Humidor advice

[Thaser11]

So my humidor seems to be acting odd. A couple weeks ago it had a funk to it so I emptied everything into tupperware and dried it out. Thankfully none of the sticks acquired the funk and it has since gone away.

Since then I took over a week to re-season it and re-calibrate my hygrometers.

The weird thing is my humidity readings now. I have two hygrometers in it at the moment, a xikar round one and this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

the xikar read spot on to 75 in both salt tests and a boveda calibration. The ambient weather one read 72 in a salt test, so I calibrated it to 75.

Now the weird thing is that now in the humidor the xikar reads 59-60, the ambient weather reads 61 (uncalibrated on the sensor) and 64 on the calibrated display.

I like to think I'm a pretty smart dude but I can't figure this out of the life of me. What reading is the right one? Do I need to seal the humidor better? If so how should I do it?

So confused....

Edit to add that I am using HF 65% beads in the humidor...two medium sticks and a large puck that I refilled to roughly 60% the other day.

[CigarNut]

The Xikar is +/- 2% accuracy on RH; the Ambient does not provide this information, but let's say it's the same -- +/- 2%.

That could account for a 4% variance difference right there. The difference between the calibrated and uncalibrated values on the Ambient could be due to the fact that it was calibrated at a higher (75%) RH and you are now at a much lower value.

This is just guessing, and my ...

[shilala]

What Michael said. You're doin fine.
You're not using million dollar lab-grade stuff, my man.
The hygrometers and beads are "aids".
In time you'll just know if things are right, by the "nose" of your humidor, the feel of your cigars, and how they smoke.
If you can get it to hang around 65% somewhere, you win!!!

[Thaser11]

I suppose I just need to stop being less of a control freak and numbers guy and just relax huh.

[shilala]

Yeah, but it fills the days, Mom.

[quote=Thaser11;2028201]So my humidor seems to be acting odd. A couple weeks ago it had a funk to it so I emptied everything into tupperware and dried it out. Thankfully none of the sticks acquired the funk and it has since gone away.

Baking soda does wonders to get rid of funk and not add any off aromas to the sticks. Get rid of funk source, thoroughly wipe down inside of humi, put stuff back in, put in soda box, leave a few days and remove. Fresh as a daisy!

[AdamJoshua]

[quote=badbriar;2028256]

Originally Posted by Thaser11

So my humidor seems to be acting odd. A couple weeks ago it had a funk to it so I emptied everything into tupperware and dried it out. Thankfully none of the sticks acquired the funk and it has since gone away.

Baking soda does wonders to get rid of funk and not add any off aromas to the sticks. Get rid of funk source, thoroughly wipe down inside of humi, put stuff back in, put in soda box, leave a few days and remove. Fresh as a daisy!

I've always heard you should never "wipe down" the inside of a humidor, the water even that little bit (assuming you use a barely damp cloth) can cause the wood to warp and totally screw the seal, forever and ever and ever.

[Thaser11]

Baking soda is a good call, it does keep my fridge from smelling bad for the most part. I actually had pretty good success with newspaper with both the humi and some old cigar boxes that I got for a future coolerdoor. The boxes smelled like an old ash tray but a couple day with my towns weekly paper and they're good as new. I guess even the smell couldn't stand the local paper's articles.