH stabilizes at 65% (assuming that's what you want it to be)

3/ turn on A/C to lower temperature. When you do this, the RH will increase. The only way I could think of to lower it (bar installing a dehumidifier) would be to put 65% RH or 60% RH beads in the cabinet (without humidifying them prior to installation).

[Duckguy]

» Buy some unscented kitty litter and put some in an empty cigar box. Put

» this in the humidor for a few days and the humidity will drop.

»

» I do this every spring and remove in the fall and it works like a champ. I

» also take out my canisters and have nothing to add humdity during this

» time.

»

» Rob

I'd like to add to this - buy unscented SILICA kitty litter, such as litter pearls. They are very similar to commerical humidity beads. I suppose regular kitty litter would absorb it as well, but the silica stuff seems the way to go in my opinion.

Josh

[Van55]

I second or third the recommendation of the quick fix, being to put a pound or so of Exquisicat Pearl Fresh litter beads in the box. They act as a desiccant and will absorb the excess humidity.