Kitty Litter dust problem

[Lomey]

Thanks for all the reply's.

Cigary43, I am using the same KL as you use as my original post states . I have them in a 4x4 in. flat Tupperware container on the bottom on the wineador and one bag on the middle shelf and one bag on the top shelf. Do I not need the bags and just go with the container only. The humidity in holding good at 64-66% on the bottom and 62% on the top. I know that is close enough I'm just worried that if I take the bags off the middle and top it will drop below 60% at the top. I don't have room for a container really at the top.

Thank again everyone.

 

[Cigary43]

Weird that you would get much dust as I have been using mine for years....maybe a good shake is what you need. Pour the KL through a screen to filter out any residual dust. As for the containers ....are you saying 4 inches square? 4 inches is a bit steep as I only use 2 inch containers and that makes me a bit nervous but it works so 1 to 2 inches is probably a good number. I would forgo the bags....I've talked with a lot of people on this and those bags will not do the job unless......you lay them flat on something....then spritz them as they lay flat and then put them back. The whole idea is to spread the DW evenly over the KL...lightly and not soak them with the spray. I think that would take care of the room at the top where you don't have much room. I know others who take those plastic rectangular things that hold foam and they take out the foam...keep the screen and just put KL in them instead ( I do this...it works perfect and that is only an inch tall but about 6 inches long ) as that is one way to use them in areas where you don't have much room.

 

[Cigary43]

You pay so much for your sticks and go cheap on hydration? I just don't see it I have a lot invested in my sticks, I'm going to take care of them. Sorry bout your KL issue but can't say I've had it happen with beads.

Ye of little faith. KL is inexpensive yes but Museum Curators use it for million dollar works of art to keep them in an RH approved environment. As far as beads are concerned I've had beads go bad on me after a couple of years and with 28 humidors that got expensive in a hurry. With one 8 pound jug I was able to put all of my humidors in a better than beads environment...at 1/10 the cost. Don't knock if it u haven't tried it...you might save a lot of money which can then be used for more cigars.

 

[Chief StrongLeaf]

The coffins leave a small footprint, and I've seen brothers use plastic craft mesh--for needlepoint? cut to size and slides right in were the lid use to be. This page: http://www.puff.com/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/276966-kitty-litter-set-up-64.html on post #956 solved the problem with .22 ammo boxes.

Humidity falls, and the top will need something if it's already only at 62% with the KL there. Brothers use "oust" fans--with out the smelly stuff of course--to circulate air from bottom to top.

May I suggest Boveda packs, as an alternative solution. I don't use fans as I have 2 on all six shelves in my New Air 28 bottle, and they take up very little space and can be re-hydrated when they turn hard as shown in a post stickied at the top of the storage section. I started with KL but I felt like I lost a lot of space and now don't need to deal with spritzing/freezing the KL--not that it would be that onerous.
There are plenty of options for you to go with and I've read combining KL/beads with boveda packs is done too.

Keep us posted on what you decide and any pros and cons with your set up.

 

[sofc]

WHAT?! Never heard anyone ever say a negative thing about beads. Heartfelt are the bee's knnes!!

Don't worry about it man, he's so negative he makes me look like Optimist of the Year.

This literally made me laugh out loud.

 

[CWS]

You pay so much for your sticks and go cheap on hydration? I just don't see it I have a lot invested in my sticks, I'm going to take care of them. Sorry bout your KL issue but can't say I've had it happen with beads.

Ye of little faith. KL is inexpensive yes but Museum Curators use it for million dollar works of art to keep them in an RH approved environment. As far as beads are concerned I've had beads go bad on me after a couple of years and with 28 humidors that got expensive in a hurry. With one 8 pound jug I was able to put all of my humidors in a better than beads environment...at 1/10 the cost. Don't knock if it u haven't tried it...you might save a lot of money which can then be used for more cigars.

Ditto. The great and awesome Headbanger took me to his knee and taught me KL theory. Works fine and is cheap.

 

[Craig Mac]

Don't worry about it man, he's so negative he makes me look like Optimist of the Year.

This post made me chuckle, funny stuff J.

 

[jeremyk]

You pay so much for your sticks and go cheap on hydration? I just don't see it I have a lot invested in my sticks, I'm going to take care of them. Sorry bout your KL issue but can't say I've had it happen with beads.

Ye of little faith. KL is inexpensive yes but Museum Curators use it for million dollar works of art to keep them in an RH approved environment. As far as beads are concerned I've had beads go bad on me after a couple of years and with 28 humidors that got expensive in a hurry. With one 8 pound jug I was able to put all of my humidors in a better than beads environment...at 1/10 the cost. Don't knock if it u haven't tried it...you might save a lot of money which can then be used for more cigars.

a few months ago I started using KL after a few pm's full of question directed at cigary43 were answered by him I was convinced to try KL n never looked back very easy maintenance and always at 65rh like clock work cheap too. haven't had dust problems yet I keep three bottoms of water bottles I cut off about an inch high n a desk top and it works great.

