humi predicament-advice needed

[Ewan154]

Hi,
A few months ago my mum bought me a cheap humi (£20). I seasoned the humidor by taking a sponge and soaking the interior.

The problem is I could not get the humidor to hold a constant humidity. I have ordered the beads for it,but will this sort the problem?

I noticed yesterday that a cigar shop that I use are selling a humi that I really fancy cheap- now I can't decide wither to buy the humi that I fancy or wait and see if the beads will sort the problem with my old humi.

What should I do? Any suggestions?

[fizguy]

Originally Posted by Ewan154

Hi,
A few months ago my mum bought me a cheap humi (£20). I seasoned the humidor by taking a sponge and soaking the interior.

The problem is I could not get the humidor to hold a constant humidity. I have ordered the beads for it,but will this sort the problem?

I noticed yesterday that a cigar shop that I use are selling a humi that I really fancy cheap- now I can't decide wither to buy the humi that I fancy or wait and see if the beads will sort the problem with my old humi.

What should I do? Any suggestions?

I think the beads will probably solve problem. The wood inside is probably pretty dry and soaked up all the water from the sponge. I wouldn't soak it anymore but you could put a little dish with distilled water in and let it sit (closed, of course) for a few days. You want the wood to slowly absorb the water so it doesn't warp or swell. Then the beads will hold it at the proper RH.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[GrtndpwrflOZ]

If you're in a quandry about what to do....Buy the Humi you fanci and put the beads in the one you have.

In a week or two you will need both humidors.

Good luck to ya.

B

[jkim05]

The most likely problem is an incomplete seal on your humidor. This is common with cheaper humidors because they tend to have inconsistent build quality. Just a few addon questions: What do you mean by "soaking the interior?" How many cigars have you been keeping in it? What are you using to measure the humidity? Has it been calibrated?

There are a few tests that you can run to see if the humidor is keeping a good seal, but if the seal is not good, beads will not be any more helpful. You could place a small flashlight inside the humidor in a dark room to see if any light is leaking out and also you could place a dollar bill on the edge of the humidor, close it and see if you can pull it out easily. If it's not holding a seal, you're gonna have to scrap it.

[Ewan154]

Originally Posted by jkim05

The most likely problem is an incomplete seal on your humidor. This is common with cheaper humidors because they tend to have inconsistent build quality. Just a few addon questions: What do you mean by "soaking the interior?" How many cigars have you been keeping in it? What are you using to measure the humidity? Has it been the ?

There are a few tests that you can run to see if the humidor is keeping a good seal, but if the seal is not good, beads will not be any more helpful. You could place a small flashlight inside the humidor in a dark room to see if any light is leaking out and also you could place a dollar bill on the edge of the humidor, close it and see if you can pull it out easily. If it's not holding a seal, you're gonna have to scrap it.

I soaked the interior off the humi with [SIZE=2]distilled water.
I used the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]hygrometer that came with the humi.
Yes the hygrometer was [/SIZE]calibrated

[Ewan154]

I just done the "flashlight inside the humidor" there is no light showing through.

[Ewan154]

Here is a picture of the humi
http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?i...umi2pb7ug8.jpg

[Ewan154]

Sorry forgot to add that I have never had the humi full. Does anyone think I should mayby try a Digital Hygrometer?

[jkim05]

Is the problem humidity fluctuations or is it just holding a low humidity? In general soaking the inside of the humidor is not a good idea as it could warp the wood. Having said that, it's a bit to late to solve that problem, so onto solving the problem. One thing I notice is that your humidor is empty. When you have cigars in your humidor they act as a buffer. Because cigars are hygroscopic they absorb humidity when the humidity is higher in the air and release it when it is drier, they will stabilize the humidity inside. When there is nothing in the humidor, the air loses its humidity quickly and there will be larger variances in humidity.
The beads will help maintain stable humidity and prevent swings in humidity better, but there will not work as well by themselves. There's just too much dead space in that humidor.
If it's just holding a low humidity with the sponge type humidifier, it's usually a sign of a leak somewhere. In that case you'll be fighting with it the life of the humidor unless you can seal it up somehow.
hope this helps.

[Ewan154]

Thanks for the reply. I could never get a stable humidity. one day it was 80, then the next day it was 60. I could never get a stable 65.

[Ewan154]

I think I might get a new humi afterall,but mybe get one that does not hold very many cigars. I don't really buy that many cigars. The most I've bought are 10.

[wharfrathoss]

since you said that no light showed in the light test, i'm assuming your seal is ok-even if it's not, there's ways to fix that, but they're apparently not necessary-like others have said (& by the # of sticks in your pic) it is going to be very difficult to maintain RH w/that few sticks in it-having it at least 1/2 full will help a lot-onto beads-will they help? yes-they're the best IMHO humidification device available-i'm still conviced it's the lack of cigars that's causing your trouble-try putting the cigars in a ziplock bag for a couple days-stick a bowl of water in the humi, & when the meter shows 75%/80%, put your sticks back in-you could put beads in at this time if ya want to-fill up the empty space in the humi w/small cedar pieces from boxes, or even small tupperware to take up some space (the cedar will work better)-w/less air space the RH should stay more consistent-i don't think you need to trash the humi & buy another, but get another in addition if you want to-let me know how this works, if it don't we'll go on to the next step-don't worry, we'll figure it out-hope this helps

[Ewan154]

Thanks for all the help. Is there any way to tell if the humi if fake?

[jkim05]

i'm not sure what you mean by a "fake humi"

[wharfrathoss]

if you can see the humi, touch the humi, taste (?) the humi, it's real-seriously, i guess you're asking if it was meant for that purpose or contains spanish cedar?-you should be able to smell if it's lined w/spanish cedar or not-as far as meant for the purpose, where was it purchased?-maybe look online or a catalog if you can for a description?-after trying the suggestions above, does it hold RH?-BTW, a humi doesn't have to made w/spanish cedar (which is actually a type of mahogony)-old humis were mahogony w/a "milk glass" liner-long & short of it is that if a box holds RH & doesn't impart weird flavors to your cigars, it's a humi