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Humidor never keeps humidity

P

pmart

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
5
I've had continuing trouble trying to keep my cigars humid. I'm in Philly and it's fairly dry so that may add to the problem, but I may also just be making a mistake somewhere. Last year I bought a fairly cheap humidor and took care to season it well (I think). I then filled up the humidification unit with PG and added water and set it up, but the humidor never reached above 50%. Because the humidor was fairly cheap I assumed there must be a leak somewhere so I attempted to seal up the edges with different materials, but I had no luck. Now instead I'm trying a plastic travel humidor that is very air-tight. I've tried it with a tube of beads and now I'm trying a Boveda packet, but still I can't get above 50%. My hygrometer is a fairly cheap analog one as well, but I believe i've calibrated it properly. In any way the cigars are definitely too dry. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
pmart said:
I've had continuing trouble trying to keep my cigars humid. I'm in Philly and it's fairly dry so that may add to the problem, but I may also just be making a mistake somewhere. Last year I bought a fairly cheap humidor and took care to season it well (I think). I then filled up the humidification unit with PG and added water and set it up, but the humidor never reached above 50%. Because the humidor was fairly cheap I assumed there must be a leak somewhere so I attempted to seal up the edges with different materials, but I had no luck. Now instead I'm trying a plastic travel humidor that is very air-tight. I've tried it with a tube of beads and now I'm trying a Boveda packet, but still I can't get above 50%. My hygrometer is a fairly cheap analog one as well, but I believe i've calibrated it properly. In any way the cigars are definitely too dry. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
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PM Insight, he's our resident hot air specialist!

:thumbs:
 
It might not be a bad idea to just try a diff humidor either, especially since you said the first one you got wasn't too expensive to begin with. cheaphumidors.com usually has some good ones. Never a bad thing to have more than one humi on hand! Also check out the humidification beads from heartfelt industries. Tons of threads and info on them if you do some searching. Good luck! :)

Also head over to the introduce yourself forum and post an intro and some info about yourself! Everyone around here likes to get to know each other. Its a great place! Introduce yourself here
 
Ok..in the short term grab a large tupper ware container or plastic packing container and put the humidfier and smokes in there.

It's called a coolidor or tuppidor. Search the site for those.

That's if you decide to get rid of the humi and look for a new one.
 
I doubt your analog hygrometer is accurate as most of them are junk. I resisted starting a coolidor for over 2 years after joining here. Biggest mistake I ever made. I live in about the driest desert climate possible and couldn't be happier with my cooler and beads set up.
 
what exactly is the advantage of a coolidor besides the low price (which, believe me, is a plus to me)? shouldn't my plastic travel humidor keep my cigars humid enough or even too humid? if you think a coolidor would solve my problem then I'm off to get supplies ASAP! I've seen too many of my cigars dry out.
 
I had missed the fact that you have an analog hygrometer. Agreed with sigar...they're junk. I got a digital one as my analog hygro never went above 50% no matter how many times i calibrated. go digital!
 
The advantage of the cooler over tupperware is the extra space. Only a big deal if you want to buy by the box and age your cigars. Trust me, you'll want to do this soon enough. My cooler is full to the top already.
 
pmart said:
what exactly is the advantage of a coolidor besides the low price (which, believe me, is a plus to me)? shouldn't my plastic travel humidor keep my cigars humid enough or even too humid? if you think a coolidor would solve my problem then I'm off to get supplies ASAP! I've seen too many of my cigars dry out.
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sigar_zealot said:
The advantage of the cooler over tupperware is the extra space. Only a big deal if you want to buy by the box and age your cigars. Trust me, you'll want to do this soon enough. My cooler is full to the top already.
Click to expand...

This is gospel.
If you plan to hang around here much you too will find yourself playing box tetris. TRUST ME

Welcome in BTW.
We are glad to have you here.
 
sigar_zealot said:
The advantage of the cooler over tupperware is the extra space. Only a big deal if you want to buy by the box and age your cigars. Trust me, you'll want to do this soon enough. My cooler is full to the top already.
Click to expand...
I second that! You may not be thinking about the extra storage at the moment but once you get really into cigars you're definitely going to need it.

Ive never had much luck with humidors or tupperdors. They just dont seem to offer the same kind of insulation my coolidor does. My apartment is very dry as well, so I know exactly where you're coming from. I have a 75 ct humidor and I have to constantly stay on top of it so that my cigars dont dry out or get beetles. I can go a few weeks without checking my coolidor and it will stay at a perfect 65%, even through the constant temperature fluctuations during the winter and summer months.

My coolidor is a mere 28 qts, but only because I have very little storage space (and an incredible sense of self control!) I wish I could upgrade because it's almost full. You might as well go for the big guns and start off with a 100 qt, 120 qt, or even 150 qt. Order some beads from Heartfelt Industries, and you're good to go.
 
Thanks to everyone for your replies! I've got a better hygrometer on the way and I'm off to the store to get some supplies for my first coolidor (very excited!) Thanks for a friendly welcome into your community :)

edit:
I also think I may have been too hasty in saying that my cigars had completely dried out. I didn't quite know how to do the 'pinch' test. I thought you just pinched the body of the cigar, but I read that you pinch the foot? So in that case I think my cigars may be a little dry but not too bad at all! should the body of the cigar give at all when you pinch?
 
My coolidor is a mere 28 qts, but only because I have very little storage space (and an incredible sense of self control!) I wish I could upgrade because it's almost full. You might as well go for the big guns and start off with a 100 qt, 120 qt, or even 150 qt. Order some beads from Heartfelt Industries, and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

Yesi is right on here-but one word of caution: don't go for the big guns if you don't have the cigars to initially fill it up somewhat or you may have some problems keeping it at the level of humidity you want/like. The emptier the space is the harder your beads/devices have to work to balance the coolerdor out and the longer recovery time it will take to rebalance after you open and close it.

Just my thoughts-

Welcome and good luck!

R
 
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