Little trouble w/ humidity

[mrmsav]

I am fairly new to this, but I will give it a shot for what its worth.

First of all, I didn't see a digital hygro in your photos. From what I have been reading, the analog ones are fairly inaccurate. Just ordered one myself last week, should be in today or tomorrow.

One you get that, and calibrate it, it should give you an accurate reading of where your humi is at.

Also you could try doing a paper test on your humi to see if the seal is working. If the paper is difficult to remove your seal is good. if your seal is bad, you are going to be constantly r recharging your beads.

Like I said, I am pretty new here, I am sure the other guys will help you out alot better, but those are my thoughts from reading around here. I am having the opposite problem with too much r/h in mine.

Thanks

[Dude Here]

Originally Posted by mrmsav

I am fairly new to this, but I will give it a shot for what its worth.

First of all, I didn't see a digital hygro in your photos. From what I have been reading, the analog ones are fairly inaccurate. Just ordered one myself last week, should be in today or tomorrow.

One you get that, and calibrate it, it should give you an accurate reading of where your humi is at.

Also you could try doing a paper test on your humi to see if the seal is working. If the paper is difficult to remove your seal is good. if your seal is bad, you are going to be constantly r recharging your beads.

Like I said, I am pretty new here, I am sure the other guys will help you out alot better, but those are my thoughts from reading around here. I am having the opposite problem with too much r/h in mine.

Thanks

All solid advice here. Get yourself a digital hygro and toss those other humidifiers for some beads. The beads are a little costly but they're almost maintenance free and will last for quite a while. I suggest ordering a pound and using half. Save the other half for when you inevitably have to order a larger humi.

As for the humidor itself, I've never had much luck with cheapy humidors from C-Bid. Most of the ones I've ever gotten don't seal very well. If functionality is more important to you than appearance then I suggest either getting some large sized tupperware or a small cooler to store your sticks in.

Just my

[markem]

Originally Posted by mrmsav

I am fairly new to this, but I will give it a shot for what its worth.

First of all, I didn't see a digital hygro in your photos. From what I have been reading, the analog ones are fairly inaccurate. Just ordered one myself last week, should be in today or tomorrow.

One you get that, and calibrate it, it should give you an accurate reading of where your humi is at.

Also you could try doing a paper test on your humi to see if the seal is working. If the paper is difficult to remove your seal is good. if your seal is bad, you are going to be constantly r recharging your beads.

Don't have to be an old fart to give good advice. This is solid.

Here is a link to the sticky on seasoning a humidor. It has great information:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620

I think that your method of using the sponge was solid because of the surface area and the ease of giving up the humidity. Nothing wrong with the present setup and I'm sure that people will have very good advice on possible improvements.

Do the tests for gaps (paper test, light, etc.) to see about your seal. Seals can be fixed in several ways, so check back before you make any adjustments to the humidor. Shiala and Waxingmoon can probably give hands on advice.

One other thing to consider is the lid drop test. Open the lid a small ways and drop it to close. If it clunks closed, then the seal isn't as good as it could be. I've noticed that humidors that get really dry can lose the seal do to lack of moisture at the closure. If this is the case, wipe down the edges at the closure to add humidity. This may take several treatments before there is enough moisture there. When I add distilled water to my humidors, I tend to spritz the wood around the opening on both the box and lid very lightly.

May or may not help, but worth considering.