When I got into cigars, the first thing I did was set up a coolidor at 70%. Not too long after that, I found that 70% was too high for my tastes when smoking and set out to pick up a desktop humidor. I found out that my dad had gotten a 20 ct one a while back that he no longer used so was willing to part with. I set it up some time in Sept or Oct by seasoning it, calibrating the hydrometer and adding 65% heartfelt beads. It had been running at a steady 65% until within the last month or so with a full stock of sticks. At about that time it bagan to drop dramatically as the temps went up (down to 50% within a week).
I recalibrated to start and my Xikar was still spot on. I tried the dollar bill test and the whoosh test and it failed both. I also took a strip of scotch tape and ran that around the entire seal (bottom portion that fits into the lid), which softened the fall of the lid but it still does not five a solid whoosh. I have resoaked the beads so more than %80 of them are clear and that has caused a spike but not held. The last time I sprayed the beads, the RH spiked to 90 (ok that was a little rediculous on my part) and within 4 days it had dropped to 60%. I cannot find any visible cracks and the humidor does not sit in the sun.
If someone has any more ideas (not sure where to find Sailmaker's wax locally [Hudson, WI]) I would be much obliged, otherwise I am willing to accept this one as unusable. If that is the case, however, I am wondering if you would be able to provide suggestions for reasonably priced, functional desktop humidors. Honestly, it does not need to be showy so if you think a tupperador will make for a decent semi-long term solution I am all ears. Just looking for input.
I recalibrated to start and my Xikar was still spot on. I tried the dollar bill test and the whoosh test and it failed both. I also took a strip of scotch tape and ran that around the entire seal (bottom portion that fits into the lid), which softened the fall of the lid but it still does not five a solid whoosh. I have resoaked the beads so more than %80 of them are clear and that has caused a spike but not held. The last time I sprayed the beads, the RH spiked to 90 (ok that was a little rediculous on my part) and within 4 days it had dropped to 60%. I cannot find any visible cracks and the humidor does not sit in the sun.
If someone has any more ideas (not sure where to find Sailmaker's wax locally [Hudson, WI]) I would be much obliged, otherwise I am willing to accept this one as unusable. If that is the case, however, I am wondering if you would be able to provide suggestions for reasonably priced, functional desktop humidors. Honestly, it does not need to be showy so if you think a tupperador will make for a decent semi-long term solution I am all ears. Just looking for input.
