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Resealing my humidor

Johnny B

Johnny B

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
1,410
Let me start of by letting you know that I've calibrated my hygrometer using the salt water method. The hygro is fine.

m-humdis6.jpg


When I first got the humidor (it was a gift from my gf) I seasoned it for about 6 days before putting any cigars in it. It was able to hold a 70% humidity just fine. The humidity was between 65%-70% and would occasionally dip below 65% for the first couple of months. I've got about 85-100 sticks in this thing currently. For the past 6 weeks or so I can't get the humidity past 53%.

Now lets talk humidifiers. I've got two Xykar crystal humidifiers, two cigarsinternational crystal humidifiers and am also using the humidifier that came with the humidor. I've only used the Xykar solution to fill and refill these things.

I've been doing some research on this humidor and have realized that there are some known seal issues with this humidor. Crappy! I've done the paper test around all of the openings and there I considerable resistance, which led me to believe that the seals around the glass must not be very tight. In the picture you can see that there is cedar around the interior joints between the glass and the humidor. Last night I pulled the trays out of my humidor and used a high tempt glue gun an ran a bead around every joint on the interior of the humidor. I'm hoping that it will fix the issue.

Here's my concern and the crux of this post: after the glue dried and I inspected my glue bead (which to my surprise, only needed a couple touch ups), I put the humidifiers and trays, with my cigars back into the humidor. The humidity in my humidor was in the mid 40's when I put it all back together and this morning (about 10 hours later) it was only in the mid 50's again.

Assuming that I fixed the seal leak, how concerned should I be by leaving my cigars in that low of a humidity level? And secondly, what options do I have if I need to go through the seasoning process again, if that is in fact what I need to do again?
 
Yea, I've seen lots of humidity issues with those. If you're running heat in the house, it's not helping. Re-season for a minimum of 2 weeks. Keep the cigars in a double zip freezer bag, or well sealed food container, with bovedas.

I'm wondering just how much solid cedar is in that humidor. I've seen a lot with cedar veneered plyboard. Throw some extra cedar in there while re-seasoning, and keep it in there as a buffer.

If you didn't seal the glass edges, you might consider doing so. I personally would use dental wax, rolled into "strings, and pressed into the gaps.
 
Use distilled water. Propylene Glycol solutions suck. Buy Bóveda products. Sadly, while looking cool, many glass humidiors are infamous for poor seals around the glass. Stick to only buying established brands with glass like Savoy by Ashton. Or pricier well established custom builds. With humidors you often get what you pay for.

Good luck.
 
Other than thin strips around the glass and the shelves, there is no other cedar inside the humidor :( There is a lot of glass, but the top and bottom is the same type of wood as what is on the exterior. Should I line the inside with cedar planks? I'd hate to tell my gf that this humidor is no good...
 
Johnny B said:
Other than thin strips around the glass and the shelves, there is no other cedar inside the humidor :( There is a lot of glass, but the top and bottom is the same type of wood as what is on the exterior. Should I line the inside with cedar planks? I'd hate to tell my gf that this humidor is no good...
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Use undressed cigar boxes, cedar spacers from 25 count boxes, divider sheets, etc. You can add/remove as seasons change, etc. Keeping it full helps a lot. If you can't keep full with cigars, an empty undressed box as a "filler" works well.
 
MadMonk said:
Use undressed cigar boxes, cedar spacers from 25 count boxes, divider sheets, etc. You can add/remove as seasons change, etc. Keeping it full helps a lot. If you can't keep full with cigars, an empty undressed box as a "filler" works well.
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It's been full for most of the time. I pulled most all of them out lastnight and placed them air tight containers with humidifiers. I'm going to try to reason the humidor and look for some in treated cedar, so I can attempt to line the inside. 20161021_113606.jpg
 
What MadMonk said...I joined recently and was having humi issues and he helped immensely! Tip of the hat to you, sir.

My small glass top was stuck at just around 60% and it was just a matter of seasoning it for literally almost a month. Between Boveda packs and a small bowl of water, it sits happy at 68 to 70 now. I keep the small bowl in there because we have steam heat in our condo and it's drier in the winter. Without it, the RH was between 60 and 65.

From the looks of your pic, I'd agree that you need more cedar in there to soak up the RH to keep it balanced and consistent. There's a lot of glass there.

Good luck and stay patient!
CAS
 
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Thank you for all the input and support regarding this issue. I've been able to do some more research and it looks like I'm running into three problems simultaneously:

1. I may not have seasoned my humidor very well. (Which I am in the process of doing now) I've got three humidifiers and two shot glasses with distilled water chilling in there.

2. I probably don't have enough cedar in there. I'll purchase enough to line the bottom and top.

3. With it being winter and needing to run the heat in my house, its having a negative affect on the RH inside my humidor. The symptoms of my humidor are pretty consistent with what I've seen.

I don't mind putting a little more money and time into making this thing work properly as I like its appearance. That and it was a gift from my girlfriend and I really don't want her to feel bad about buying this for me, just to have me buy another one.

I'll follow up with more results in a few weeks.
 
Johnny B said:
That and it was a gift from my girlfriend and I really don't want her to feel bad about buying this for me, just to have me buy another one.
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Domestic tranquility has its price. Sounds like you have a handle on it and any further issues can be dealt with.
 
Johnny B said:
Thank you for all the input and support regarding this issue. I've been able to do some more research and it looks like I'm running into three problems simultaneously:

1. I may not have seasoned my humidor very well. (Which I am in the process of doing now) I've got three humidifiers and two shot glasses with distilled water chilling in there.

2. I probably don't have enough cedar in there. I'll purchase enough to line the bottom and top.

3. With it being winter and needing to run the heat in my house, its having a negative affect on the RH inside my humidor. The symptoms of my humidor are pretty consistent with what I've seen.

I don't mind putting a little more money and time into making this thing work properly as I like its appearance. That and it was a gift from my girlfriend and I really don't want her to feel bad about buying this for me, just to have me buy another one.

I'll follow up with more results in a few weeks.
Click to expand...
Make sure your humidor isn't directly by a heater vent or a location that gets direct sunlight beaming at it.
 
No direct sunlight, but unfortunately I've go te humidor sitting on my night stand, next to my bed and the vent is under my bed... I don't really have any other option. Unless I put it out in the family room. Which isn't going to happen... see domestic tranquility quote above :)
 
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