Cabinet humidor advice
 

So I got a really nice temp + rh control Mxt aristocrat cabinet back in October with dual humidifiers on the bottom shelf and twin peltier coolers. I moved my cigars into it as well as purchased some additional boxes. Needless to say, I may have gotten a bit over jealous in my purchases, as I have had some trouble getting the last few boxes in there (I was eventually successful with some creative tetris). :D It is worth noting my last reorganization of the boxes was after Christmas, before NYE. So the pictured arrangement has been this way un-rotated for about a month.

I smoked many cigars in Nov and December (before I had to jam so many in there), and they were all wonderful. I had one around New Years (early January) and it was fine, but didn't have for a few weeks after that until this week. Well, I've had 3 cigars this week, and they have all been unpleasant and dry! The cabinet temp has always been set at 68 degrees, and the hygrometer seems rock solid, set at 63rh. I also have additional rh sensor units on each shelf that all read 67rh or 68rh, so I would think the rh in the cabinet is good. However, I opened several random boxes from each shelf and many of them are just dry, regardless of top shelf or bottom shelf.

I can of course just turn the rh settings up a couple of points, but am confused given the readings I see, as they don't align with the actual cigar dryness I am observing. Do I have it stuffed too full? Can that affect the airflow so much that even though the rh reads good, they are really drying out quickly?? I always heard that if it was full it was more consistent and easier to maintain!

I am new to large cabinets like this, so any advice or insight from those with experience would be much appreciated!!

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I'm at a loss. Are the secondary hygromteters all calibrated? If so, I'm stumped as to why the cigar seem dry.....

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I have put them all together on the same shelf to test them in a few months back and they were all within 1% of each other, so I am confident that cannot be TOO far off.

My fear is I just have too much stuffed in there and am inadvertently blocking airflow. But maybe all you guys have cabinets that look like this too...

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I have an MTX with the same humidifier, pretty much stuffed to the gills, and no issues with dryness. Set at 61RH, Matthew.

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I had a Aristo as well and never had problems.

Were the cigars dry before you started, it seems if they were a bit dry when you put them in then I can see where the humidity might not have a chance to get them all up to part, but I suppose in that case it would be running constantly. So why am I posting here, I have no idea, but hi, how you dewin?

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

Yeah they were all great when they went in at various times since October. Smoked fine until this week, I guess they reached that tipping point in the past 3 weeks....

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

Ah rule of 3s....


Wow that's really only a couple months, with that many boxes and that tightly packed even if it wasn't running at all it's hard to imagine them all getting that dry.

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I just thought of something else. I have quite a few boxes I have acquired from others that were sealed in foodsaver bags. I have them throughout the humidor mixed in with non-sealed boxes. Is it possible the excess plastic sticking out around those boxes (I can hear plastic gently scraping against the sides and doors when I open / close humidor) could be blocking air flow? Isn't that plastic non porous?

Anybody else store any boxes sealed in plastic in their humidors?

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I have a small cabinet and have had it stuffed so full I was surprised any circulation was possible and didnt have this happen. I would recommend recalibrating the hygrometers and watch the RH after that.

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

My cabinet, setup, and RH is the same as Tom's. My advice is this: time. That's a lot of cigars and boxes to humidify, so let it sit for a good long time. Use desktops to hold the cigars you plan to smoke and just leave the mtx door closed (I should follow my own advice!).

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I do. If I do not know for certain that the source freezes, then I freeze and leave them in the plastic for a long time. Doesn't hurt airflow.

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

I think he's referring to leaving them in food saver bags vs. keeping them in the plastic the manufacturer wraps the boxes in.

Re: Cabinet humidor advice
 

Still shoudln't affect the humidity of the uncovered boxes.