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Humidor Troubleshooting

W

wrz0170

New Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
378
Hey everyone,

I need some assistance in a little bit of humidor troubleshooting. I have a new 100ct. humidor (I know, 1st problem, too small, :p ). I thought I seasoned it properly, but maybe I didn't. All I did was put some distilled water inside a shot glass, charged the old puck that was in there and let it be for about 3 days. The

I calibrated a new Western digital hygrometer for over 24hrs and it was steady @ 76%rh. No biggie on the 1% variance.

In my humidor now, I have the 65% Humidi-puck tall. Again, I thought I charged it properly by just wetting down the sponge according to the instructions and putting back in. The humidor dimensions falls well within the parameters of what one, tall puck can handle. Maybe I got the short version by accident in my order?

The problem is that I am getting a reading of 57%. Little low? Any suggestions to remedy would greatly be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!! :thumbs:
 
Have you loaded the humidor with your cigars yet? Sometime that can cause the problem. The cigars if they were dry might have sucked up all the humidity. If not than you might want to let the humidor sit for a few more days with the shot glass of distilled.
 
RONINDICE said:
Have you loaded the humidor with your cigars yet? Sometime that can cause the problem. The cigars if they were dry might have sucked up all the humidity. If not than you might want to let the humidor sit for a few more days with the shot glass of distilled.
Click to expand...

I did have some dry ones. Yes, after the initial of what I thought was seasoning, I did put what I had in there.

Should I re-season the humidor? I have been reading two schools of thought: 1) wipe down walls ??? 2)don't wipe down the walls)
 
I will normally:
1) wipe down the walls.
2) Put in a cup w/distilled H20 (and a napkin)
3) leave for 24-36 hrs.
After that..if I'm still not up to RH...them I wipe again
and reload. I don't soak the wood ...just enought to make it change color.

good luck!
 
Did you wipe down the inside spanish cedar with distilled water on a clean sponge? There are different schools of thought on this step, but I have always done it when seasoning a new humidor.
 
slcraiders said:
Did you wipe down the inside spanish cedar with distilled water on a clean sponge? There are different schools of thought on this step, but I have always done it when seasoning a new humidor.
Click to expand...

Nope, I didn't wipe it down. I went with the other school of thought of not wiping down.
 
Here's that other school of thought. I never wipe downthe wood. The biggest reasons I could never get a smallish humi to hold humidity are 1) not full enough (open it, lose all the air, takes forever for it to regain humi)...or the cigars were too dry or 2) you keep opening it.

Howe long was it closed after you put in the humi-puck? I would put in a shotglass of distilled, charge the humi-puck, and leave it closed for 2 full days, with cigars in it, then see where you are.
That worked for me (with beads, not the puck) when I was trying to get a desktop to hold humidity.
 
smokelaw1 said:
Here's that other school of thought. I never wipe downthe wood. The biggest reasons I could never get a smallish humi to hold humidity are 1) not full enough (open it, lose all the air, takes forever for it to regain humi)...or the cigars were too dry or 2) you keep opening it.

Howe long was it closed after you put in the humi-puck? I would put in a shotglass of distilled, charge the humi-puck, and leave it closed for 2 full days, with cigars in it, then see where you are.
That worked for me (with beads, not the puck) when I was trying to get a desktop to hold humidity.
Click to expand...

Hey Smoke. I originally went with not wiping the inside. I just got the new digital hygrometer so I calibrated it to see where it was at in terms of accuracy and I put it in last night. I got up to check to see where the humi was and it was 57%, quick peek, open and close. Went to work. Came home, quick peek, 57%. I don't know if the walls fully absorbed during the initial seasoning or not...
 
Is there currently a shotglass of water in there? I seasoned my new humi with cigars in it (they had come out of another humi, thiough, so I wasn't dealing with re-humidifying them as well. I put a pound of beads and a small dish of dsitilled water in the humi, closed the door and left it for a few days (glass door helped, if it had been solid, I don't know if I would have had the patience!). It's been solid between 58-62% (depending on temps) ever since. I like my cigars at about 60-62%, though.
 
No, but I will put a shot glass in there :D and move the hygrometer so I can see it in the glass until I am sure I am at a level that I am happy. I should leave the cigars in then?
 
I do, and I think it's fine to, especially if you can see the digital through the galss, so you can be comfortable that the cigars aren't getting OVER humidified. Mind you, I am by no means a humi expert, and these are just the way things worked for me. It took me forever to get my desktop working, and my big guys, i just filled with cigars, beads and water and waited a few days.
 
