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How to Season a Humidor

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pj_rage

Novice Cigar Smoker
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
63
I'm surprised there isn't a sticky for this, and the search didn't turn up any posts that describe the process, but I have a quick question regarding it.

My humi has had trouble maintaining RH for a year now and I finally am deciding to reseason it. I took everything out, SOAKED every inside wood surface with distilled water, left the soaking wet paper towels in it over night, saw the humidity was at ~ 90%. Took out the paper towels, added my 70% puck (that may have been reconditioned to 70%, and it was still charged) and it was at 85% the next night. When am I supposed to add cigars? I wasn't sure, so I left the puck in, and added about 30 of my cheap dollar sticks that I don't really care about too much if they get ruined somehow.

Do I let it go for a while longer before adding my good sticks? Was I supposed to season again? I'm really not certain of the best process, so I'm just guessing off of common sense :whistling: I'll have to see what it is at tonight, but I wanted to get a heads up if I am even following a procedure that will work this time!

I just want the beads to maintain the RH without me adding open containers of distilled water and checking it every day, lol!
 
I'm with ya, brother, but I KNOW there is already tons out there on seasoning. I've always had problems with search, but you should try again. Use the advanced search and type in "season and humidor". I got dozens of hits.
 
I always tell people that if you have a humidity problem there are a number of things that you need to do. These things also need to be done in order so as to eliminate the possibility that your problem is not a combination of problems. An example would be that one may have an inaccurate hygrometer and also a leaky humidor. Testing thingsd in order help eliminate possible problems one by one.

1) Whats kind of Hygrometer are you using? mechanical or digital?
2) Do you know if it is accurate or not? If you do not know do a salt test on it. This is the very first thing that needs to be done. Think about it...... if its not accurate no matter what you do you're spitting in the wind.
3) Next step is to know if your humidor seals. Open your humidor and place a dollar bill on the edges and then close the lid so that half of the dollar bill is inside and half outside. Make sure the lid is closed firm but don't force it. You want to similate how you would close the lid in regular everyday conditions. Now pull on the dollar. Does it slide out easily? Does it stay firm? Continue to repeat this around the entire humidor. Another test is to take your humidor into a closet or other dark area. Stick a flashlight inside of it, turned on of course, and close the lid. Can you see any light?
4) If you now have a known accurate hygrometer and a known humidor that seals properly you can move on to what you are using for the humidity delivery.

You will find that following those steps above will allow you to know if you have a problem before you even start trying to stabilize your rh. (I hate the term season) We can go from here once the above has been done.
 
I would add to #2 to replace the battery in your digital hygrometer if it's old. A low battery will give you a bad reading.
 
I think soaking every surface might be a factor with your high humidity to start. Some people say never wet down the wood, and others lightly wipe it with distilled. I don't think you should ever soak it to the degree you stated. Your puck is trying to wick off the excess humidity, but is probably saturated after bringing it down 5%. Open the lid for a little while. Then when you get humidity back to 70% follow the instructions Allofus and preembargo gave. Just my amateur opinion.
 
Normally when I season a humidor I wipe the interior surfaces with a Distilled Water damp sponge.

Then I soak the sponge and place it inside the humidor with the sponge sitting on a tray of some sort, for at least 24 hours. The water will permiate the cedar interior through evaporation/osmosis.

You really never want to totally soak any of the cedar wood with water as it's possible this could lead to mold issues or staining of the interior of the humidor.

It sounds like you've totally soaked the wood? I would let the thing sit for a few days before putting anything into it. With the amount of water you've got inside this thing(from your description) it should settle in ok with time.

There's one thing I've learned and that is that you really cannot expedite some of these processes. Plus the major humidity fluctuations aren't healthy for your sticks either.
 
I definitely soaked it more than a light wiping which is what I wanted to get across, but there weren't puddles of water sitting in it either. I literally got it as wet as the wood would hold without having the water dripping and pooling.

I guess I'll let it sit for a couple days before I do much else besides ensure that I have a good seal.

