Measuring RH (in progress)

[foolwithnohair]

This will eventually be a comparison of the various ways to check your hygrometer, and (probably another thread) a comparison of Kitty Litter vs. Heartfelt beads. This all started because I was getting frustrated with cigars with tight draws (due to excess humidity), yet my hygrometer was saying my coolerdor was at 70%.

I'm learning as I go along, so I thought I'd post the first week's results.

The first step was to calibrate my hygrometers - I have six of them (not counting mechanical ones). This has taken longer than expected, as I put all six in a very small see-through container with pure salt (not table salt) moistened with distilled water. Every time I checked, the meters were all over the place. For example, an individual meter was reading 77% one time I checked, but 69% the next time, 72% the next, etc. (I was checking every 12 hours)

So I started to research why. I found a good link that has all you ever wanted to know (and more) about measuring RH: http://www.veriteq.com/humidity/index.htm

Effect of air and airflow
There is a nice example at that link that shows how air moving inside what you're using for calibration has a huge effect on the readings. The corollary is the same thing is happening inside your humidor. Where you place your meter will affect your readings - unless you move the air about.

On the good side, we really don't care what the RH of the air at a particular place inside the humidor is, we just want the cigars to be nice and evenly humidified.

The above may, however, explain why active humidifiers are usually thought to work better, and people use fans - not powerful ones. The larger the humidor and the less cigars there are in it, the more of an issue this probably is. However, too much airflow is bad for cigar storage - luckily an Oust fan seems to be about perfect for my display humidor (without the scent bottle!). (This is a result of a separate test with a hygrometer on each rack, but I won't bore you more ...)

For calibration, this means using the smallest container possible to get the least air possible, i.e., a small ziplock.

Effect of temperature
The good thing is temperature doesn't have a huge effect on calibration when Sodium Chloride (regular salt) is used for calibration - see http://www.omega.com/temperature/Z/pdf/z103.pdf for a table of RH vs. temperature. Basically, usual room temps can affect things up to a half an RH point, i.e., temperature is ignorable.


Coming next week: Boveda calibration kit vs. table salt in a small ziplock.

[Rowdymon-cl]

Science and Cigars...gotta love it...

I look forward to seeing your posts...

[Jason Brown]

I am having a similar problem. I am using the Heartfelt 70%RH beads and all my humidors seem to be keeping a really constant humidity but I am having some frustrating burn issues. Seem to be having to constantly relight so I assume RH is a bit high as well. I have calibrated my hygrometers and seem to be getting 66-67%RH. If I smoke a cigar just after purchasing it then it is normally ok but if it sits for a while then I am having issues. I think I am going to try to dry box some cigars for a few days before I smoke them to bring the RH down a bit. If this works then I may give the 65%RH beads a try. It seems alot of people here are using the 65%RH beads and don't seem to have many burn issues.

[drscholl14-cl]

Nice work! I also have the heartfelt beads and I have had a great experience with them. However I believe it's time for a change as my beads in my humidor are getting a little old. Nice post though!

[foolwithnohair]

Jeff, yah, I'm a geek. I hate being told stuff is good or right just because everyone says so. For example, I've given up trying to find an explanation for "70/70" - other than "70/70" is easy to remember.

Jason, I switched one of my humidors to 65% Heartfelt on Sunday. There's a full pound in there, I'll let you know if it fixes the burn issue. (Must be related to Ottawa weather!)

Pete, thanks. BTW, I don't think the beads can wear out per se, as long as you use distilled water. However, I'm guessing that they should absorb some tobacco oils, etc., over time and get clogged.

[iloveclmore]

Originally Posted by Rowdymon

Science and Cigars...gotta love it...

I look forward to seeing your posts...

Being a science teacher, I love this stuff. The science of it all fascinates me.

[foolwithnohair]

Cool. I used to teach math and stats, but I found it too stressful being told what percentage of students to fail each semester, and decided to work for the government instead. :-)

(Off-topic - this is what being a "science teacher" means to me: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu.../CargoCult.pdf )

[iloveclmore]

Awesome speech.