New to humidors, need some help

[Jmallred]

I recently purchased my first humidor and after reading many tutorials, seasoned it properly then let it rest and stabilize before putting any cigars in it. It seems to work very well and has an excellent seal. But the one thing I've noticed is at the top of my humidor, it has one shelf in it, the humidity is 79% then when I move my digital hygrometer under the shelf the humidity is 72%. These numbers have been constant for the whole week Its been in use after the seasoning period. The hudifier is mounted on the lid of the humidor so it is right over top of any cigars I put on the top shelf. So my question is. Is this too much variation? Is 79 too high? Should I get rid of the shelf and keep them all in the bottom or just have a steady schedule of rotation?

[BigJohn]

79 is high, but if you're just seasoning the humidor don't worry.

How certain are you that the hygrometer is accurate?

What's the RH inside your house? do you know? Or, check the weather and see what the general RH is for your city...

If it's HIGH (like atlanta in the summer...) then you want to lower that... I store at 65%. It's a preference, but I find that the cigars smoke smoother for me.

Welcome - by the way - and check out the thread on Kitty litter.

[Jmallred]

No i have finished seasoning it and started putting cigars in it, I have had it for 2 weeks now, the first week i seasoned it for three days then let it rest for 3 days then i put cigars in it and have had them in there for a week and the humidity has been what i described. As for the hygrometer, i know the analog one that came in it is not correct as it never moved during the seasoning process, so i bought a digital one, i just assumed since it was a digital one that it would be correct. is this a wrong assumption?

[Rob G]

Your digital may be correct, but most likely it is off a little. Most are. What you want to do is a salt test. Do a google search or search this forum for details on how to do a salt test.

[Jmallred]

i have read about those and will do that, but even if it is off just a bit it would be off the same amount for the top and bottom levels of my humidor, so what could i still do to take care of the difference in humidity from the top to bottom of my humidor?

[Rob G]

You are correct. There would still be a difference between the top and bottom of your humidor. I'm assuming you have a small 50-100 count desktop humidor and that the humidification device is on the lid of the humidor. Humidity rises, which means that, generally, the humidity will be higher on top. This is especially true if the top tray is full, as it blocks the humidity from reaching the bottom.

You may want to remove the tray and see if that helps. That would allow for better air circulation. You may also want to try using a different humidification device. Beads on the top and bottom would provide a more stable environment.

[Master Gates]

if it were me - I would take the humidification device out completely and get one of those boveda packs set at 65% and put it in the bottom area. Forget the wet foam and even the kitty litter stuff, or gels, etc. I have spilled way too much junk on my smokes over the years to keep messing with stuff like that.

the boveda pack may eventually dry up a bit....dont let it dry completely. When it gets a little dried up, lock it up in a tupperware with a shot glass of water to rehydrate it.

another thought is that your cigars are probably fresh and are most likely overhumidified anyhow. If you plan on smoking through them and replenishing with new cigars, you can probably get away with no humidification at all because the constant influx of "wet" smokes will keep everything pretty nice.

you will get lots of opinions - this is my contribution.

eventually you will lose the hygrometer and just humidify until they feel right and smoke nice to your liking

[Smoker06]

Chris (MasterGates) is correct. You're going to get a lot of different opinions on this. But I think we can all agree on a couple of things.

1. 79 percent RH is too high.

2. There will be a difference in RH in different parts of the humidor.

3. The foam and water (with or without PG), hanging from the humidor lid, is not the optimum solution for humidification.

Okay, now for my opinions:

1. Don't salt test an electronic instrument like a digital hygrometer. Some might say that 24 hours in a salt environment won't hurt the electronics. I don't know, but I think there is a safer way. Use a Boveda pack in a ziploc bag or purchase a hygrometer test kit. (They're basically a Boveda pack in a plastic bag.)

2. Use humidity beads. You pick the humidity you like. I use 65 percent beads. You can calculate the volume of your humidor and buy the appropriate amount of beads for that volume. There are many types of devices to hold those beads (trays, tubs, bags, pucks, etc.)

3. Heartfelt Industries is a great place to start. They've got everything you need; hygrometer test kits, beads in three different humidities, bead holding devices, and a calculator to determine the amount of beads you need. (I'm in no way connected to Heartfelt Industries. I've just used them before and am satisified with there product.) http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/default.asp

4. I've never tried the kitty litter but many here have. Based on the reputation of some of the trusted members here, you may want to give that a try and save some ducats.

Hope I didn't muddy the waters too much. Good luck with your new humidor. It sounds like you're off to a good start.

[Jmallred]

I really appreciate all the responses and i went today to buy the beads at my local cigar shop, and i explained my situation to the guy there and he told me that of course the green foam that i had on the lid was not a good thing, but instead of beads he recommended a Paradigm systems humidifier, it is basically a special type of foam in a metal box and he said just soak the foam in distilled water and it was the best thing out there and it was all he used. http://fujipub.com/paradigmhumidifiers/ if found that website, and was just wondering what some people thought about this, i didn't get it yet because it was $60 and thought that might have been a little high for what it looked like. I know everyone will probably have a valid but different opinion so i just want to get a few before i spend more money on this as opposed to spending less on the beads. Thanks.

[grtrx]

seems rather high priced, but I'm a PG 50/50 guy