OK now I'm confused

[alfbacca]

So I recently moved. My old apartment stayed at a steady 75 degrees on cold days and went up from there. My humidors (a 175 and a 50 ct) never dropped from 75 degrees but the humidity never rose from 60% which is how I love to smoke my cigars. I dealt with the temperature and had constantly check them.

But now at my new place the temperature is a lot cooler staying around 63-65 degrees, which means I don't have to worry so much about the heat. The humidity of my humidors at first stayed around 65% but last night I went to check them and the hygrometers were reading 68% and 69%. Here's what I don't get, I have about 6 ounces of dry beads in my 175 ct. Shouldn't the beads be sucking up the extra moisture in the humidors? What can I do to lower that humidity?

That's odd but how much time has passed in the new place? I know you can throw in some moisture absorption beads (like the kind in the pouches that come with new cameras...) that would definitely suck up what extra moisture the beads can't...

That's very odd being that warm air holds more moisture than cold air. With the temp drop the natural thing would be for RH to drop as well. Is there anything else different with the set up?

[alley00p]

Remember that your hygrometer measures "relative humidity"....

Do you have a hygrometer that sits outside of the humidors to tell you what your humidity in your new place is? Grab a cheapie at Wal-Mart or the local hardware store, and you may find that your new place has higher relative humidity than the old place.

At work, I can watch the humidity change in the drawers of my storage unit with even the slightest tempature change (someone holds the outside door open for a few minutes, letting the cold outside air into the office)...

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.....

[tunes]

Heat source - forced air or hot water baseboard. Both have different effect on RH.

[tsolomon]

You can over water beads which would give you a higher RH. This is easily fixed by opening the humidor frequently or taking the beads out and letting them give up some of the moisture.

[alfbacca]

I've been at this new place for a month now. My humidors were in a hallway closet but after the humidity climb I put them in the living room.

What I noticed is that whenever I open the humidor, the hygrometer shows the humidity climb up about 1% every minute the humidor is left open. Then when I close them and check on them later, the humidity goes down to 68%.

[alfbacca]

Is there anything I can do to bring the humidity down in my humidors or is the answer a Vino? I've thought about it a Vino many times but I wouldn't be able to afford a wedding if I got one, and the girlfriend would not be happy, lol.

[Snake Hips]

Originally Posted by alfbacca

Is there anything I can do to bring the humidity down in my humidors or is the answer a Vino? I've thought about it a Vino many times but I wouldn't be able to afford a wedding if I got one, and the girlfriend would not be happy, lol.

A vino wouldn't really help your problem; it would just keep the temperature about where it already is. The problem is your new place has a higher ambient humidity than your old place. So what you would do is keep 60% beads and put them in there dry as a bone. Kind of use the beads backwards, in a way.

[cort]

Originally Posted by Snake Hips

A vino wouldn't really help your problem; it would just keep the temperature about where it already is. The problem is your new place has a higher ambient humidity than your old place. So what you would do is keep 60% beads and put them in there dry as a bone. Kind of use the beads backwards, in a way.

He sounds crazy but he is right.

[alfbacca]

Just added some dry beads to the humi's and gonna see what happens. Thanks for the replies guys, really appreciate the help.

[MikeyC]

I think more beads as already suggested could be the answer. You may also want to keep your cigars in a more air tight container like a cooler if you're trying to keep humidity out.

[ucla695]

Dry out the beads, place them back in your humi and let them do their thing. Th RH will come down.

[karmaz00]

very interesting..

[alfbacca]

Ok so it's been 3 weeks since I've added a half pound of bone dry beads to my humidor and the humidity is still between 69-70%. My humidor has a tight seal as far as I know; it kept 62-63% humidity at my old place.

Would a cooler really work that much better? I've been using humidity beads for a year and a half now and they've always worked for me until now.

Any thoughts and suggestions about how to bring the humidity down greatly appreciated for this confused inmate.

[alfbacca]

Oh and the last time I calibrated my hygrometers (October 2008) they were off by 2-3 %. Today they're both reading 5-7% off. I just put fresh batteries in them, as I hadn't changed batteries since I got them two years ago. Is this normal?