Humidity Problem

[alfredo_buscatti]

I'm having trouble getting a new humidor up to the proper humidity. My digital hygrometer is reading in the high 50s/low 60s rH. Here's the sequence of events leading up to the current situation.

1) Received 75 ct used humidor from my brother. He didn't report problems but then again he was none to vigilant about humidity. Probably used an unknown humidifier and analog hygrometer.
2) Humidor contained 30 cheap cigars that had been outside humidity for over a year. Threw them out.
3) Put a bowl with distilled water inside the humidor for 10 days.
4) Added distilled water to make 75% of the beads in a Heartfelt cylinder good for 2000 cc of humidification; capacity of this small humidor ~700 cc.
5) Removed dish and inserted 5 DP Blue Churchills; after 24 hours got 63 rH
6) This rH continued 3 days; smoked 2 of the Blues.
7) Bought 10 E P Carillo cigars from CigarBid. This was the last time the humidity was good.
8) Humidity low. Inserted one glass of distilled water; still low; inserted another, low; inserted a third today, low.
9) After getting first low reading I added more water to the beads. It looked as if the cylinder needed it as more than 20% were opaque. At this point I thought the problem was with beads.
10) Tested cylinder with hygrometer in a plastic bead. Humidity correct at 66 rH (hygrometer calibrated at 66 after #7)

Shouldn't have been problems at all; even if the 10 E P Carillo cigars were very dry (is this a problem with CigarBid)? The combined surface area of two glasses should have been enough to bring the rH up. Though I read that a humidor can struggle to get the proper humidity and that in the long run it usually does, this is about two weeks of problems.

Leak? If so, why did the humidor have the proper rH with just the 5 Pepin sticks and then go down after putting the 10 E P Carillo sticks in?

Any light you can bring to these events would be sooooo helpful! Mike

[Sweet_Leaf_PDX]

I think a picture of your humidor would be helpful here...

Most people around here keep their cigars at 65% RH, and I would not be too concerned about your cigars if the humidity does not dip much below the high 50's.

I don't have experience with the Heartfelt beads, but other people here do.

It does sounds like you have a sealing issue. If your humidor has glass then you should run a bead of sealant around the edge of the glass. Your beads may have been just working overtime to keep the humidity up in there, and then run out of juice around the time you got the EP Carillo sticks.

[bobarian]

There is a sticky on seasoning your humidor. Please retread. I see no evidence that your humidor was seasoned properly. In step 3 you said you left the water in for 10 days. But that may not be enough, the humidor needs to be able to maintain a constant humidity before adding beads or cigars. If there is a leak this will be masked by the addition of cigars and beads.

[Flynnster]

Another thing to do would be to check your hydrometer, see if it is reading true.

[markem]

Originally Posted by bobarian

There is a sticky on seasoning your humidor. Please retread. I see no evidence that your humidor was seasoned properly. In step 3 you said you left the water in for 10 days. But that may not be enough, the humidor needs to be able to maintain a constant humidity before adding beads or cigars. If there is a leak this will be masked by the addition of cigars and beads.

Bob is wise in the ways of the raindrop. The sticky is beautifully done but amazingly easy to screw up, at least for me. Even if you know that you are doing it right, print it out and have it nearby.

[Dude Here]

I would say leak. The beads needing to be recharged after such a short amount of time is what's making me think that way. They're basically expelling all their moisture trying to keep the humidity up, but the bad seal is just letting it all out. Have you tried the dollar bill test on the humi? When you release the lid from a few inches does it slam shut or close with more of a whoosh of air?

[Sadden]

A humi will suck up a lot of moisture seasoning. If this one has been out of care for as long as implied then who knows how much.

Also a bowl of distilled water does not provide enough surface area. I would put the beads / stogies in a temporary tupperdor and reseason using a clean sponge in a dish of distilled water.

Do another 10 days.

Glass has also been brought up. Look into that. the ones I have had apart only had a drop of silicone in each corner.....

Also what kind of hygrometer do you have?

[alfredo_buscatti]

After the overnight of 3 glasses of distilled water, rH at 62. I'd like to keep the cigars and beads and water in the humidor and more gradually get the seasoning right; but after reading the sticky on seasoning a humidor feel that I need to remove everything and re-season it. As is I've got 15 cigars, beads and the three glasses of water in the humidor; too many variables to correctly assess the humidity. Starting out with just the sponge seems very much like the way to go.

One question: some say to saturate the sponge leaving all the water it can hold in it while others say to saturate then wring it out. Does it matter how quickly the sponge brings the humidity up? Is going slowly by wringing it out best?

Thank you very much for your replies. Seasoning a humidor is more complex that one would think.

