Alaskan Humidity

[Blackcat]

Anyone have any advice for this area humidity wise? I'm worried about this winter.

[Tarks]

I live in Winnipeg, Canada and we have very dry cold winters and very hot humid summers. I use the Heartfelt beads in my cooler and they keep the RH bang on 65% all year round.

I am assuming you have dry winters in Alaska??? Am I wrong?

[Blackcat]

Yes sir. Very correct, Dry Winters.

I'm currently using "Xikar" Crystal jars & maintaining 70%, but I'm assuming things will lower this winter. Should I be at a lower R/H then 70% I'm getting some splitting on my sticks as the get to about a 2/3 burn. I have some 72% Boveda packs but havn't opened them yet.

[dj1340]

I personally like to keep my sticks at 65%, but that's me. I lived in Ak for 3 yrs and man that place is dry! Used humidifiers all the time. At least your not getting too hot LOL. If you have a good Humi with beads you should be OK. I don't like my sticks over 65%, but like I said that's me.

[Tarks]

+1 on 65%. I used the Xikar crystals for a while and then switched to Heartfelt beads. Both worked but the beads last pretty much forever while the crystals don't.

[Blackcat]

I had a feeling that I was running a bit high on the R/H & will drop it down a bit. I like the idea of the Bo'veda packs but I forget to reorder stuff. The beads seem to be very simple.....yes?

[baba]

RH drops with temperature. I live in western washington, and I have to add extra humidification to my boxes during the winter.

[Blackcat]

Well right now I'm trying to lower my R/H a bit from 70. I also have a new Humi that I'm trying just to get below 80% (mighta got a bit carried away with trying to get it ready to fast)

[Tarks]

I would suggest getting beads. It doesn't matter what the temp is, the RH will remain the same providing you have a well sealed humi/cooler.

[Blackcat]

Good 2 know. I will place an order for some beads tonight as there are no local suppliers. Still looking for a good Hygrometer. Wal-mart is out & the last one that I got (adjustable) is just all over the place with both testing methods. I only have one (Little Havana) that is consistently +3 high

[Tarks]

Originally Posted by baba

RH drops with temperature.

This is not true. The amount of water that the air can hold will drop with temp. Don't confuse that with RH. It is a difficult subject to understand but see this link for the explanation.

Relative humidity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Blackcat]

Yeah we have some crazy weather patterns that might freeze your butt off but with weirdly high R/H lvls. Had me interested last winter before I started puffing. East coast gets that allot higher R/H with chillier temps then we do I think. I could be wrong in that.

[Blackcat]

Just got back from Wally-World and got two Springfield Hygrometers for $7 each. If the are at least stable I can use them in my new Snapware stuff (Sale on Snapware what can I say?). Still very disapointed at the digital "Setable" Hyro that I got online the other day. Gonna have to send that one back.

[JoeyBear]

In which city are you living? I was up there fore 8+ years and will be back in a few months. Fairbanks' winters are hard on cigars unless you smoke indoor where there's heat. Anchorage is better in the wintertime, but with the smoking ban, they're all a bunch of nutbags.

[Blackcat]

Outside of Wasilla a bit, towards Big Lake. I do have a place inside to smoke. Actually I'm going this Saturday to have a big hood made to go in where the wood stove was. But I'm one of the lucky ones. Wasilla was made non-smoking about a year ago, but grandfathered in a few places.