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A Little Advice Please

MoeCizlak

MoeCizlak

Built for comfort
Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Messages
5,131
I have recently received a (overly) generous amount of quality smokes from DenverDog in my first Newbie Sampler Trade. I put them in my desktop humi last night. I had two cigars in there that were not in celophane or baggies. The two cigars are remnants of a box I bought in early September and have been resting ever since. My chrono hygro has registered a steady 65-70% humidity and has been in an upstairs closet that averages about 78 degrees or so. I know that is a little on the warm side but from reading various posts it sounds like the biggest risk of too much heat is mold and beetles. My problem is that the two cigars are quite firm and almost crunchy to the touch. I will recalibrate my hygro but I can't imagine it being too far off that it would dry out these two cigars. I have since moved my humi to the basement which is a steady 68 degrees with the hygro still steady at 68%. I want to take good care of the quality smokes I received and wish to avoid the same mistake(s) I made in the storage of the two older sticks. Any thoughts on how I can improve my storage? Thanks in advance for any and all advice.
 
Get yourself some beads!
You don't need a good hygro with 'em.
If your RH% drops adds water.
It's almost idiot proof!
Or salt test your hygro...
Good luck!

-Rob
 
Rob speaks the truth. Sounds like too much worrying going on to me. Get some beads and be done with it. No need to fret!
 
So it sounds like to you guys that it is lack of humidity that is causing the two cigars to dry out?
 
Seems like it. Too dry (low humidity) will make the cigars feel crispy, papery, brittle. If you can't roll it between your fingers, gently squeezing without cracking the wrapper, then the cigars are too dry.

Dial indicating analog hygrometers are not known for their accuracy, precision, or reliability. Get yourself a nice digital unit.

Wilkey
 
Ditto on the beads. Worry free. I used them in my coolers for years and still use them to help equalize the RH in the upper portion of my cabinet. I stopped used a hygro completely after noting the stability of the RH with the beads over a period of several months.

68/68 sounds like perfect conditions to me though. Just my $.02 for what it's worth.
 
I'm currently doing the salt test on my hygro, I may end up just ditching it and going digital with beads since that seems to be the best way to go. One other thing: The cigars were with me in Canada and were exposed to 50 degree temps for a week. Would this have any bearing on the "crispy" feel? Or is it purely a humidity thing?
 
If I did the salt test accurately, and I think I did, my hygro reads 93%. OUCH!!!! Looks like I need to find a digital and some beads.
 
Ahhh,
That explains it. Your hygrometer is reading 18% too high. That means that when you thought your sticks were at 65%, they were actually at 47%...hence the crunchiness. The 50F temps surely didn't help as in general, colder air is drier air. Ouch.

You need to get those cigars into a regulated and appropriate environment if you want them to come back to anywhere near their potential. But do it gently otherwise you risk exploding your cigars if you plop them right into 65-70%RH.

Wilkey
 
I have never had an anolog hydro that was worth .10 cents IMHO. Sounds like you are on your way to solving your problem. I just set my humidors up with beads from Viper last week. I can't say enough good things about him, his company and the comfort that came from finally switching to beads.
 
Ginseng said:
Dial indicating analog hygrometers are not known for their accuracy, precision, or reliability.
Click to expand...

Ginseng said:
Ahhh,
That explains it. Your hygrometer is reading 18% too high.
Click to expand...

sigar_zealot said:
I have never had an anolog hydro that was worth .10 cents IMHO.
Click to expand...

If I may add..... analog hygrometers accuracy are different across different ranges in humidity levels so saying 18% too high may or may not be accurate. I've seen analog hygrometers very accurate at say a 40% to 50% range but then be way off at a 60% to 70% range or vice verse. Most analogs will have a "range" that they will do "OK" but they are not to be dependent on.

As the others have advised.... get yourself some beads and a good digital.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your advice and replies. I was thinking this morning that if I know my hygro reads 18% than actual, I would just put it back in and get it up to 83% or so. But Allofus, it sounds like it may not be a consistant difference and that is simply not worth the risk with the quality of smokes I now possess and hope to add to in the future. I'm going to go to heartfelt and do some ordering. Again, thank you all for the advice.
 
Got home from being gone all week and my package from Heartfelt was sitting there waiting for me last night. Performed the salt test over night with my new digital hygro and it read 74% this morning so I activated my beads and replaced my faulty equipment in my humidor with my new purchase. Thanks for everyone's input and advice, I think I'm headed in the right direction.
 
MoeCizlak said:
Got home from being gone all week and my package from Heartfelt was sitting there waiting for me last night. Performed the salt test over night with my new digital hygro and it read 74% this morning so I activated my beads and replaced my faulty equipment in my humidor with my new purchase. Thanks for everyone's input and advice, I think I'm headed in the right direction.
Click to expand...

No doubt you are, good to hear. :thumbs:
 
Hygro is holding steady at about 57%. Is it as simple as spraying a little more water on the beads to get the humidity up to my 65% level?
 
MoeCizlak said:
It fell to 53% over night. Is my humi leaking? ???
Click to expand...


How did you activate your beads?
Just for grins and ha, ha's. Take the beads and put them in a large plastic container with a tight lid of some sort. Put the hygro in there with the beads. If you activated them properly, and did the salt test for hygro calibration, you should get an accurate reading. If it's 65-70%, then it does sound like you have some sort of leak, or need to reseason again.
 
jfields said:
MoeCizlak said:
It fell to 53% over night. Is my humi leaking? ???
Click to expand...


How did you activate your beads?
Just for grins and ha, ha's. Take the beads and put them in a large plastic container with a tight lid of some sort. Put the hygro in there with the beads. If you activated them properly, and did the salt test for hygro calibration, you should get an accurate reading. If it's 65-70%, then it does sound like you have some sort of leak, or need to reseason again.
Click to expand...


I activated them by spraying them with a squirt bottle until it looked like 80% of them were clear and 20% were white. I'll put them in with my hygro and make sure I did it correctly.

After almost 2 hrs in a ziploc bag, the hygro read a steady 66%. Time to search for humidor seasoning.

Edit to add content.
 
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