Which Humidifier should i buy?

[athomas2]

There is the Puckifier on cigarmony and then there are those heartfelt tubes.. Those are cheaper. Which one will last longer before i have to buy another one. I have a 25 count humidor and i don't see myself changing right now because college is expensive.

[monsoon]

If you only have a 25 count, my would be to get the one that won't take up precious cigar space in that little humidor.

Or, just get some beads & replace the foam in a small credo. That's what I did in my humidors.

[Old Sailor]

Originally Posted by monsoon

If you only have a 25 count, my would be to get the one that won't take up precious cigar space in that little humidor.

Or, just get some beads & replace the foam in a small credo. That's what I did in my humidors.

[MusicMan]

I think beads [from Heartfelt] is the only way to go in your size humi, their cheap easy maintenace and they make caring for your sticks an easy task.

[n2advnture]

Originally Posted by athomas2

There is the Puckifier on cigarmony and then there are those heartfelt tubes.. Those are cheaper. Which one will last longer before i have to buy another one. I have a 25 count humidor and i don't see myself changing right now because college is expensive.

Both use the exact same technology and last a lifetime

[raisin]

There's better airflow thru the tubes, you will get faster rh recovery with that solution.

[zmancbr]

Originally Posted by monsoon

Or, just get some beads & replace the foam in a small credo. That's what I did in my humidors.

That's what I did...I filled up my two credos in one humi and the other credo in the 2nd humi. Works like a charm!!

[athomas2]

How do u wet the beads that r in the tubes?

[ca21455]

PM me your addie and I will send you a puck with some beads.

How much room do you have left in that humi?

[tedrodgerscpa]

Originally Posted by athomas2

How do u wet the beads that r in the tubes?

I have always left em in the tube! A spray bottle filled with distilled water should do nicely to wet the beads.

Lay the tube on a towel, spritz once or twice

Flip tube over, spritz again

Wipe off excess water, put back in humidor

Check in 3 hours (assuming that the humidor is properly seasoned; if you're not sure, a small tupperware will do perfectly).

If RH not high as desired, repeat. If RH too high, blow dry for a few seconds.

Check again in 3 hours.

[tfar]

Read up on here about different humidification methods. There are different ways of getting the humidity to your cigars:
Green flower foam: the standard method but not very effective. Easily develops mold.
Super absorbant polymers: those are crystals also known as watersorb. Not bad at all. Needs to be renewed from time to time but is dirt cheap.
Silica beads: Seems to be the preferred passive humidifying solution of many members here. You can get heartfelt beads or by Exquisicat pearl fresh kitty litter at petsmart. You can read up on it here, too. In your case a single tube of heartfelt beads fixed to your humi lid would work well. Try out the litter stuff in a knee high nylon sock (for women) fixed to the lid with thumb tacks. There is quite a literal pissing contest about the litter but at a price factor of 15x, it is worth the try.

Then there are active solutions where a built-in hygrometer triggers a fan over a water reservoir when the humidity drop below a set point. In your case this is overkill. FYI these system are Hydra, Oasis, Accumonitor and Cigar Spa.

The next point is the recipient. There are tupper-dors that are made of tupper ware. Any airtight container with a sock full of beads will do the trick. Regular aeration is important though to prevent mold and overhumidifying your sticks. This is without doubt the most low cost option and also very flexible and easy to transport as well as easy to store.

Then there are cooler-dors. Same thing but you use a cooler (the big plastic thingies for chilling beer e.g.). Obviously this is cigar storage big time and on the cheap. It works though.

Next in the cost continuum are wooden humidors. There is a host of vendors and frankly the chinese ones will do the trick nicely in most cases and you can get a 150 count humi for around $100 or even less. Some are even nice to look at. thompson, while not so great on their house brand cigars, has a bunch of those. Also look into visol and humidorsetc.com.

After that you have wooden cabinet humidors. Same idea as a cooler-dor but much nicer to look at.

The one thing that all of these options do not include is temperature control. Depending on your local climate it can be difficult to maintain the cigars BELOW 75F. Above that you are running the risk of getting cigar beetles. Read up on those, too. You don't want those. Freezing the cigars for three days in a ziplock bag does kill the eggs. Associated with higher temperature are also troubles of keeping the right humidity.

Thus there are super expensive temp and humidity controlled models on the market. You can get the same thing for much less if you look into a real fridge or a wine fridge, preferably one with a thermo-electric cooling system instead of a compressor. You can find small ones for under $100, and even bigger ones are on sale around $160 all the time. If combined with litter beads and/or a hydra that seems to be the best solution.

It will also win you the freak or originality award. Fancy burlwood humidors with insufficient humidification are for millionaires who know more about money than cigars.

Hope this helps,

Till