Cigar Oasis - Top Shelf or Bottom?

[96Brigadier]

Question for the guys with a Cigar Oasis: The manual says to put it above your cigars (i.e. top shelf), do you do that or put it on the bottom shelf? I currently have mine on the top shelf but that makes it a pain to get at cigars on the middle or bottom shelf of my top opening Humi. Plus then I have to look at the Oasis through the glass top, I'd rather look at nothing but smokes

So, any thoughts on having it on the top versus the bottom? Any ideas what that does to the RH top versus bottom?

Steve

[R10]

Steve,

I've got mine on the bottom of my treasure dome humidifier. It's fine. The bottom used to run a couple of degrees higher than the top shelf - which was actually ok, 65 bottom 63 top. but then I decided to toss in a bag of beads (65)- and now top and bottom same. The oasis still is primary humidity - but doesn't have to run as much.

Rick

[RobustBrad]

I'm going Oasis on the bottom with some 65% beads on the top to regulate it.

Cheers,
Brad

[K Baz]

I would go with bottom as the CO has a fan that points up and seems like the right thing to do

[RobustBrad]

What he said works also.

Cheers,
Brad

[96Brigadier]

I have 65% beads on the way, should arrive early this week. When they arrive I think the Oasis will go on the bottom with the beads on the top.

Steve

[RobustBrad]

Good choice. Exactly what I'm doing with the Trivoli

[bazookajoe]

+1 for putting it on the bottom. In my larger humidor I use an extra fan to circulate the humidity up to the top and it keeps it within 1-2% from top to bottom - works well keeping for puros at the bottom since they benefit from a little extra humidity.

[itsme_timd]

I see where everyone is saying to put this on the bottom but by nature the humid air will settle on the bottom rather than rise. I guess it depend on the size of your humi and Oasis as to whether or not that makes a difference.

I'm using one in my coolidor and it's on the top, FWIW.

[96Brigadier]

Originally Posted by itsme_timd

I see where everyone is saying to put this on the bottom but by nature the humid air will settle on the bottom rather than rise. I guess it depend on the size of your humi and Oasis as to whether or not that makes a difference.

I'm using one in my coolidor and it's on the top, FWIW.

Actually humid air is lighter than dry air and will rise. That's why you need humid weather to get thunderstorms to form. The humid air rises, cools, condenses into clouds and falls again.

I don't know whether a humidor would be big enough to have that much of a difference top to bottom, but considering we like our smokes to be around the same humidity and therefore we're talking percentage points it might. I just read the manual again, while it talks about keeping the air outlet above your cigars, it's actually to ensure the outlet isn't blocked. How I read/understood it the first time was wrong, now it looks like having it on the bottom is the better choice (although having it on the top isn't a bad choice either, I don't think it would make enough difference to matter that much). I'm going to move it to the bottom since it should work and that way I can look through the top window at only cigars, not at cigars and the Oasis

From
USATODAY.com

Humidity and air density Most people who haven't studied physics or chemistry find it hard to believe that humid air is lighter, or less dense, than dry air. How can the air become lighter if we add water vapor to it?
Scientists have known this for a long time. The first was Isaac Newton, who stated that humid air is less dense than dry air in 1717 in his book, Optics. But, other scientists didn't generally understand this until later in that century.
To see why humid air is less dense than dry air, we need to turn to one of the laws of nature the Italian physicist Amadeo Avogadro discovered in the early 1800s. In simple terms, he found that a fixed volume of gas, say one cubic meter, at the same temperature and pressure, would always have the same number of molecules no matter what gas is in the container. Most beginning chemistry books explain how this works.
Imagine a cubic foot of perfectly dry air. It contains about 78% nitrogen molecules, which each have a molecular weight of 28 (2 atoms with atomic weight 14) . Another 21% of the air is oxygen, with each molecule having a molecular weight of 32 (2 stoms with atomic weight 16). The final one percent is a mixture of other gases, which we won't worry about.
Molecules are free to move in and out of our cubic foot of air. What Avogadro discovered leads us to conclude that if we added water vapor molecules to our cubic foot of air, some of the nitrogen and oxygen molecules would leave — remember, the total number of molecules in our cubic foot of air stays the same.
The water molecules, which replace nitrogen or oxygen, have a molecular weight of 18. (One oxygen atom with atomic weight of 16, and two hudrogen atoms each with atomic weight of 1). This is lighter than both nitrogen and oxygen. In other words, replacing nitrogen and oxygen with water vapor decreases the weight of the air in the cubic foot; that is, it's density decreases.
Wait a minute, you might say, "I know water's heavier than air." True, liquid water is heavier, or more dense, than air. But, the water that makes the air humid isn't liquid. It's water vapor, which is a gas that is lighter than nitrogen or oxygen. (Related: Understanding water in the atmosphere).
Compared to the differences made by temperature and air pressure, humidity has a small effect on the air's density. But, humid air is lighter than dry air at the same temperature and pressure.

[havanajohn]

I also have a Trivoli Humidor, and I placed the Cigar Oasis on the middle shelf. I also have two Hydra fans hooked up to the Cigar Oasis with a ribbon cable to move the air around. I also have three 8 ounce bags of beads on different levels. It is working fine for me.

[itsme_timd]

Originally Posted by 96Brigadier

Actually humid air is lighter than dry air and will rise. That's why you need humid weather to get thunderstorms to form. The humid air rises, cools, condenses into clouds and falls again.

Interesting.. I did not know that but assumed (I know, I know!) with dew on the grass in the morning, etc. and, like the article said, water vapor being in the air, that it would be more dense.

Thanks for the info - there's my something new for today!

[96Brigadier]

Originally Posted by itsme_timd

Interesting.. I did not know that but assumed (I know, I know!) with dew on the grass in the morning, etc. and, like the article said, water vapor being in the air, that it would be more dense.

Thanks for the info - there's my something new for today!

You're welcome, in all honesty I wasn't sure myself until I went looking for the info. When you think about it though it does make sense. I used the thunderstorm example but it's the same thing for rain in general. Moisture in the air rises, cools (since the higher you go the colder it is), forms clouds and comes back down.

Dew on the other hand is the same thing as having a shower and the mirror fogging up. The grass is colder than the point at which the moisture in the air will turn from gas to liquid, so it forms as liquid on anything colder than that point.

[Herf N Turf]

96Brigadier and itsme_timd, what were you guys outside smoking when you were supposed to be in highschool physics class? j/k

No fan here, but I only moisten my beads on the bottom and leave the ones on the top shelves to fend for themselves.

[rajuabju]

Originally Posted by havanajohn

I also have a Trivoli Humidor, and I placed the Cigar Oasis on the middle shelf. I also have two Hydra fans hooked up to the Cigar Oasis with a ribbon cable to move the air around. I also have three 8 ounce bags of beads on different levels. It is working fine for me.

I have a similar setup to you in my Trivoli (CO + beads in various levels); minus the Hydra fans.

Do the Hydra fans run continuously, or only when the Cigar Oasis is running?