I tried this solution recently when my Cigar Oasis started having trouble in my 1500 count end table humidor. I'm posting it here because this is where cigar smokers go for answers and more people with this problem will find it here than elsewhere.
(Quick disclaimer: I own Humidorbeads.com, but you could use heartfelt beads just as easily with this.)
I love Cigar Oasis because it's automatic and I can dial in any humidity I want. I'm a big fan. I think it's a great solution, especially for large humidors. However, after a year my Oasis started having trouble keeping my humidor at 70%. The sponge got old. Well, since I have a tons (literally) of humidity beads, I took a knife and cut the sponge out of my Oasis resevoir and replaced it with humidity beads. I saturated the beads with distilled water and poured out the excess. (This isn't how you normally want to hydrate them if you are using them alone, by the way. But you can do it in this appliation because the oasis fan unit controls the release of humidity and keeps excess humidity from being released.)
First, it brings my humidor up to 70% much faster than the sponge ever did, and it keeps the large enclosure much more consistent. It saved me from having to buy future oasis sponge units and it only took a few ounces of beads.
As an additional note. I had a guy email my website asking how he could keep his 2000 cigar humidor at 66% for 2 months (without maintaining it) while he was on vacation. My proposed solution to him was to get an Oasis, take the resevoir off and replace it with a large air tight tupperware container. Cut holes in the top to match the configuration of the original oasis resevoir, and fill it with beads. Saturate with distilled water (and in this application you can even have standing water as long as you leave at least 1/2 INCH of beads exposed above the water line - I'm assuming at least a 6 cup container, if not 12 cup or more: 1/2 lb of my beads is 2 cups, btw.) This should keep all the extra humidity in the container and only let it out when the fan runs. Set the Oasis to whatever humidity you want and plug it into the wall - can't count of batteries for 2 months unattended.
What I told him, I'll say here: BE SURE TO TEST IT FOR AT LEAST AS LONG AS YOU WILL BE GONE. There's no guarantee this will work for as long as you will leave your humidor unattended. So you must test it and make sure it can run unattended, provide the humidity, etc. for however long you'll be gone.
We all go on vacation. I wouldn't trust an Oasis resevoir to protect my smokes for more than a week or 10 days without a refill. This is a possible solution. And, if your oasis resevoir sponge is old and not working well, think about replacing it with beads - whether you get them from me or someone else.
Thanks,
Anthony - Humidorbeads.com
(Quick disclaimer: I own Humidorbeads.com, but you could use heartfelt beads just as easily with this.)
I love Cigar Oasis because it's automatic and I can dial in any humidity I want. I'm a big fan. I think it's a great solution, especially for large humidors. However, after a year my Oasis started having trouble keeping my humidor at 70%. The sponge got old. Well, since I have a tons (literally) of humidity beads, I took a knife and cut the sponge out of my Oasis resevoir and replaced it with humidity beads. I saturated the beads with distilled water and poured out the excess. (This isn't how you normally want to hydrate them if you are using them alone, by the way. But you can do it in this appliation because the oasis fan unit controls the release of humidity and keeps excess humidity from being released.)
First, it brings my humidor up to 70% much faster than the sponge ever did, and it keeps the large enclosure much more consistent. It saved me from having to buy future oasis sponge units and it only took a few ounces of beads.
As an additional note. I had a guy email my website asking how he could keep his 2000 cigar humidor at 66% for 2 months (without maintaining it) while he was on vacation. My proposed solution to him was to get an Oasis, take the resevoir off and replace it with a large air tight tupperware container. Cut holes in the top to match the configuration of the original oasis resevoir, and fill it with beads. Saturate with distilled water (and in this application you can even have standing water as long as you leave at least 1/2 INCH of beads exposed above the water line - I'm assuming at least a 6 cup container, if not 12 cup or more: 1/2 lb of my beads is 2 cups, btw.) This should keep all the extra humidity in the container and only let it out when the fan runs. Set the Oasis to whatever humidity you want and plug it into the wall - can't count of batteries for 2 months unattended.
What I told him, I'll say here: BE SURE TO TEST IT FOR AT LEAST AS LONG AS YOU WILL BE GONE. There's no guarantee this will work for as long as you will leave your humidor unattended. So you must test it and make sure it can run unattended, provide the humidity, etc. for however long you'll be gone.
We all go on vacation. I wouldn't trust an Oasis resevoir to protect my smokes for more than a week or 10 days without a refill. This is a possible solution. And, if your oasis resevoir sponge is old and not working well, think about replacing it with beads - whether you get them from me or someone else.
Thanks,
Anthony - Humidorbeads.com
