Humidity Problem

[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