 

[Cigary43]

You pay so much for your sticks and go cheap on hydration? I just don't see it I have a lot invested in my sticks, I'm going to take care of them. Sorry bout your KL issue but can't say I've had it happen with beads.

Ye of little faith. KL is inexpensive yes but Museum Curators use it for million dollar works of art to keep them in an RH approved environment. As far as beads are concerned I've had beads go bad on me after a couple of years and with 28 humidors that got expensive in a hurry. With one 8 pound jug I was able to put all of my humidors in a better than beads environment...at 1/10 the cost. Don't knock if it u haven't tried it...you might save a lot of money which can then be used for more cigars.

a few months ago I started using KL after a few pm's full of question directed at cigary43 were answered by him I was convinced to try KL n never looked back very easy maintenance and always at 65rh like clock work cheap too. haven't had dust problems yet I keep three bottoms of water bottles I cut off about an inch high n a desk top and it works great.

Glad to hear that you are having success with KL...I think it's really a great way to establish and keep your RH w/o having to spend a lot of money...that translates more $$ for cigars...WIN WIN!

 

[jmartins]

I've read this from beginning to end. In my opinion this is yet another cigar preference debate.

I know there are people here that will swear by HF beads and now I see that there are ppl that will swear by KL. I don't think either side is right or wrong I just think this only further helps new ppl learn all different methods to storing cigars.

Just my opinion.
Cheers,
JM


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[AdamJoshua]

You pay so much for your sticks and go cheap on hydration? I just don't see it I have a lot invested in my sticks, I'm going to take care of them. Sorry bout your KL issue but can't say I've had it happen with beads.

Ye of little faith. KL is inexpensive yes but Museum Curators use it for million dollar works of art to keep them in an RH approved environment. As far as beads are concerned I've had beads go bad on me after a couple of years and with 28 humidors that got expensive in a hurry. With one 8 pound jug I was able to put all of my humidors in a better than beads environment...at 1/10 the cost. Don't knock if it u haven't tried it...you might save a lot of money which can then be used for more cigars.

Funny I've heard the same argument for beads and don't think they are going to protect a Picasso with a jug of kitty litter.

Back on topic, just pretend it's plume! lol

 

[mdwest]

they arent protecting picasso with heartfelts either...

the silica most commonly found in museums is not a crystal.. or a bead.. it is a gel..

one of the reasons they use a gel is the very issue that the OP has asked about.. museums dont like beads and/or crystals because of dust/powder.. something that BOTH have the ability to create..

the gel is then put into permeable sheets, or other containers that allow air to pass through.. and is used much like we use boveda packs..

this is what you find at the Guggenheim, Louvre, etc:

http://www.apsnyc.com/index.php?page=microclimate-products

http://artsorbonline.com/brochure/artsorb_info_page.pdf

You wont be finding exquisicat or hearfelt at any serious museum that houses art valued in the 7 figure range...


At the end of the day.. who cares what someone else uses to protect their cigars? active or passive.. KL, heartfelt, or florist foam... everyone has their own reasons, their own budget, etc..

For me... the price of 3lbs of beads is far from prohibitive.. If that was the direction I wanted to take.. I would do it... I however use KL.. mostly because it is convenient.. I can drive 2 miles to my local pet smart and pick it up anytime I want from Monday to Sunday from 9Am until 9PM... it works.. and keeps my sticks between 64-66RH with almost zero maintenance issues.. I havent added DW to my cabinet since I got it stable over a month ago... and am guessing I wont be adding any for quite a while to come.. Im guessing I have about 500 sticks in there right now.. if we assume an average retail price of $8... we're talking $4K in sticks, being protected by $4 in KL....

Assuming I put 3lbs of heartfelts in there.. we're be talking $4K in sticks being protected by $100 in beads (still a negligible amount of money by comparison to the stick investment)..

The money has nothing to do with it at all...

If one of my B&Ms carried beads.. I would have likely gone that route.... I however took the easy road (was in the pet store anyway buying crap for my dogs).. and havent looked back..

if/when I loose my $4K investment... Ill invite you to say "I told you so"... until then (and I think you'll be waiting a very long time)...

I keep hearing people ask the question "why would you trust your investment to a cheap option"?

my question is.. how many people using KL have lost their investment due to the KL failing (not user error)? and how many people have lost their investment due to beads failing (not user error)? and how do those numbers stack up against one another?

until someone knows the answers to those questions.. the "why would you trust" question has zero value...

would you trust your investment to some beads if I charged you $0.02 for them? how about KL if I charged you $6000 for it? what relevance does price play in this equation at all?

