[boltman]

The humidity in my humi has been around 60%. I tried filling the humidifier up with 50/50 solution twice, then I tried just straight distilled water. It went up to about 62% and has been there for a few days. I then tried putting in three small sponge pieces, damp with straight distilled water. One sponge on the top tray, two on the bottom (This is where most of the cigars are). It looks like this is starting to bring up the humidity. After one day it was at 64%. Does anyone use sponges in this manner in there humi to adjust humidity ??

Thanks, Boltman

 

[IHT]

what kind of humi do you have? is it one with 3 drawers that just open up? does the humi seal tightly? etc.

 

[Guest]

i always just put a dish w/ some water until the humidity rises to an acceptable level, but more importantly, what is the temperature in your humidor? this has a great bearing on the quantity of humidity in the air. RH is relative on the temperature

 

[drc]

RH is relative on the temperature

Not sure I agree with that. RH is relative humidity, that much is true. What I understand it to mean, though, is that warmer air has the capacity to hold more moisture, and so it will take more moisture to reach an RH of 70%, than in colder air. The 70% here is the percentage of moisture actually in the air vs. the amount of moisture the air at that temperature can hold. Having said all that, I immediately acknowledge that I'm no chemist or physicist or whatever ...ist should know this stuff, but, 70% RH is 70% RH no matter what the temperature.

Anyway, just how confident are you in the accuracy of your hygrometer? Are your cigars smoking OK? Do they make crinkly noises when you gently squeeze the foot? If not, maybe your RH is fine and your hygrometer is lying.

 

[Guest]

...ist should know this stuff, but, 70% RH is 70% RH no matter what the temperature.

if you think that is the case, just perform this test if you can: get 2 cigars of the same box hold one cigar in a humidor w/ 70%/70°F and the other 70%/80°F for a week, at that time take out and smoke the one held at the hotter temperature. draw your own conclusions.

my last bit of info i will offer is this: DRC you acknowledged that higher temperatures can hold more moisture. Well you have to remember that percentages are not an acutal number rather then a fraction of the quantity and a total number. That being said look at it this way, say you have one gallon of air at 70°F and the most water it could hold is 5 cubic inches. that would be x/5 to find the percentage or Relative humidity at that temp. i could talk about this until i was blue in the face, yes there is alot of science in it, but it doesnt mean that it has to be as complicated as everyone makes it. just try different temps/rh till you find something that you like. thats all

 

[boltman]

I have a humidor that justs lifts up from the top. No drawers. I have two hygrometers. One Analog, which jas been calibrated using the salt test and one difgital which I just received about a week ago. The analog reads 66%, the digital reads 63%, so they are close but I am tending to believe the digital reading. The temperature seems good at 68 degrees.

The cigars seem a bit on the dry side. They do crinkle when squeezing them lightly. The three small sponges I added to the humi seem to be helping. I will check the RH again tonight and see if it went up more. One thing I did notice is the sponges dried out fairly quick when I checked them yesterday. Maybe it's just taking time for the dry cigars to absorb the moisture.

Thanks again, Boltman

 

[LowCostCigars]

some things to try

Did you condition your humidor when it was new? This involves wiping down all inside surfaces of the humi with distilled water to get the spanish cedar lining up to operational humidity. Even if you did this once, this may be worth doing again if you are having trouble. Be sure you store your cigars elsewhere for at least 24 hours after wiping down the inside, because the sudden humidity jump can cause them to burst.

If this was never done when the humi was new, the cedar lining (which is kiln dried) will soak up moisture from the air until an equilibrium is reached, and it can be hard to get to 70% for awhile.

Also, if it's a top loader, check to be sure there are no major gaps at the corners of the lip hanging from the lid (which should fit snugly inside the walls of the lower part when closed). If there are gaps these little channels can allow the humi to breath too much. These gaps at the corners can be filled with shims made from the cedar wrappers around some cigars like Fuente Chateau,etc. Just cut shims with an exacto knife, fill the gaps and trim for appearance, then swab the corner with distilled water so the shim gets moist and expands to fill the gap.

Hope it works out for you

 

[Lamar]

Now to thoroughly confuse matters...

I don't like to wipe down a new humi because I have heard horror stories of humi's with defects in them warping because of this. I far prefer just giving the humidor time to come up to speed once you have assured yourself that it in fact has a solid seal.