Humidity - please help if possible.

[goalie204]

What i did was, I took all cigars/puck/hygros out of the humi, and put them in a plastic bag. In a matter of hours, the hygros went from reading 51% and 50% RH in the box, to 53 and 56%(newer and recently calibrated one) in the ziplock.

Does this prove it was a leaky humi?

If so how do i reinforce the seal?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by goalie204

What i did was, I took all cigars/puck/hygros out of the humi, and put them in a plastic bag. In a matter of hours, the hygros went from reading 51% and 50% RH in the box, to 53 and 56%(newer and recently calibrated one) in the ziplock.

Does this prove it was a leaky humi?

If so how do i reinforce the seal?

No, it proves your beads are dried out, unless of course you have 55% beads that I'm not familiar with.
Either that or your hygrometers are wonky, or they need new batteries.
I'm not even remotely convinced that your hygrometers are accurate. That's because the information you're giving doesn't jive.

If you want to check your puck, put it in a quart ziplock bag with your hygros for a few hours and then check your hygros.
My guess is that your hygros will end up reading 53 and 56.
At that point you can assume A.) Your beads are dried out. B.) You miscalibrated your hygrometers. C.) Your batteries need replaced in your hygrometers.

[goalie204]

Originally Posted by shilala

No, it proves your beads are dried out, unless of course you have 55% beads that I'm not familiar with.
Either that or your hygrometers are wonky, or they need new batteries.
I'm not even remotely convinced that your hygrometers are accurate. That's because the information you're giving doesn't jive.

If you want to check your puck, put it in a quart ziplock bag with your hygros for a few hours and then check your hygros.
My guess is that your hygros will end up reading 53 and 56.
At that point you can assume A.) Your beads are dried out. B.) You miscalibrated your hygrometers. C.) Your batteries need replaced in your hygrometers.

I have 3 hygrometers in the large ziplock with my cigars and puck. The brand new digital one i salt calibrated reads 58. The other digital one reads 56. The 3rd one, analog, reads 59-60ish. Because they are all so close, I feel that the humidity is likely in that range.

The puck was charged fine when it was in the humidor. Upon moving everything to a ziplock, humidity went up.

to me that means that either i have a leaky humi, or a humi that's still absorbing moisture.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by goalie204

I have 3 hygrometers in the large ziplock with my cigars and puck. The brand new digital one i salt calibrated reads 58. The other digital one reads 56. The 3rd one, analog, reads 59-60ish. Because they are all so close, I feel that the humidity is likely in that range.

The puck was charged fine when it was in the humidor. Upon moving everything to a ziplock, humidity went up.

to me that means that either i have a leaky humi, or a humi that's still absorbing moisture.

Lookin good, brother.
What RH%age is your puck?
I read your last comment and yes, either the new humi is still seasoning or it's leaky. We can't say it's leaky if it hasn't seasoned, though.
A great way to season it is to put it in the vino with a bunch of sponges.
Open it and let it soak that high humidity for a few days.
You should also put your puck in the super-wet vino. That way the beads can suck up all the water that they can hold.
When you put the puck and cigars back in your newly seasoned humi, fight the urge to open 20 times a day. Check it once a day, max. Open and close it very quickly.
If you can avoid opening it for a couple days, that'd be great.
When you ultimately open it, if the RH is much below the RH reading you noted from the "puck and hygros in the ziplock" experiment, then there's a problem. You have a leaky humi. They're VERY common, so don't sweat it.
In many instances a humi has to be well seasoned before it seals good.
The wood will swell so that the seal surfaces will touch, thus creating a good seal.
Using the vino to season the humi will move things along very well.

Another thing that will help keep that little humi humidified is to add more beads and/or get a lot more cigars in it. Cigars are a buffer. They hold water that they can share and give up. They help control your RH.
So go shopping.
Even a nice box of $20 cbid smokes will help.

[goalie204]

Originally Posted by shilala

Lookin good, brother.
What RH%age is your puck?

65%

Originally Posted by shilala

I read your last comment and yes, either the new humi is still seasoning or it's leaky. We can't say it's leaky if it hasn't seasoned, though.

I seasoned it for 9 days by putting a big old bowl of distilled water and not opening it, don't think that woulda done it?

Originally Posted by shilala

Even a nice box of $20 cbid smokes will help.

no cbid for us canucks

[shilala]

Originally Posted by goalie204

65%



I seasoned it for 9 days by putting a big old bowl of distilled water and not opening it, don't think that woulda done it?



no cbid for us canucks

Sounds like your beads are dry.

Not necessarily, especially if you opened it 20 times a day.

There's a gazillion brothers that'll help you out with the "no cbid for Canucks" problem, myself included.

[goalie204]

Originally Posted by shilala

Not necessarily, especially if you opened it 20 times a day.

I only opened it 3 times max in the 9 days of seasoning