Want to know what art museum silica gel is?

its 100% pure silica in a gel state with a precise amount of filtered and purified salt added to dial it in to a specific RH amount that it absorbs and/or releases..

want to know what a bead is?

its 100% pure silica in a crystalline state with a precise amount of filtered and purified salt added to dial it in to a specific RH amount that it absorbs and/or releases..

want to know what exquisicat is?

its 100% pure silica in a crystalline state without salt added to it.. so it doesnt come factory pre-set.. and requires the user to "dial it in" initially to get it to the desired humidity..

 

[AdamJoshua]

Well done post, but just to clarify I didn't mean to insinuate that the Louvre was protecting any million dollar works of art with beads either, just making the point you hear it both ways. It would be pretty funny though if there was a guy walking around with a spray bottle hydrating the beads every few months LOL

Well they'd have to change the name from "kitty litter" and take the big blue crystals out for me, drop the price to $5500 or so, than maybe.

 

[mdwest]

For $5500.. Ill pick all the big blue crystals out for you... rename it "awesome cigar RH stabilization rocks".. and even go to the trouble of repackaging it in something cool like a 2 foot long tube that looks like a padron 80th anny

definitely not knocking on those guys that choose to go the bead route.... like I said.. if beads were convenient... I probably would have gone that direction.. hell.. if I could get the art museum gel in anything higher than 60%.. I'd probably give it a whirl and see what I thought about it...

 

[Phaedron]

I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only one who picks out the blue crystals. They don't feel different from the rest... or smell different. But... they're BLUE. Not having them.

 

[Cigary43]

As has been stated so many times and presumably w/o spreadsheets to determine who has the better luck with medias that help control humidity....we only can tell individual stories as to how it has worked for ourselves and most BOTL will try to encourage others as to what they found. The debate shouldn't even be a debate...it is conversation about medias that tend to work better than others and that's all it is. This goes into more of the conversation as to how silica gel works...what I like about it is that it lasts indefinitely and that is money in my pocket. To the last statement..it is a fact that the user will have to "set" what RH they want but it doesn't take more than a day to do that. A lot of your statements helps clear up a lot of the FAQ's that people have about Kitty Litter and with that info it helps the end user as to what media they want to use.

 

[TravelingJ]

Now if we can just get people like you to stop being an asshole about kitty litter being the OMG END ALL HUMIDITY DEVICE we could move along and use whatever we each prefer.

As has been stated so many times and presumably w/o spreadsheets to determine who has the better luck with medias that help control humidity....we only can tell individual stories as to how it has worked for ourselves and most BOTL will try to encourage others as to what they found. The debate shouldn't even be a debate...it is conversation about medias that tend to work better than others and that's all it is. This goes into more of the conversation as to how silica gel works...what I like about it is that it lasts indefinitely and that is money in my pocket. To the last statement..it is a fact that the user will have to "set" what RH they want but it doesn't take more than a day to do that. A lot of your statements helps clear up a lot of the FAQ's that people have about Kitty Litter and with that info it helps the end user as to what media they want to use.

 

[Agentskull]

You know if at the end of the night you can reach in your humidor and enjoy one of your sticks and can go to bed knowing you can wake up and do it whenever you please. Who cares what your using. As long as it gives you piece of mind.

 

[Cigary43]

Now if we can just get people like you to stop being an asshole about kitty litter being the OMG END ALL HUMIDITY DEVICE we could move along and use whatever we each prefer.

As has been stated so many times and presumably w/o spreadsheets to determine who has the better luck with medias that help control humidity....we only can tell individual stories as to how it has worked for ourselves and most BOTL will try to encourage others as to what they found. The debate shouldn't even be a debate...it is conversation about medias that tend to work better than others and that's all it is. This goes into more of the conversation as to how silica gel works...what I like about it is that it lasts indefinitely and that is money in my pocket. To the last statement..it is a fact that the user will have to "set" what RH they want but it doesn't take more than a day to do that. A lot of your statements helps clear up a lot of the FAQ's that people have about Kitty Litter and with that info it helps the end user as to what media they want to use.

[/QUOTE

Is somebodys g string a little tight today? Anytime you want to discuss anything...let's meet up and see if your mouth is as big as your ahole...ok tough guy?

 

[jmartins]

Alright guys come on. Lets not get into a pissin match here.

We all have different views thats life to make this entire conversation even funnier I actually don't use either KL or HF. I am a silica bead user different from both methods and I use boveda packs too.

Lets me gentlemen about this and end this bickering here. This is just a discussion not an argument.


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