Humidity down to 62-63%. Help!

[chu2]

Hey guys,

Here's my issue. I have a small desktop humidor, 25-count, with about a dozen cigars inside it. I replaced the original puck-type sponge filter's insides with humidity beads, and they worked fine all summer, keeping humidity at around 70%. Now that it's getting cold, my humidity's dropped to a steady 62-63% for the past few days and hasn't bounced back, even though I've been recharging the humidifier daily.

Right now I have a shallow dish with some distilled h2o in my humi to see if that helps. Any advice?

[jadeg001]

Did you check your hygrometer? Even if it is accurate, 62-63% is fine, in fact, many find it optimal.

[AlohaStyle]

Hey Chu...

I'm not nearly as experienced as some others here are, but first of all, don't worry about it being 62-63%. Many people prefer to keep their humidity lower and your cigars will be just fine at that level so don't worry about it. You can get worried if it was high, but being in the low 60's is just fine. I use 65% beads and the cigars are great.

What temperature is the room your humidor is in? If your room stays in the high 60's at least, I'm a little surprised your rh level has dropped that much if you have adequate beads/distilled water in there. Have you checked your beads to make sure they have moisture? The moist beads should be almost clear while dry beads are white. I would give your humi a couple days with the distilled water dish to see what happens. Is your humi properly seasoned? If not, you could consider putting your cigars in a zip lock with your beads for a couple days while you season your humi.

Other than that, just make sure you are using distilled water (as you say) and keep checking. As long as your rh is in the 60's, you are just fine. But many people, including me, will say consistency is the key so hopefully you will figure it out.

Good luck!

[chu2]

Hey all,

They hygro's definitely accurate, I calibrated it last week and it's digital-not too much room to swing around. I've always heard that 68-72% is the optimal range, but if you guys say there's nothing to worry about, I'll take your advice. For the record, i keep the room at a fairly steady high-sixties temp and use only distilled water.

Other than that, I'll keep that h20 dish in there.

[AlohaStyle]

Hey Chu... just curious on how you calibrated your hygros? I'm just asking because I got a wineador last month and put 2lbs of 65% heartfelt beads in there and for the life of me, could not get the rh down to that level. After 3 weeks, it still read 68-69%. I did multiple salt tests and calibrated my hygros to 75% so I was sure my hygros were accurate.

After a few emails with the owner of heartfelt (Dave), I decided to test my hygros again but this time with a couple boveda packs I had. Sure enough, my hygros were a few percentage points high. So after re-adjusting my hygros, my wineador is reading exactly 65% for the most part.

Dave said that the salt test may not be as accurate as people think as you can get different results depending on the type of salt used and other various factors. He definitely recommended using something accurate to test your hygros.

Goes to show... people learn something new everyday! I'm not saying you're not doing it the right way, just sharing my experience.

[Sirhuffsalot]

I find 60-63 perrrrrfect.
Many densely rolled (heavy) cigars dont like to draw and burn that well at a higher humidity for me. I think is has to do with the tobacco swelling as it soaks more moister into it.

Cheers.
Randy

[rajuabju]

Generally speaking, I think anywhere in the 60% to 70% range is perfectly acceptable. Truth is, I dont think MOST people would taste any difference in the average smoke whether the cigar was kept @ 60% or 65% or 70%.... its just not a huge range. Now if you're keeping them at 50% or something, yea, it'll be too dry. But dont worry about it too much.

On the other hand, I know the feeling you have, since I also tend to get paranoid if there is any deviation from the 65% I like.

best thing to do is get some heartfelt beads and sleep well at night.

[Rev2010]

1) Don't worry about it until you get lower than 60-62. I like keeping mine at 65% so I personally would be concerned if mine dropped lower than 62.

2) As already said, get some Heartfelt 65% beads! They work wonderfully

3) You're new to this, at least that's what I gather, so in time you'll calm down. We all went through the worry in the early stages


Rev.

[Tarks]

I am thinking that your desktop does not have a proper seal, and hasn't for some time. In the summer during more humid months you will not notice a change in RH but now that the atmospheric RH is dropping as winter approaches your desktop RH is also dropping due to a bad seal.

[R10]

Originally Posted by Tarks

I am thinking that your desktop does not have a proper seal, and hasn't for some time. In the summer during more humid months you will not notice a change in RH but now that the atmospheric RH is dropping as winter approaches your desktop RH is also dropping due to a bad seal.

+1 on this. Have you done the dollar test?

[jledou]

Originally Posted by Tarks

I am thinking that your desktop does not have a proper seal, and hasn't for some time. In the summer during more humid months you will not notice a change in RH but now that the atmospheric RH is dropping as winter approaches your desktop RH is also dropping due to a bad seal.

agree this could be the issue. try putting a flashlight inside the humi and close the lid to see if you can see light around the lid

[JoeyBear]

When the temps change, the humidity levels are gonna change in the humidor. Put your humidor into a warmer area of the room/house if you're worried about the 62-63%. Personally, I'm good with anything above 60 and below 68.

[jeepthing]

My 50 count desktop runs 62 to 65 all the time. Cigars smoke wonderfully

[Stinkdyr]

Originally Posted by Sirhuffsalot

I find 60-63 perrrrrfect.
Many densely rolled (heavy) cigars dont like to draw and burn that well at a higher humidity for me. I think is has to do with the tobacco swelling as it soaks more moister into it.

Cheers.
Randy

I agree with this completely.

[scottw]

Leave it, it's fine.