Hi Everyone,
So, I decided to do a little more learning on Humidity. First, I found there is a distinct difference between Humidity and Relative Humidity. Humidity is the actual amount of water vapor in the air, whereas Relative Humidity is, at it's core, a measurement of ENERGY USE vs. AVAILABILITY!! (RH = % of Available Energy Used to Evaporate Water)
This was an astounding discovery for me, and explains some of the issue Madurolover and I were having in this thread: http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-questions/262265-cigars-out-humi.html
After studying the fomula for RH, I found that the Percentage Value given as RH is always 100% when at the dewpoint (dewpoint is set by barometric pressure, but is expressed as a temperature, or measurement of energy). No matter how much Humidity you add to the air, at the dewpoint, the RH will 100% - assuming the same barometric pressure.
Fortunately, weather websites provide the dewpoint, so I don't have to care about the affects of barometric pressure in my figures.
So, from there I found myself a calculator to do all the work (I'm usually an excel junkie who likes to write my own formulas, but I had a different mission than to write another enormous calculator). Humidity Calculator
With that calculator, you can go to Weather.com and get your Temp and Dewpoint to figure out your own RH...
Of course, at this point, you're going to tell me that Weather.com also provides you with RH%, so why use this calculator... well, that's the catch!
The RH% that Weather.com gives you is based on the outside temperature. It does not give you the RH% for your house at 70* (or whatever your room temp is). That's what you can use that calculator for!
Get the dewpoint from the weather website, then enter the temp of the room your humidor is stored at... This should give you a much closed idea of the RH in your house and what your beads are up against.
So, for example, the RH in Seattle WA right now is 83%, but it's 29* with a 26* dewpoint. Using the same 26* dewpoint, and 70* as my room temp, my RH is only 19%!!!
No wonder my lips are cracking when I'm not using lip balm! 19%!! No wonder my humi drops in 1% RH nearly immediately upon opening.
Here's some other good info on this topic written in very plain english... good stuff.
About Humidity....
[Shameless Plug: I need ring gauge]
So, I decided to do a little more learning on Humidity. First, I found there is a distinct difference between Humidity and Relative Humidity. Humidity is the actual amount of water vapor in the air, whereas Relative Humidity is, at it's core, a measurement of ENERGY USE vs. AVAILABILITY!! (RH = % of Available Energy Used to Evaporate Water)
This was an astounding discovery for me, and explains some of the issue Madurolover and I were having in this thread: http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-questions/262265-cigars-out-humi.html
After studying the fomula for RH, I found that the Percentage Value given as RH is always 100% when at the dewpoint (dewpoint is set by barometric pressure, but is expressed as a temperature, or measurement of energy). No matter how much Humidity you add to the air, at the dewpoint, the RH will 100% - assuming the same barometric pressure.
Fortunately, weather websites provide the dewpoint, so I don't have to care about the affects of barometric pressure in my figures.
So, from there I found myself a calculator to do all the work (I'm usually an excel junkie who likes to write my own formulas, but I had a different mission than to write another enormous calculator). Humidity Calculator
With that calculator, you can go to Weather.com and get your Temp and Dewpoint to figure out your own RH...
Of course, at this point, you're going to tell me that Weather.com also provides you with RH%, so why use this calculator... well, that's the catch!
The RH% that Weather.com gives you is based on the outside temperature. It does not give you the RH% for your house at 70* (or whatever your room temp is). That's what you can use that calculator for!
Get the dewpoint from the weather website, then enter the temp of the room your humidor is stored at... This should give you a much closed idea of the RH in your house and what your beads are up against.
So, for example, the RH in Seattle WA right now is 83%, but it's 29* with a 26* dewpoint. Using the same 26* dewpoint, and 70* as my room temp, my RH is only 19%!!!
No wonder my lips are cracking when I'm not using lip balm! 19%!! No wonder my humi drops in 1% RH nearly immediately upon opening.
Here's some other good info on this topic written in very plain english... good stuff.
About Humidity....
[Shameless Plug: I need ring gauge]
