Xikar Humidification Crystals

[Jimbo14]

Hey everyone.

I use this Xikar Humidification Crystals in my Humidor and they work really well. They are ment to keep humidity at 70%rh but I find they keep them at about 65-69% which is even better. All you do to prepare them is take of the white lid and put them in your humidor. When the crystals shrink you just add a few drops of PG solution. I highly recommend these as my cigars smoke so fantastic and they take all the guessing work out of humidity levels. This tub is good for a 100ct hydrometer. You can get larger sizes of crystals. I bought mine off their website.

http://www.xikar.com/product_humidification.asp

Let me know what you guys think.

Happy smoking
James

[icurrie]

I have been using that for a little while, seems to work great.

[TOB9595]

Thanks for the word. I was wondering how the Xikar stuff would work.
Tom

[gene]

I bought the same thing right before my deployment and it has worked fantastic in this dry environment. My room is nearly always 21-25% humidity and my cigars always stay nice and moist. Not a bad system in my book.

[Jimbo14]

Im glad other people have found them as good as I have.

[s15driftking]

so wait, you just toss this thing into a humi and Viola?

How often do you have to re-up with PG?

do they make a tub that is good for 140-150 cigars?

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by s15driftking

so wait, you just toss this thing into a humi and Viola?

How often do you have to re-up with PG?

do they make a tub that is good for 140-150 cigars?

You open the lid and there is a screen that keeps the gel from falling out(the black think you see at the top of the jar in the pic) so you just open and place in the humidor. Despite what the instructions say, you don't use pg with those. Dist. h2o is just fine. There is a line on the jar that tells you to use more water as the gel shrinks down to that line. As far as I know there is only one size so for larger humidors, you would need two jars. They do work very well.

If you are looking into humidification, be sure to also check out humidifiaction beads. They are conditioned to specific rh levels. http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9483

[Jimbo14]

I have had mine for a few months and have not had to refill once!

YES they do have a size for bigger humidors! There is one for humidors 250CT. Just look at this link.

http://www.xikar.com/product_humidification.asp

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by Jimbo14

I have had mine for a few months and have not had to refill once!

YES they do have a size for bigger humidors! There is one for humidors 250CT. Just look at this link.

http://www.xikar.com/product_humidification.asp

Doh! I didn't even think of those. I had the jar on the brain. Thanks Jimbo.

[aich75013]

There is a big difference in cost.
2 Jars (up to 150ct cigars each) = $10.98
1 rectangle (up to 250ct cigars) = $24.99

I would buy 2 jars for half the cost, but that is just me. My local shop sells these, and I bought one before a trip before I had beads. I think they are made by Madelaine, but they were repackaged with the B&M's name and logo.

[NCRadioMan]

Xikar recently absorbed Madelaine from what I understand. I know thier products are now in the Xikar catalogs.

[aich75013]

Thanks. I do remember reading that on Madelaine's website. I think it was in January.

[raralith]

I tried these before, had 3 actually, worked good, but after moving to beads, I prefer beads. Nothing wrong with these, but there are better solutions. What I did love about this product though was its price and ease of use.

[WillieDiesel]

I have this exact same humidification set up and it doesnt seem to be working for me. Last night my RH on my dig hygro read @ 50%.

I'm thinking about getting some beads.

[raralith]

Did you season your humidor enough? The thing about these is you need to get into the 65-70 rh range first. If you don't, these just won't release enough. Try this: 1) take out your cigars, 2) with a spray bottle, spray the inside of your humidor 1 or 2 times, more if your humidor is large, and just enough so that the mist of water covers most of the wood but does not soak any of it, 3) close the lid and let it absorb the water for 20-30 minutes, 4) open it up and make sure it is dry. After all of this, throw in your cigars and these humidification crystals and that should give you the +15-20 rh you're looking for. I had to do this with all 3 of my humidors before they were able to stay consistant at this level.

Also, Lancaster is hot as hell. Last time I had to drive there for business, it was in it's high 100's. I'd think about switching over to a climate controlled humidor. My boxes were at 80+, cooler at 75, and I finally bought a VinoTemp.