beads not stabilizing....please help

[pedrolf]

I know everybody swears these beads are the greatest thing ever in terms of humidification...and I believe it so thats why i got some....
The problem is that I got 65& beads and plopped them in my humi and their there for about 10 days now. The thing is , my humi was reading 71-72% so I took out the credo and dried out 2 half oz. tubes so they could take in humidity.....and put 1 half ounce tube prepped up aswell as 2 other 1 oz. tubes correcty prepped up also. I mean they were about half wet and half dry. The thing thats happening is that my humi reads 70% FLAT! for about 4 days in a row now. What am I doing wrong?
thanks,
PLF

[Jsabbi01]

Analog or Digital Hygrometer?

If its analog I bet its inaccurate, if its digital, no idea! I love my beads. Dead on balls accurate.

[pinokio]

Try what Jsabbi01 is saying: test the hygro! I have digital and it´s off as well.
Beads might be as accurate as you can get. Dont't forget the thumb rule Patience I'm sure the masters will put down their opinion here as well.

Take Care

[puffmtd]

How large is your humidor, what is the relative humidity where you live and what is the temperature inside your humidor? All of these could be contributing factors.
There is no humidity where I live and the temperature plays hell with controlling the humidity level. Another factor is I don't have either a heater or air conditioner so the humi temp is just about the same as ambient. When it's cold my humidity levels drop and when it's hot I have to work to keep them down so temperature and ambient humidity are going to play a large part in the humidity levels in your case.

[homeless_texan]

Does your humidor have a tight seal? also as mentioned above, is your hygrometer analog or digital?

[qwerty1500]

All good suggestions. I'm obsessive about the Rh in my humidor ... probably a personality flaw. Anyway, a lot of factors can affect the humidity in your humidor.

Both analog and digital hygrometers can be inaccurate. If you haven't tested your hygrometer, you need to do a salt test

I've noticed that if I put a new box of overly humidified sticks in my humidor right off the truck that I will see the Rh go up until they settle down a bit.

I've also noticed that the Rh will drop as I smoke through my stash and the beads are trying to humidify open space.

The observation about the temperature is dead on. The Rh seems to go up with warm temperatures and down when it’s cooler.

I've never tried drying out the beads to soak up the humidity. When I need to bring the Rh down, I take a couple of cedar blocks used as cigar box fillers, pop them in the microwave for a FEW seconds to take the moisture of out of them (be careful, they can catch on fire if you zap them too long ... that was fun ... lol) and put the dried blocks in your humidor. I don't like to leave them in there too long and will pull them out as soon as the Rh is down to where I want it.

Above all, be patient and don't worry too much. Most cigars will smoke just fine at 70% Rh.

[PuffDaddy]

Do you have any sticks in the humi with the beads? They will help stabilize the RH. The more sticks the better (a good excuse to go nuts on cbid). Try drying the beads out even more just to see of you can get the RH lower. You can adjust it up from there if necessary.
Good Luck.

[Hammerhead]

As the other guys have suggested, test your hygrometer. That's probably the source of your problem. Use the salt test method.

I think the error many newbies make is that they try to do too much at once and it confuses things. You said you removed the Credo and dried the beads. Two or more changes at the same time make it hard to diagnose the source of the problem.

Use just the beads - take out the credo and use it as a doorstop, or a pencil holder. If you have a multi-level humidor, distribute the beads equally if possible so that your hygrometer isn't in a 'dead spot' created by a tray or barrier that prevents the air from circulating, giving the humidity gradients a chance to even out. Wait at least 24 hours between readings.

Don't worry if your RH is too high or too low for a few days, or even a week or two. Cigars are fairly resilient, and can be rehydrated. I'd only worry if they started dropping below 50RH or above 80RH, but right now, you're still in the zone.

Get back to us if you still need any help.

[pedrolf]

Thanks all for your words on the subject.
My hygro is digital and I have salt-tested it last month and am doing it now as we speak. It reads 78& so I know that my hygro is only 3 points off , right? But, I just wanted to see 3 days ago what my hygro would read if I put it next to a tube of 65&..........and it read 74%.....meaning 71% RH....Seems weird to me, what about u guys,,,,,,,,,anyways , Ill listen to all of you and just WAIT...keyword is Patience but call me stuborn , but I cant see still why the hell my 65% are giving off 70%!!!!!! I bet if Id got 70 beads, Id be getting 65% RH in my humi.... thanks all,
PedroF.

[NCRadioMan]

Could it be, that you were accidently shipped 70% beads?


NCRM

[Ron1YY]

Not trying to start any thing up here. But is it possible that you got 70% beads instead of 65%? We are only human and could make a mistake or 2 here and there.

Ron

EDIT* NC beat me to it.

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by Ron1YY

Not trying to start any thing up here. But is it possible that you got 70% beads instead of 65%? We are only human and could make a mistake or 2 here and there.

Ron

EDIT* NC beat me to it.

Get outta my head!!!!!!


NCRM

[pedrolf]

I thought to so too.....but on the little ziplock bags taht close in the tubes when they are shipped clearly said Heartfelt 65%
Or then maybe the bag said 65 and the beads are actually 70% ??? who knows...if for next month my humi still reads 70 to 72 then without doubt they could be 70.....

Anyways , where I live the RH is around 68-70% in the mornings and afternoon , most evenings it drops to around 65 to 60 RH. Plus....the temp in my humi is at a constant 26-28.5 celcius. What u guys think of this....could this be the chance that my beads arent probably working properly????? thanks

[Viper139]

All of the above posts are good. Patience is hard with our cigars but it is sometimes necessary. With that said, if you are at all uncomfortable with the beads and think at all that you may have gotten the wrong rh let me know and I will replace them. I am very careful when I build the tubes not to mix up the rh values that the label says, but as someone said, I am human and anything is possible. Let me know what you want to do.

David

[chip]

Originally Posted by Viper139

All of the above posts are good. Patience is hard with our cigars but it is sometimes necessary. With that said, if you are at all uncomfortable with the beads and think at all that you may have gotten the wrong rh let me know and I will replace them. I am very careful when I build the tubes not to mix up the rh values that the label says, but as someone said, I am human and anything is possible. Let me know what you want to do.

David

and this is why we all buy from and recommend Viper.