re-spraying beads every 4 days?

[glennj]

i have a 75ct. humi with only 10 cigars in it and im having to spray the beads every 4 days or so. they turn completly white. could someone help me out or direct to someplace that can. i've never heard anybody say anything bad about the beads so it must be my humidor right?

[Shaggy17sc]

Originally Posted by glennj

i have a 75ct. humi with only 10 cigars in it and im having to spray the beads every 4 days or so. they turn completly white. could someone help me out or direct to someplace that can. i've never heard anybody say anything bad about the beads so it must be my humidor right?

Was your humi seasoned? or was the RH really low when you put em in? if its not either one of those, i'd assume that it has a REALLY bad seal on it.

[chip]

If your house is anything like mine, it is drier than a popcorn fart. Wintertime, and heating really sucks the humidity down. Check your seal, make sure you have the humidor seasoned properly, and realize that the fuller the humidor the easier it is to keep the humidity level. A great excuse to get more sticks!

[Stogiefanatic182]

try reseasoning your humi by wetting down a sponge with distilled, lightly wiping down all the wood on the inside of the humi, putting the sponge on a plastic bag on the bottom of the humi and let it sit for 24hrs. Check humidity and if its in 70% range put in your beads and sticks, if not repeat process. Or try filling a shotglass with distilled and letting sit in your humi with your beads.

[glennj]

i waited a week before i put any cigars in it so it must have been seasoned. it must be the humidor. thanks for the reply.

[PuffDaddy]

Originally Posted by Stogiefanatic182

try reseasoning your humi by wetting down a sponge with distilled, lightly wiping down all the wood on the inside of the humi, putting the sponge on a plastic bag on the bottom of the humi and let it sit for 24hrs. Check humidity and if its in 70% range put in your beads and sticks, if not repeat process. Or try filling a shotglass with distilled and letting sit in your humi with your beads.

I have several desktop humis and I had to keep wetting my beads often once it got cold (and dry) here. Since all 4 units did the same thing I knew it wasn't the humis. I have a small container of DW like mentioned above in one bix and it helped a bunch. You can also put another type of humidification device in addition to the beads (credo, diamond crown, Ci-Gel)
Hope this helps!

Jeff

[stogie_kanobie_one]

Originally Posted by Stogiefanatic182

try reseasoning your humi by wetting down a sponge with distilled, lightly wiping down all the wood on the inside of the humi, putting the sponge on a plastic bag on the bottom of the humi and let it sit for 24hrs. Check humidity and if its in 70% range put in your beads and sticks, if not repeat process. Or try filling a shotglass with distilled and letting sit in your humi with your beads.

This happened to me after I let my humi get away from me for some time (I know shame on me). Humidor then only had about 10 sticks in it (75 ct.). Re-seasoning was painfull but I did exactly as the gorillaz mention above. I used a shot glass but I heated it in the microwave to help the process move along faster. I also wiped down the inside with distilled water with a sponge lightly. The sponge and the heated cup went into the humi (sponge on a plastic baggie) and I let them sit for 2-3 days. After that I put back in the sticks and the recharged credo, and things slowly started rising to 65%. I only juiced the credo because I knew that after so long neing neglected my sticks had to be drier than hell. Bear in mind also that stabilization can take quite a few days, so depending on the setup it can be a nerve wracking experience. Also because of the dryness my small 75 count humi (now 3/4 full) has needed the help of a second credo. But at 3/4 full I'm looking at the readings now and I am holding steady at 67%.

I think the key is to first try the re-season (without sticks in it). If that doesn't start to show an increase in your humi's ability to increase and hold humidity, it is time to start checking for leaks.

One good question is did the Humidor ever hold a good humidity for any period? If so it may be fairly safe to say you'll have to be patient and take your time (it needs a little luv thats all). If it's never held it all is not lost, but more work will be required to solve it. And you've come to the right place for it

[diet069]

good suggestions

Is your hygrometer accurate?

How is the seal on your humidor? Try wrapping your humidor (lid crack) in plastic wrap for a day or so and then check the humidity level.

If you're going to season the humidor, I'd suggest heating up a shot glass (or 2) of water and placing it in the humidor. For some reason, I'm a bit scared of the wipe down method (others don't).

[Da Klugs]

One of the million and one uses for duct tape.

I have a tiny little 25 count destop that is the worst humidor to keep up. Have 2 of the smaller bead tubes in it and they needed recharging every couple of weeks. Thought it was definitely the Humi as it does not have the best seal. (Just a freebie from CI)

However... I gave up spraying the beads. I think you only are getting the surface ones to absorb. After you put them in the humi the dry ones in the middle are sucking up the humidity. I just pour the distilled on the bead sacks and dip the tubes in a 1/4 and the hold vertical now. First time a little cracking but virtually none after that. You can really tell the difference in the weight once you do it this way as you are getting many x the distilled content in the beads.

Now it's good for a month or so.

[Shaggy17sc]

im also having a problem with mine, been trusting an analog, and found out i was running VERY low RH...40%. since i put my beads in its been slowly climbing, and is now at 63%, and that has taken over a week. it is also full of cigars, so its taking longer. that could be all it is. have you had the same hydro for the whole time youve had the humi? i got my digital and the beads at the same time.

[Hammerhead]

Dave, one of the things that I do to avoid cracking is to put my bead tubes in a ziplok with a damp sponge overnight. That helps get the moisture right to the middle of the tube without having them come into direct contact with the water.

Just an idea...

[Da Klugs]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

Dave, one of the things that I do to avoid cracking is to put my bead tubes in a ziplok with a damp sponge overnight. That helps get the moisture right to the middle of the tube without having them come into direct contact with the water.

Just an idea...

And a good one.

I did this initially before converting to spraying before converting to dipping and dripping. The sad decline of patience for the maintenance aspect of our hobby I guess.

[Hammerhead]

Originally Posted by Da Klugs

And a good one.

I did this initially before converting to spraying before converting to dipping and dripping. The sad decline of patience for the maintenance aspect of our hobby I guess.

Heh... I hear 'ya. In my case, I have 'redundant' beads in every humidor; which is to say that whatever capacity is required, I have 2x of that, so I can always remove 1/2 of them to hydrate while leaving the others to sustain as I rotate 'em out. It means I only have to deal with it once every couple weeks.

[Viper139]

..."dipping and dripping"...

[Da Klugs]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

Heh... I hear 'ya. In my case, I have 'redundant' beads in every humidor; which is to say that whatever capacity is required, I have 2x of that, so I can always remove 1/2 of them to hydrate while leaving the others to sustain as I rotate 'em out. It means I only have to deal with it once every couple weeks.

Hear ya bro. Not being known for excess, keep just enough beads in my cab........



























that should I leave the door open they would stablize my office at 65%. I think there are 4 large sacks with about 2 lbs each in them and 8 of the smaller ones with a little over a 1/2 lb.

If there is one thing Dave (Vipe) could do to improve things it would be to better match the sacks with the quantities of beads he sells. Maybe sell em full like the tubes?

Have really liked the 60% beads for my ready to smoke humi and the travel ones.

You can't have too many beads.