The gauge is digital (caliber III) and I'm fairly certain it is accurate, but I will do the salt test tonight if I remember.

Thanks for the help!
 
If you have tested your hygro you should now test whatever it is you will be using for your rh. I believe you said you had a puck of some sort. I'm not familar with it but you will want to put the puck and your hygro inside of a sealed jar or other type of container. I've used a mason jar with a cut piece of plastic from a garbage liner bag over the opening of the jar and then seal the cap over the plastic. You can use anything you want just make it as air tight as possible. After you do this you should now know the accuracy of your hygro(or +/- so much), how well or not so well your humi holds a seal, and exactly what rh your puck is putting out. Again, all of these things done in the sequence will give you a good solid base to start and eliminate many possible problems.

I've always been told to never wipe down a humidor with water to jump start it. Allow the wood to absorb the humidity slowly and expect it to take as long as it takes. If you have a bowl of water or a wet spounge inside you are good.

If you are above your desired rh open the humidor and allow it to dry out a bit. If you are below, continue to allow the wood to absorb from whatever source of rh you are using. (bowl of water/spounge) Once the rh reaches your desired point remove the source. Intro your puck and monitor. If the rh starts dropping over several days you will need to put the water source back in. Its telling you the wood is still absorbing. that is, if you don't have a seal problem as described above but you should have eliminated that as a possible problem at this stage.
 
You know, I just reread your original post and you say you have had trouble maintaining rh for a year. If its been an on going problem for a year than it is most likely a poor seal or the delivery system for your rh not having the ability to humidify the enviroment. There are several other possible problems like surrounding temps and stuff but I'd suspect the two reasons above as the biggest suspects.

Reseasoning is not a fix for your problem.
 
I can't wait to test the seal. I never knew how before today and "the dollar bill test."

If it is the seal, how can I fix it? Or can you fix it? It closes nice and snug? Is there a known fix for seals?
 
Since the seal is in the construction and tolerance of the humidor itself, I would say no, there is no way to properly fix a bad seal.
 
Sailmakers wax, or nylon weatherstripping can be used to fix a bad seal. I've never used the wax, but I've seen others here recommend it highly. I use the weatherstripping on one of mine. Seals up tighter than a frog's ass.
 
You don't want the fumes from the adhesive backed weather stripping affecting it though, correct? Same reason you shouldn't use hot glue to mount cedar strips...

Just assuming here.
 
Trade your humi off and purchase one with a tight seal - instant fix... :whistling:

(that's what I did - works great!)
 
DKAudio said:
You don't want the fumes from the adhesive backed weather stripping affecting it though, correct? Same reason you shouldn't use hot glue to mount cedar strips...

Just assuming here.
Click to expand...

The stripping I have has very little adhesive. Less than a piece of tape even.
 
I don't think it was the seal. When I closed the dollar bill in different areas, I was afraid I would rip it in half trying to get it out. The wood goes up about 1/2" between the cover and the box, so it really crimped the dollar in there. Last night after work it was at 87%, so I left it open over night, closed it when I woke up, and before I left in the morning it was at about 62% and rising a little, but slowly, (ambient was about 54% FWIW). I put the puck back in and closed it, we'll see what she reads tonight.

I didn't have a chance to check the digital hygrometer, but it was in with the pucks and gars in the tupperware last night and read 67% this morning, up 2% from the night before, and since my beads should be 70% and my sticks were at ~62-65%, I'm thinking the pucks and gauge are OK.

I'm going to wait until the humi levels off steady between 65 and 70% then add all the sticks back and keep an eye on it.
 
Just a quick update... I've had the humidor closed up with a charged puck (70% beads) for a few days/nights now and the humidity has been sitting between 70% and 72%, averaging at 71%. This is with about 20 cheap sticks in there. I'm confident that it is seasoned and holding RH now and I'll be adding the rest of my sticks tonight. The ones I'm adding should be between 65% and 70% now, so I suspect that my RH will drop down a few % over the next couple days, but I'm hoping that within a week or so it will be back up again!
 
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