Quote:
Originally Posted by LostAbbott
Your right T.G I am guessing/hoping. People use kitty litter? That sounds a little gross.
Seeing as how some have commented that my risk is larger than I think. What kind of risk am I looking at going with these instead of cigar specific beads?
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means...
You're misusing or misunderstanding what "beads" are. "Beads", in the cigar humidification sense are a solid, rigid, often silica based, humidity control medium that comes in the shape of tiny beads (1/16" diameter or so) that functions as a 2-way humidity control substance - it both releases and absorbs moisture to maintain a certain pre-set humidity level.
Heartfelt is one well established supplier of trusted bead based humidity control products.
Comparing the Aqua Gems to beads is really an apples to oranges comparison.
Aqua-Gems are a super-absorbent polymer gel, not a bead, they just happen to come in a spherical shape. What you should be comparing the Aqua Gems to is other super-absorbent polymer humidification gels found in products such as
Drymistat tubes and
Humi-Care Crystal Gel jars. Gel humidifiers do work, and can maintain a set humidity, but they are less than ideal for climates where the humidity goes above their "set point" as they are kind of sluggish to absorb humidity out of the air and lower the RH in a humidor. Beads react much quicker to changes and seem to work about equally well/quickly for both raising and lowering humidity.
Now, as for your risk... *shrug* I dunno. Assuming that the aqua gems are in fact non-toxic as claimed, which they probably are, your max risk is the value of the cigars you are humidifying plus the value of the humidor, if something happens that were to contaminate the humidor and make it unusable.
As for the kitty litter, there are some unscented litter "pearls" that are pretty much just silica and because of this and their nature to absorb moisture in the form of cat urine and then slowly release the water to evaporation, there are some who feel that KL is equal to, if not completely identical to, it's cigar bead counterpart and for the cost of about $10 for 7 lbs they are getting exactly the same thing as the cigar beads which are about $30 a pound.
One can spend quite a lot of money on cigars, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of dollars over the years. Why **** around with the unknown and put your whole collection and humidor at risk, just to try and try to save a few dollars, and in this case, aqua gems versus humi-care gel, it really is only a few bucks you are going to save at the most.