Humidor Issues

[sleeved613]

Good Morning, Asylum -

I have been having terrible issues with my humidor. I inherited one from my brother, it is a large Thompson Cigars humidor. I seasoned it, left it for 24 hours, added the Boveda pack, left it for 24 hours, added the hygrometer and cigars and it consistently hovered around 60% humidity and was rather warm. I moved it to my basement, now its cold and still at 59-60% humidity. SO, I purchased a smaller humidor, seasoned it, left it 24 hours, added Boveda and hygrometer and it is still at 60%.... What am I doing wrong?

[sleeved613]

Correction: The new humidor is at about 54%

[icehog3]

Is the second humidor also from Thompson's? That could be the problem right there.

Did you calibrate your hygrometer?

[dijit]

Sounds to me like you are moving too fast. put a bowl of water with a sponge in it. Close it and leave it for 4 or 5 days. LEAVE IT DONT OPEN IT. On day 5 check your humidity. Keep in mind that at cooler temps its harder to keep higher humidities.

[AdamJoshua]

I endorse both comments here. I would calibrate your hygrometer (there are many threads on here how to do that), put your sticks in a tupperware type container for now, and as Mike said season your humidors for at least 5 days, 1 or 2 days isn't really going to cut it.

Best of luck!

[OLS]

Or just say "FINALLY, I have em just the way the Brits like em!" and be happy with your success. You are almost
never going to find a humidor from a cigar discounter that will serve as a long term, stable home for cigars. So why
do they sell em by the thousands every month? Because everyone has to learn the hard way. The good thing about
that is that a crappy humidor keeps cigars about as well as a ziplock bag or tupperware box. So in the end, if you smoke
a lot, hell, just upgrade to a downgrade and enjoy the smoking, not the worry.

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by sleeved613

Good Morning, Asylum -

I have been having terrible issues with my humidor. I inherited one from my brother, it is a large Thompson Cigars humidor. I seasoned it, left it for 24 hours, added the Boveda pack, left it for 24 hours, added the hygrometer and cigars and it consistently hovered around 60% humidity and was rather warm. I moved it to my basement, now its cold and still at 59-60% humidity. SO, I purchased a smaller humidor, seasoned it, left it 24 hours, added Boveda and hygrometer and it is still at 60%.... What am I doing wrong?

You should check out this thread: http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620

As others have explained, it takes more time to properly season a humidor.

Also, you get what you pay for, so inexpensive humidor so tend to be leaky, so they take more effort to maintain.

[mosesbotbol]

Balancing humidity can take weeks. Be patient and don't overdue the attempts to humidify. Cigars and wood can only accept so much humidity at a time. You'll risk mold or beetles going too aggressive.

[sleeved613]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I will keep you updated on my progress.

[Emjaysmash]

The aforementioned Thompson humi was always a solid seal when I used it. Then again, this has been out of use for a few years, so it may be leaky until properly seasoned.

[Weelok]

I will post links to a few videos that you may find helpful as I tend to like videos.

http://www.stogiereview.com/2006/10/...umidor-part-1/

http://www.stogiereview.com/2006/11/...umidor-part-2/

Now as for checking out your humidor, you can check the seal with the dollar bill test. You can google it but basically close the lid on a dollar bill and it should have resistance to pulling it out. Check all four sides.

Now I am a bit puzzled on your humidity element. Boveda has a lot of products but if your using a pack, you might want to consider something like this:

http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/p...p?prod=AH_1_70
Which is the small humidifier.

One of the benefits to the beads is if they go dry quickly, it's another check that your humidor is dry and quickly is going to be subjective but you shouldn't have to recharge it but once every two weeks.

Finally, and this is important, the less air you have to provide humidity for, the easier it is to stay consistent so hit up cigar bid and curse my name forever more.

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by Weelok

I will post links to a few videos that you may find helpful as I tend to like videos.

http://www.stogiereview.com/2006/10/...umidor-part-1/

http://www.stogiereview.com/2006/11/...umidor-part-2/

Now as for checking out your humidor, you can check the seal with the dollar bill test. You can google it but basically close the lid on a dollar bill and it should have resistance to pulling it out. Check all four sides.

Now I am a bit puzzled on your humidity element. Boveda has a lot of products but if your using a pack, you might want to consider something like this:

http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/p...p?prod=AH_1_70
Which is the small humidifier.

One of the benefits to the beads is if they go dry quickly, it's another check that your humidor is dry and quickly is going to be subjective but you shouldn't have to recharge it but once every two weeks.

Finally, and this is imporrtant, the less air you have to provide humidity for, the easier it is to stay consistent so hit up cigar bid and curse my name forever more.

I disagree with this -- a little -- all humidification devices require some air flow to be effective. If your the RH in your humidor is good and you don't mess with it (add or remove cigars, or open it up much) then less air flow is OK. However, if your RH is not where you want it, or you add and remove cigars frequently, then some air flow will help your humidor stabilize more quickly.

Also, the larger the humidor, the more air flow you need.

Just my

[Weelok]

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that you can opt to do a tupperdor.

http://www.stogiefresh.info/edu-humi...-your-own.html

Note, no moisture escapes so go with beads or Boveda.