Exquisicat cat litter vs. Heartfelt pearls

[Drazzil]

Ok, so how many museums trust their priceless works of art to kitty litter?

I believe the LAMCA, The Los Angeles Museum of Art uses beads, I had a chat with someone just this morning about it, a fellow cigar lover who has been involved with that Museum and they use the same type of beads.

[homeless_texan]

My cat and I have a deal, I dont keep my cigars in his litterbox and he doesn't keep his litter in my Aristocrat.

[Major Captain Silly]

Originally Posted by homeless_texan

My cat and I have a deal, I dont keep my cigars in his litterbox and he doesn't keep his litter in my Aristocrat.

You shouldn't deal with your cat. They lie.

MCS

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Major Captain Silly

You shouldn't deal with your cat. They lie.

MCS

One stole my soul once.

[Papichulo]

I just ordered 2lbs of Heartfelt for my new Muziq Custom Cab Humidor

Tom, yeah but your cat only had only two legs

[cedjunior]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

Kitty Litter: Designed for cat crap.
Humidification Beads: Designed for museum art

Last I checked they were both silica gel, and both served the same purpose. Silica gel was not designed for cat crap. I remember seeing the last big discussion on this stuff, there were those who were "above" using silica gel beads packaged as kitty litter for humidification control then as well. I know to some, money is no object, but not to everyone.

[Harpo]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

Ditto.

It never ceases to amaze me how far some guys will go to save a couple bucks in the never ending search to be the penny-pinchingest Ebenezer on the planet.

Let's ask the question a different way.

Kitty Litter: Designed for cat crap.
Humidification Beads: Designed for museum art

Ok, so how many museums trust their priceless works of art to kitty litter?

I think I'm done here.

+1

You're protecting hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars' worth of smokes. Why try and cut corners?

[Major Captain Silly]

Originally Posted by icehog3

One stole my soul once.

I hate when that happens!

MCS

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Papichulo

Tom, yeah but your cat only had only two legs

Meow.

[cf2112]

Before my Aristocrat I used Climaxx Beads with great results in my desktops. When I got my first 120 qt cooler I bought more beads. When I got my 2nd 120 qt cooler I used kitty litter. After 1 year I could tell no difference in the cigars stoerd in cooler 1 or 2. After years of saving my $$ I got my Aristocrat and to help stabilze the humidity I tried beads and they couldn't do the job of removing the excess humidity during the spring and summer months. Kitty litter does this easily and with no ill side effects.

I know some will never use KL because it's KL and thats ok. Beads have something added to hold humidity at a "set point" and are easier to use, KL can "trained" (easily done in a cooler with water) and will work just as well, but for removing excess humidity KL work 10x better and at a fraction of the cost.

Use what ever you feel comfortable. I have 10's of thousands of dollars of cigars and want the best for them and would never do anything to harm them and I've seen no harm in KL in the 5+ yrs I've used them.

I do not use KL as my primary source of humidity (nor would I use beads) as I don't think either is suitable for anything bigger than a 300 ct desktop. I use a Cigar Oasis in my coolers with the foam removed and Super Absorbant Polymers (SAP) put in their place. In my cheap Robustohumidors (from E-bay) I use SAP's only. In my Aristocrat's Set N Forget I put SAP's in the canisters to keep water from sloshing around as my girls love to open the humidor, smell the aroma and pick me a smoke for our evening walks and they pull the drawers out a little hard sometimes knocking the canisters over and no water spills out this way.

This is my opinion and I came to it with years of trial & error. It is worth exactly what you paid for it.

This debate has and will go on forever and it's a matter of personal choice now I must go pick out a cigar for the football games, I hope it doesn't taste like cat piss

[gary106334]

Originally Posted by cf2112

Beads have something added to hold humidity at a "set point" and are easier to use, KL can "trained" (easily done in a cooler with water) and will work just as well

How do you "train" the KL? I have some and would like to know the best way?

[FriendlyFire]

I thoght your thinking of using it for the ash tray,

Originally Posted by Drazzil

I've heard a lot of different ideas on whether these cat litter beads work as well as the pearls, and, I've got some time on my hands. So, I am going to put the cat litter pearls to the test.

For the materials for this experiment I will need

1. One box of exquisicat litter pearls ((without the blue crystals))

2. One bottle distilled water.

3. One pair of pantyhose

4. One roll tape

I will test this on one of my humidors for a week and report the results.

If bad comes to worse, and it doesent work, I have four cats, and Im sure they would appreciate the "upgraded" litter

[cf2112]

Originally Posted by gary106334

How do you "train" the KL? I have some and would like to know the best way?

I just put some in a cooler with my Cigar Oasis and let it run for a few days. You can do the same by just setting water in an airtight container for a few days until they reach 65% (my preference) I've found they won't go much past 68-71% no matter how long I leave them in, unless you spray water directly on them. In a cooler they will last for months, desktops 4-6 weeks. When you see the humidity drops set a bowl of water in until they come back to your desired level. HINT: using SAP's will let the KL absorb moisture without fear of a water spill, this work with beads also.

[Linder]

Originally Posted by cf2112

I use a Cigar Oasis in my coolers with the foam removed and Super Absorbant Polymers (SAP) put in their place.

Very interesting! Where do you get the SAPs?

[kjjm4]

I only scanned the rest of this thread, so I'll preemptively apologize if this has already been suggested, but if you really want to test and see how well they work compared to beads, put them in a tupperware container by themselves instead of in a humi stocked with cigars, and monitor the humidity. That would remove all the variables and give you a good idea of how well they maintain relative humidity.