Patience or a problem

[waltarro]

I've been trying to bring a badly neglected humidor back into
normal use. By badly neglected I mean I had an analog hygrometer
that was 20% out of sync and had been keeping cigars 45-60%... Ironically
the cigars stored at that RH where dry but decent.

Anyway, bought a digital hygrometer and replaced the humidifier with
a 1oz tube of beads (small humidor 40-50 cigars). 10 days later and I can't
maintain more than 58% RH. I have tried wiping down the cedar inside with distilled water, done the flashlight test, and calibrated the hygrometer.
Should I just have more patience, is a 1 oz tube of beads not enough for
a dry climate like Arizona? Thanks for any help.

[RumblePen]

Make sure your humidor has a good seal. Usually you can tell just by closing the lid, but if you have doubts you can put a little flashlight inside and close the lid in a dark room. If a lot of light shines out, the seal is poor.

If the problem is not the seal, then you need more moisture. Put a shotglass with just a little bit of distilled water in there. Add more water as necessary. You should be able to find a balance where the shotglass and the beads are working in harmony.

[mels95yj]

First off, let me say I'm a newbie and not as wise as most of the gorillas around here. However, I bought a cheapie humidor from JR's and was having a hard time maintaining a high enough humidity in it. Here's what I would do and have done:

1. Check the humidity in the room just to see how much of a difference it is. (mine was around 20% lower)

2. Use the shot glass with distilled water as suggested. Right now, I'm doing this and it maintains at around 66%. If the shot glass works, you can get more beads. If not, then you still have your $$$.

I read somewhere (and I may be incorrect) that any changes to the humidor takes about 24 hours to stabalize. So, if you wipe down the cedar, it will take around 24 hours to be accurate as to the results.

Again, this is what worked for me. If any of this is incorrect, please correct me.

Mel

[dadof3illinois]

I know you said you calibrated the hygrometer but Did you do the salt test?

How many cigars do you have in the humi, and are they the same ones that were in there before at 45% RH? If so then I'm sure they are taking up most of the moisture and you may need to recharge the beads.

You also might think about getting the cigars out of the humi and put them in something else, tupperdor maybe, until your humidor gets back to working normal.

The following is what I would do, this may not be the right way so take it with a grain of salt.

Wipe down your humidor again with distilled water, set your humi beads inside then heat some distilled water, hot not boiling, in a small container (shot glass) and place that inside with your hygrometer and close the lid. Come back in 24 hours and check it. If it hasen't gone up above 65% then I'd either toss the humi out or use it to hold my cigar bands.

I've got a 75 ct humi that doesn't hold RH very well at all and it's got a tight seal around the lid, yea, it's holding my cigar bands at the moment.

[batfastard123]

Remove the cigars from the humidor, put some paper towels in the bottom and place a hot (not quite boiling) cup or bowl of distilled water in the humidor and leave it closed up for 24 hours. The humidity may spike up near 80 - 90% during this time, but don't worry it will come down. Also make sure and wipe the seal with distilled water to swell it a bit, this will insure that you will get a good seal. After 24 hours remove the cup, put in your credo and see what it reads after 48 hours. You will probably be able to start using it then.

[waltarro]

Originally Posted by dadof3illinois

I know you said you calibrated the hygrometer but Did you do the salt test?

How many cigars do you have in the humi, and are they the same ones that were in there before at 45% RH? If so then I'm sure they are taking up most of the moisture and you may need to recharge the beads.

I didn't do the salt test, its a Western Caliber 3 and the instructions
specifically say not to salt test (hiding something)... checked it in a ziplock
bag with the beads, came up about 1% low. You might be right about the old
cigars, there are about 6 of them and I'm sure they're dry.

The seal checked out with the flashlight test.. perhaps the next step is
the boiling water for a day..

Thanks all.

[croatan]

Originally Posted by waltarro

I didn't do the salt test, its a Western Caliber 3 and the instructions
specifically say not to salt test (hiding something)... checked it in a ziplock
bag with the beads, came up about 1% low. You might be right about the old
cigars, there are about 6 of them and I'm sure they're dry.

The seal checked out with the flashlight test.. perhaps the next step is
the boiling water for a day..

Thanks all.

After spending six frustrating days with plenty of beads and a Western 3 that would never read above 60% in my Edisonador, I salt tested it and, lo and behold, it was five percent off. The salt test didn't hurt it abit. I know there's an old thread on here somewhere in which many people sound off regarding salt testing digitals--if I remember correctly, the consensus was that it doesn't have any negative effects on them at all.

[Roger Miller"]

Originally Posted by waltarro

I didn't do the salt test, its a Western Caliber 3 and the instructions
specifically say not to salt test (hiding something)...
Thanks all.

The only threat to your hygometer while doing a salt test is getting the solution on the instrument -- be careful and do it. Screw the instructions, they are misleading you.

Originally Posted by waltarro

checked it in a ziplock bag with the beads, came up about 1% low.

If these are the 65% beads -- then this is a good sign the hygrometer is calibrated good enough. Still -- do the salt test.

And all the other great advice given here too.

_____
rm

[waltarro]

The only threat to your hygometer while doing a salt test is getting the solution on the instrument -- be careful and do it. Screw the instructions, they are misleading you.

Well, 8 hrs later put with salt in a ziploc bag, I'm getting 67% RH, so that means my humidor was sitting at a nice 66%.. the hygrometer was 8% off.

The beads are 70%, but I think I can account for the extra 4% to dry cigars and cedar... Problem solved, thanks for the help.

[waltarro]

Well a couple of weeks have passed and the humidity just could
not be maintained with 1oz of beads. I put the orginal humidifer back
in with the beads and everything has remained stable since. I guess more
beads are needed for extremely dry climates, guess an order for a 2oz tube is going to be in my near term future... Suppose I can justify my earlier tube purchase by the fact it should be great for taking smokes on the road.

Thanks again for your help.