Spilt water in humidor..

Hey guys and gals, since I've been a member here I have never had the need to post because searching through all of the topics available has always answered any questions I've ever had, but I find myself now at somewhat of an dead end. I've done much searching but have been unable to find the answer to this one specific question. I am an extreme novice to cigars, and this is only my second post, so please! take it easy on me :blush: In the past few months I had been noticing that my humidor (50ct Thompson humidor) had been having problems keeping the RH where it needed to be, and when I thought about it, I realized that it had never really done that great of a job. So, reading through all of the knowledge on CigarPass I decided to upgrade the hygrometer, the humidification device, and re-season the humidor. Thanks to the step by step directions I found here I was well under way to re-seasoning the humidor when disaster struck. My wife was not aware that there was a shot glass with water (distilled of course!) in the humidor, so she moved it while cleaning. I came home to check the RH only to find an empty shot glass on its side with soaking wood. Immediately I took the shot glass out, took the divider that was in the humidor out, layed down a clean rag to soak up the water and shut the humidor. My thought process being that if I tried to dry it out quickly that would increase the probability of the wood warping. I left the rag in the humidor without opening it for about 24 hours and when I re-opened the humidor it seems as though there was no damage done. My question is this: Could there be damage that I just can't see that would warrant just upgrading the humidor (I've been in the market for a while, just can't afford it at the moment), or should I just continue with the seasoning process, let the RH settle down a bit, and stock it up with my stogies? I apologize if a topic like this has been posted before, but after about an hour of research I hadn't come up with anything. If there is another topic like this please direct me to it! Thank you all in advance for any help/advice I am sure to get!

Kyle

Spilling a shot glass worth of water isn't such a big deal. Your problem is the Thompson humidor. Don't ever, ever buy anything again from those people.

Doc.

Devil Doc said:

Spilling a shot glass worth of water isn't such a big deal. Your problem is the Thompson humidor. Don't ever, ever buy anything again from those people.

Doc.

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Good deal, I was hoping that the humidor could last me at least a few more months while I save up to buy something new. Not to completely de-rail my own post, but I have seen many opinions on Thompson through the months that I've been perusing CP and because of that have not bought anything else from them. Do you have any suggestions on a good on-line retailer that is sort of all-encompassing?

I still have my first two humi's that are from Thompsons a 150 ct Treasure chest and a 50 ct Cherrywood that are very good boxes. Never had a problem with them holding steady RH.

Brian

Your only problem would be if you let it dry out quickly. Water on one side and then dried would cause shrinkage. This is what will cause it to warp. You should be fine though.

yep . . . what they said.

Honestly, it's just not a big deal. Mop it up and move on; no damage done.

This ain't particle physics or brain surgery.

~Boar

I have never had a Thompson humidor, but someone gifted me some Thompson Churchill's once. They were so terribly constructed, I couldn't get a draw on 'em if I hollowed out the end. Needless to say, they were quickly given to a a co worker who just started the hobby.

Remember, coolers are you friend for expansion!

So three days later and the humidity in the humidor (with no cigars) is holding right at 80-81 (yes, I recalibrated the analog hygrometer using the salt in a bottle cap method.) Should I go ahead and throw my cigars in there and assume they'll soak up some of the humidity and it will level out to 70, or should I continue to wait until the humidor corrects itself? I have been opening the humidor about 3-4 times a day for about 5 minutes at a time to let some of the humidity out to see if the humidity level will drop down, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Thoughts?

Do not put your cigars into a humidity above 70% or your asking for trouble with them. Open the humi and leave it open for an hour, close and recheck the rh in about 2 or 3 hours and see where you are. Keep opening the humi for an hour untill its down to the rh it should be. Once there, let it sit for a day or 2 to make sure everything is stable. Once stable add your humidifier and give it another day to see where thats at. Once everything but the cigars are in and your rh is good, then place your cigars in the humi.

Gawl said:

Do not put your cigars into a humidity above 70% or your asking for trouble with them. Open the humi and leave it open for an hour, close and recheck the rh in about 2 or 3 hours and see where you are. Keep opening the humi for an hour untill its down to the rh it should be. Once there, let it sit for a day or 2 to make sure everything is stable. Once stable add your humidifier and give it another day to see where thats at. Once everything but the cigars are in and your rh is good, then place your cigars in the humi.

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Well, it took a few more days for the RH to drop down to a comfortable level (right now its sitting right at 70-71 and has been there for the past 32 or so hours.) I have added the stock humidification device back into the humidor but the question is should I add the tube that has the polyglycol crystals in as well? My thought was that I would add the foam humidifier in first and see what that does to the RH, and then add the tube dependent on how things go after a day or so. I've got a feeling that the RH will shoot up now that the foam humidifier is in there, but I'm holding out hope that this seasoning process will end soon so I can throw the sticks back in there. So should I add the tube or give it a day or two to see what happens with the foam puck?

Okay, I hate to seem like a "post whore" but I THINK my humidor is ready, and I just need someone to reaffirm this thought.

In summation:

Jan 2 - Started seasoning
Jan 5 - Spilled shot glass worth of distilled water
Jan 12 - Humidity holding at 80-81
Jan 15 - Humidity dropped down to 71
Jan 16 - Added foam puck humidifier and RH stayed at 70
Jan 17 - Added Tube of polyglycol crystals, RH dropped to 69, then rose back to 71 in a matter of 12 hours
Jan 18 - RH holding at 70-72

I did the salt test on the ANALOG hygrometer (I do intend on getting a digital, just haven't gotten around to it yet) but there is still the possibility of the hygrometer being off 2-3% due to user error when adjusting it after the salt test.

Should I throw the sticks in or give the humidor a few more days to see what it does?