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by alfredo_buscatti

After the overnight of 3 glasses of distilled water, rH at 62. I'd like to keep the cigars and beads and water in the humidor and more gradually get the seasoning right; but after reading the sticky on seasoning a humidor feel that I need to remove everything and re-season it. As is I've got 15 cigars, beads and the three glasses of water in the humidor; too many variables to correctly assess the humidity. Starting out with just the sponge seems very much like the way to go.

One question: some say to saturate the sponge leaving all the water it can hold in it while others say to saturate then wring it out. Does it matter how quickly the sponge brings the humidity up? Is going slowly by wringing it out best?

Thank you very much for your replies. Seasoning a humidor is more complex that one would think.

Best thing is to take the cigars and beads out -- otherwise you will saturate them.

I saturate my sponge to start and then resaturate the sponge as needed until my humidor will hold a steady RH. The point of the seasoning process is to add moisture to the wood in your humidor -- almost to the point of saturation.

The added moisture has two main benefits:

- it causes the wood to swell a bit causing the joints to tighten up and seal better
- it provides a secondary source of moisture for your cigars

[alfredo_buscatti]

I'm a week into seasoning this humidor with only a ceramic dish, sponge soaked in distilled water and a hygrometer inside the humidor. I'm concerned about the rH readings I'm getting. It climbed gradually to a high of 73 but has been gradually falling off for about the last four days, and now reads 68.

I've only been opening the lid once a day to rehydrate sponge.

Is this of any concern?

[bobarian]

Why are you opening it daily?

Leave it alone! After two weeks open it and take out the sponge. Then take a RH reading. Close the humidor and in 24hrs see if the same RH has been maintained, if so then it is stable and ready to use. You may need to lower the RH a bit to get to your preference. Just leave it open for an hour and take another reading.

[Flynnster]

Is the sponge dry every time you open it up to rehydrate it? If it's drying a sponge out daily, there must be a leak.

[alfredo_buscatti]

Sorry! I thought I was supposed to be rehydrating the sponge with distilled water everyday; in fact, when I remove it it maybe has only 30-40% of the water left in it that it had the day before when, rehydrated, I put it back into the humidor. bobarian, your smiley is priceless!

Plan: rehydrate sponge until it is sopping wet, put it into the humidor and don't open it for two weeks.

Question: At the end of two weeks, whether the rH is correct at that point or needs to be adjusted, am I aiming at 65% rH, the same as my beads?

[RobR1205]

If I am not mistaken, your humidity using the sponge technique will yield a RH much higher than 65 to begin with after the two weeks of seasoning. This is ok though, since seasoning is really just used to moisturize the wood inside humidor. It will come down and settle out once beads are put in.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by alfredo_buscatti

Sorry! I thought I was supposed to be rehydrating the sponge with distilled water everyday; in fact, when I remove it it maybe has only 30-40% of the water left in it that it had the day before when, rehydrated, I put it back into the humidor. bobarian, your smiley is priceless!

Plan: rehydrate sponge until it is sopping wet, put it into the humidor and don't open it for two weeks.

Question: At the end of two weeks, whether the rH is correct at that point or needs to be adjusted, am I aiming at 65% rH, the same as my beads?

Your goal is stability. Once seasoned your humidor should maintain its Rh for at least 24hrs. Take a reading, then in 24hrs check again and if you are within 2-5% you are good to go. Make sure no more than 2/3rds of your beads are clear and they will absorb any excess moisture. This may take up to a week as they work slowly, but you can put your cigars in once your Rh is stable.

Sponge does not have to be "sopping wet" It will continue to release moisture until the cedar is saturated.

[alfredo_buscatti]

So a sponge wet with distilled water and my hygrometer were the only contents in my humidor for two weeks. Opened the humidor today and removed the sponge. Reading was 67 rH.

My question is: should I have put the beads in the humidor for the 24 hour test? I didn't and don't think so as they would have distorted the reading that I will take tomorrow? I want to be sure the wood has the right moisture, the wood only, for this final step?

[CigarNut]

You are right -- don't put the beads in for the test. 67% seems low for two weeks of seasoning. You could try saturating your sponge and seasoning the humidor further -- maybe another week or you could check for leaks at any joints/seams.

[alfredo_buscatti]

Thanks for your reply. 24 hours later the reading is low, also: 60%. I inserted the distilled water saturated sponge again and am going to let it alone for another week or two.

[Subvet642]

At this point, I'd just assume there is a leak and seal every joint and seam with a bead of silicone.

[alfredo_buscatti]

I think silicone is a good idea, but my first idea in pursuing leaks would be to test the rim for a faulty seal. I hear this is done by sliding a dollar bill into every space along the rim, and if it can be inserted at a certain place(s), get some sort of blue tape and make a patch for that area only, moving to the next place for the next test? I'm not too familiar with this. Do I have it right?

But it would not seem that sealing every joint with silicone should be cost effective and would not take much time? Why not do both fixes right now, especially if I want the humidor right by 2015