It will be hard to not to open it to grab a stick or two, but I think I will live. LOL I grabbed one for tonite because it is another gorgeous afternoon, I put in some RUSH R-30 and ready to relax while watching my rotissirie....

As I write this, I have the shot glass in there, I will give it a couple of days and see where I am at. Hopefully the humidor will stabilize.
 
In my limited experience it taks a long time to really get a wooden unit seasoned. I went through all kinds of "is it ready or not" nonsense with my first one and it took me almost 15 days for it to hold humidity very well. I didn't wipe down the sides and just let a shallow bowl (more surface area than a shot glass) do the work before putting my smokes in there. After it got to where I wanted it, I put in the cigars. It was about 3/4 full and the hunidity dropped like a rock. Left it alone for a week (very tough to do) and when I checked it was almost back up to the right level. Left it sit untouched for a few more days and it got where I wanted it and has been there ever since (with a little help from my beads, of course).

I guess in my long-winded way I'm saying be patient and don't sweat it too much. You may have to wait a bit to get to your smokes (could always put a few in a tupperdor or something to have readily available), but it will be worth it.

Also, I had to return the first one I got as the glass in the top was not fitting properly and it was letting out humidity. That may be something to consider as well.

Good luck!
:)
 
I have the oppsoite problem with mine in that the humidity is maybe a little high. I have the beads in it now and am going to order another digital hygro as I tried the salt test on the last one and it killed it. I would not sweat it. Be patient. Give it time and you should be ok. Having the glass top sure is convenient as I dont have to open it to see the RH level or temp now. I still have to open it once a day to get that "humidor full of cigars" smell though. Gotta love that. :cool:
 
What was never said was how high was the humidity level of the box when you finished seasoning it? I like to shoot for %5-7 over what my humidifier is set up for. So, season your humi until it hits %72 for about 12 hours. Then put in your cigars and humidifier.

Also, when your humi starts to dip in RH by about %3, this is when you should act. Cut a long stripfrom a new sponge. Pour a little distilled water over it and wring it out. Put it in a sandwich bag and toss it in the humi next to your humidifier. Once a day, do this until your RH level reaches %1-2 above your desired level.

Hope that helps!

Emo
 
emodx said:
What was never said was how high was the humidity level of the box when you finished seasoning it? I like to shoot for %5-7 over what my humidifier is set up for. So, season your humi until it hits %72 for about 12 hours. Then put in your cigars and humidifier.

Also, when your humi starts to dip in RH by about %3, this is when you should act. Cut a long stripfrom a new sponge. Pour a little distilled water over it and wring it out. Put it in a sandwich bag and toss it in the humi next to your humidifier. Once a day, do this until your RH level reaches %1-2 above your desired level.

Hope that helps!

Emo
Click to expand...

Hi Emo,

I cannot remember the exact number, but I thought it was stablized for an analog hygrometer. :blush: I thought I calibrated it, but I think my first attempt wasn't too great. Hence the digital purchase.

After reading all the tips and suggestions, I think my biggest enemy will be patience with the whole procedure while I try again.
 
Little update:

Friday I decided to re-season the humidor since I am not confident that I did it properly the first time. I used some of the tips and did some reading.

I put my sticks in some low rent housing. Couple of small, make shift coolerdors.

This time, I carefully wiped down the walls and pull out tray with distilled water. Just enough to change the color of the wood.

I then placed a shot glass of distilled in there, made sure the 65%, Humidi-Puck was charged.

Made sure the hygrometer was easily seen

Closed her up and hasn't been opened since.

Yesterday it hovered all day between 64~65 and this morning it creeped to 67%, so I think the humi is making progress.

If there is something I should be doing differently. Please let me know. Thanks for all the helps so far! :thumbs:
 
That's all I did. I am a complete newbie but read online when I got my humi last week. I wiped down the walls with a paper towel with distilled water, since I didn't have a sponge, added a pretty big vat of distilled water, my 70% RH tall humidipuck, and digital hygro. It went up to about 78% in this configuration, after like 20 hours. I removed the vat of water, and left the humidipuck charged and in overnight, woke up and it was at 74%. Put in my cigars and by that night it was at about 71%. The next day was at 70%, and now is at 68-69%, right where I want it. I'm still keeping an eye on it to make sure it stays at 68-69% and doesn't drop much lower.
 
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