seasoning my humidor

[justinphilly]

Ok, so i wiped the cedar walls, shelves, dividers with a new clean sponge, using distilled water. I then filled the humidifiers with distilled water and left the wet sponge in a bowl on the bottom, overnight.. Now, the next day i took the sponge out but then put my Heartfelt Beads in.. The RH is sticking around 80. Now, how do i lower that, or how long do i wait before i start to use it. I know it has to be around 65 or 70, i bought the 65 beads..

Originally i thought to dry the beads off, and put them back.. But there has o be a better idea, and who better to know then you guys!

[bruceolee]

Let it sit for another 12 hours with the beads. it may take longer to season. overnight is still too soon to judge imho. Give it a little more time. My

[mels95yj]

How long have you been seasoning it? The process could take up to a couple of weeks depending on how big it is. If it's just been a couple of days, just let it be and keep an eye on it. Patience is key. Good luck!

Mel

[justinphilly]

Originally Posted by bruceolee

Let it sit for another 12 hours with the beads. it may take longer to season. overnight is still too soon to judge imho. Give it a little more time. My

thanks, but it just doesnt seem right without the pennies!

[justinphilly]

Originally Posted by mels95yj

How long have you been seasoning it? The process could take up to a couple of weeks depending on how big it is. If it's just been a couple of days, just let it be and keep an eye on it. Patience is key. Good luck!

Mel

mel, so you say to just let it sit, until the humidity goes down to 70? by itself?

[Nooner]

I think it'll stabilize faster if you put some cigars in it too - more media to absorb and desorb humidity - yada, yada...

Truth is there isn't all that much humidity in the humi since(I am ASSuming) it is empty. I say fill 'er up and rock on!!! Oh - just make sure there is room in the beads to absorb some humidity too!

The Cigars won't die, and if you are concerned, put stuff in there you don't put your favorites or anythign you plan to give away in there for a few days.

[Moglman]

Originally Posted by justinphilly

Ok, so i wiped the cedar walls, shelves, dividers with a new clean sponge, using distilled water. I then filled the humidifiers with distilled water and left the wet sponge in a bowl on the bottom, overnight.. Now, the next day i took the sponge out but then put my Heartfelt Beads in.. The RH is sticking around 80. Now, how do i lower that, or how long do i wait before i start to use it. I know it has to be around 65 or 70, i bought the 65 beads..

Originally i thought to dry the beads off, and put them back.. But there has o be a better idea, and who better to know then you guys!

It sounds well seasoned already to me. I'd leave the lid open for a few hours and dry out the beads until 1/2 are white, 1/2 clear. Let some of the trapped moisture escape, then close and see where it stabalizes. It shouldn't take too long until you can get it stabalized at 65%. Remember also that the state of moisture in your cigars will affect the final humidity. If they are on the dry side, your humidity will drop dramatically after you load the humi up, and more tweaking will be required to get the humidity back up. Therefore, another idea would be to load the cigars, and see where the humidity stabalizes after a few days. If you don't see it dropping after a day (as the cigars absorb the moisture), you could dry the beads and open the lid for a short while.

[kenstogie]

It can take a while to season a humidor. That's why they call it "season." Anyway make sure your beads are about 50/50 or 60/40 wet/dry and close that baby up. Those beads will do the trick. Pretty much what others have said.

[Jaxstraww]

The beads are great. Been using over a year now and rock on. I live in Philly too. Where is the humi? Been pretty warm and humidity can be pretty high lately. I keep my coolers and boxes in the basement. The beads will work but they do it over time and maintain. There is no quick on switch. Do part of what everyone else has said. Leave the lid open for about two hours. Then fill the box up at least 70% with cigars. Shut the lid. It'll stabilize. Make sure the humidor is air tight too. No leaks or spacing. With 80% put very little water on the beads. I think they may take in allot of humidity with what you put into the cedar.

[Jeff]

Don't be in a rush. It can take a while before a humdor reaches a certain level of equilibrium. Mine took about two weeks.

[Hammerhead]

Justin, I'd ditto what everyone has said, but Nooner had a good suggestion. Get some stogies in there. As I think you might know, I just bought a R&B humidor and have had 2 of the 65% bead tubes in there for about a week now (until I can add more). I know the cheapo analog hygrometer is WAY off, but with about 30 smokes in a 100 count box, everything in there will eventually reach equilibrium. Don't rush it... you'll get there soon enough.

[cookieboy364]

I would agree with a few others LLG's that you should put some stogies in. Let the extra humidity out though. Put your stogies in and just leave the beads and it will self regulate to 65%. Although this won't happen instantly. Depending on the size and saturation of the interior cedar, it may very well take a few weeks to reach its stable point. By putting the sticks in you are filling the space and allowing the natural humidity in the sticks to help stabilize the humidor. Just my two cents.

Jason

[SmokusMaximus]

My newest humi took about 2 weeks to stabilize with beads. I only have about 50 sticks in it, but it seems to have leveled off at 70% more or less.