Humidity: Seasonal Change of rH

[alfredo_buscatti]

Hi All,

When the humidity went down in late fall, with colder temperatures, the rH in my boxes fell below 60, my minimum rH. I use bead cylinders and began spritzing them everyday for five days, and the rH slowly climbed to about 62 in one box, 64 in the other. But after a few days both dropped to 59. I've resumed spritzing and one box is doing fine, but the other is stubborn. After spritzing for the last three days it still reads 59.

So today I doubled the amount of water that I was spraying on the cylinders. I don't think anything is wrong, but apparently the wood in the stubborn box really dried out when the humidity fell, and it's taking a good deal of water to get it properly hydrated.

Any criticism about my thinking and my method?

Am I right in thinking that when the humidity fell outside the box, the wood released its humidity, the water flowing from a greater concentration in the wood to the lesser concentration in the outside air, through the slim opening of the box, and to a lesser extent when the lid was open? I can't explain what happened any other way.

As always, thank you for your help.

Mike

[pattersong]

I have experienced similar RH issues as the season turns into the colder months. After a month of tinkering with humidification, I turned to Boveda. That resulted in stable humidity for an entire year. I now use 4 packs in a 50ct humidor loaded with cigars, and I only need to replace packs once a year.

[markem]

It is likely that the drier air is to blame but it is also possible that you are light on the amount of beads.

For my desktops, I put a shot glass full of distilled water in during the winter. The uptake is pretty slow with the water lasting several months. I also use a beeswax polish on the outside of the one desktop that isn't sealed.

Note that the wood (the Spanish Cedar part) should only be taking up water when the humidity is near/over 70%, so it likely is not affecting your environment. Some like to re-season at the start of the local dry season to help ensure a stable environment. I used to do this.

Oh yeah, I did not experience this problem when I used coolers, btw.

[Sadden]

Place your cigars in a tuppordor while you get this sorted

Calibrate your hygros

Place a small dish with a damp sponge in your humidor and allow to climb to 80ish. Remove the dish/sponge and see how it holds the RH. It should hold fairly steady for a couple days.

If it does not you need to work on sealing your units better. Silicone any glass , seams etc. Add a gasket to the lid. It sounds like your using beads , make sure its from a reputable brand such as HCM or HF.

If it holds steady you can return your cigars/humidification. That should also pull the RH down to more reasonable levels. Adding more than the necassary amount if beads is never a bad idea.

[Flynnster]

While it's a bit of a hassle, 59-64 isn't that big of a fluctuation for your cigars. They are more resilient than you might think.

[Sweet_Leaf_PDX]

Wise words here. With dryer air in the outside environment things are going to be less forgiving if your humidor has any leaks. Very minor leaks are not often noticed if the difference between the RH in your humidor and the RH in the room is not too big. When that difference increases, your humidor will start to drop RH quickly because your humidification device can't keep up. If you follow the process described below and your humidor goes from 80 to 70 or 60 within a day then you have some leaks for sure.

Originally Posted by Sadden

Place your cigars in a tuppordor while you get this sorted

Calibrate your hygros

Place a small dish with a damp sponge in your humidor and allow to climb to 80ish. Remove the dish/sponge and see how it holds the RH. It should hold fairly steady for a couple days.

If it does not you need to work on sealing your units better. Silicone any glass , seams etc. Add a gasket to the lid. It sounds like your using beads , make sure its from a reputable brand such as HCM or HF.

If it holds steady you can return your cigars/humidification. That should also pull the RH down to more reasonable levels. Adding more than the necassary amount if beads is never a bad idea.

[rr_coyote]

Winter kicks my coolidor's butt. It's a lot cooler in my basement, but still dry. I keep an eye on my RH, but it dropped a little more than I liked. It recovered pretty easily though and now it's back up to 66-67%

My kitty litter is still doing a decent job... just can't quite handle all the dryness with as little attention as I give it in the summer.

[Oshay]

Originally Posted by Flynnster

While it's a bit of a hassle, 59-64 isn't that big of a fluctuation for your cigars. They are more resilient than you might think.

Exactly! Stop over thinking people.