Need Some Advice

[manover84]

A friend of mine bought me a humidor for my birthday (from eBay). I currently have a 40 count Yukon but I have been talking for some time about getting a bigger humidor. It's not high quality, but it seems good enough to make work well with a few modifications. It's a 300 count humidor with 2 drawers and a large locking main section. The drawers are a bit loose and have some play in them. My main questions would be what mods would fix the drawers and just make this humidor work better? And I'm a Boveda fan but this is a 300 count and I feel I would need tons to season and regularly humidify this beast. How would I use Bovedas in the drawers to season and how many? Any other advice or possible mods would be great.
Specs are:

• Holds up to 300 Cigars
• 2 Accessory Drawers
• 2 Brass Finish Hinges
• Oblong Humidifier and Hygrometer with Brass Finish Frame
• Tray with Divider
• Bottom Dividers
• Lined with Kiln Dried Cedar Divider
• Lock and Key with Tassel
• Scratch Resistant Felt Lined Bottom
• 18 L x 11.25 W x 10.25 H

 

[CVAC085]

From my personal experience I followed the directions to the humidor I purchased from Thompson Cigar. I think I have their "Lucky 7" humidor. I'm going by my memory, so I might've missed a step or two. But I'll do the best I can to help you out with what I can remember. I had to wipe all of the cedar within the humidor with a damp paper towel that was soaked in distilled water. It shouldn't be soaking wet. But just enough to give the cedar the look of it being wet. From there once I dampened all of the cedar, I closed it up and let it sit for....I think 24 hours to cure. After that time, 24 hours later, I put my humidifiers in and closed it up for another 24 hours. And kept checking the humidity which surprisingly was reached in 2 days at 70%. I did add more distilled water after that to the humidifiers and put my smokes in for a few days, again keeping it closed. To this day I found that to work out well.

For a little more added humidity down the road, I added 2 smaller Xikar drymiststat tubes, both in separate drawers towards the bottom of the humidor as this one has a separate drawer just for the humidifiers at the top of the humidor. I find that to have helped a lot and keep some of my smokes on the bottom at their 65-70% as well as the drawers above it. I'll say they work wonders as well in travel humidors also!

Hope this information helps you!

This is the link to the humidor I have: http://www.thompsoncigar.com/product/HUMIDOR-LUCKY-7/66400.uts?subCategoryId=8393&categoryId=8393&parentCategoryId=8389

And these are the humidifiers aside from the ones that came with the humidor: http://www.thompsoncigar.com/product/XIKAR-DRYMISTAT-TUBE/78004.uts?subCategoryId=8407&categoryId=8407&parentCategoryId=8389

 

[Horseshoe]

I would take a sponge soaked in distilled water, place it on a saucer, and place it in the humidor. I would take a small sponge and put it on a saucer or Tupperware lid and put it in each drawer. Now this is the hard part.

Close the lid, close the drawers and WALK AWAY! Keep it in a darker room or out of direct sunlight for 7 days. Some require more time some require less. 7 is where I would start with it. Put a hygrometer in there and check on it in 7 days. Then put your Humidification in it and make sure it holds at desired RH. You can use boveda if it seals fine. 1 large pack per 25 sticks and I always add one or two extra for good measure.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Remember you want moisture in the humidor not ON the humidor. Water can make the wood warp.

 

[Xavier Dredo]

DO NOT WIPE IT DOWN WITH A WET CLOTH OR SPONGE!!! Warping, cracking and peeling of veneer can ensue.

Don't try and rush it

 

[Ducttapegonewild]

I must echo what the wise old Dredo stated. DO NOT WIPE IT DOWN WITH A WET CLOTH!!!

 

[Brimy623]

DO NOT WIPE IT DOWN WITH A WET CLOTH OR SPUNGE!!! Warping, cracking and peeling of veneer can ensue.

Don't try and rush it

This ^^!!
With the exception of wiping it down @Horseshoe has it right.
Do you have a digital hygrometer? If not, get one & calibrate it. Then after you've seasoned the humi, see how it holds the humidity. If it holds the rH, then I would use 2 or 3 Bovedas at your desired rH.
And I could be wrong here, but if the drawers are for accessories, I wouldn't worry about humidifing them.

 

[Trackmyer]

This ^^!!
With the exception of wiping it down @Horseshoe has it right.
Do you have a digital hygrometer? If not, get one & calibrate it. Then after you've seasoned the humi, see how it holds the humidity. If it holds the rH, then I would use 2 or 3 Bovedas at your desired rH.
And I could be wrong here, but if the drawers are for accessories, I wouldn't worry about humidifing them.

Fellas, Horseshoe didn't say to wipe it down. He said put the sponge on a plate or tupper lid and put inside unit and close it up.
Nice slow absorption, works like a champ every time.

 

[CVAC085]

That was my fault for saying to wipe it down. I purchased my humidor quite some time ago and I believe it was part of the directions. I haven't had any issues at all, but I do understand the reasoning behind it.

Plus, it's the only humidor I've had to season so to speak. I have a few smaller travel ones as well.

 

[Brimy623]

Fellas, Horseshoe didn't say to wipe it down. He said put the sponge on a plate or tupper lid and put inside unit and close it up.
Nice slow absorption, works like a champ every time.

I must have still been 1/2 asleep! LOL
Sorry @Trackmyer!

 

[manover84]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I used Bovedas for my small 40 count, but I would need a whole box for this one. I'm still at a loss about how to fix the loose drawers.

 

[Xavier Dredo]

Fellas, Horseshoe didn't say to wipe it down. He said put the sponge on a plate or tupper lid and put inside unit and close it up.
Nice slow absorption, works like a champ every time.

No, but CVACO did...

 

[cgraunke]

Once it's properly seasoned (remember, lots of time and patience, don't try to rush it) you won't need many Boveda. And you don't need Boveda for seasoning, the distilled water containers do the trick nicely. Then, after you hit around 70-75% inside, pull the water and replace one or two 65% Boveda and maybe a coffin of KL per compartment. But if those drawers don't seal well to begin with, the whole endeavor might be more trouble than it's worth. I did it, too, and there's something to be said for finding things out the hard way but fighting through the struggles yourself. Part of the learning process.
If you're set on classy presentation, either invest in a quality (read: expensive) humidor or a small wineador with custom drawers. If you're looking for functionality & practicality, go find an appropriately sized Tupperware or small cooler. Those cheap Chinese humidors most often lead to headaches and heartbreak... again, speaking from experience.
That said, anyone want to buy a couple cbid special humidors I've got? They're nice and shiny! ;-)

 

[cgraunke]

Oh, and there are some great (and thorough) threads on seasoning in the storage section. Let me know if you need links and I can try and dig them up. Otherwise, go there and search for "cgraunke", or maybe "ninja" and you'll find what I'm referring to.

 

[SeaGarr]

First off - Congrats! Nice looking humi!!

I have a humi with drawers. They felt somewhat loose as well - the fact is, if they push tight up against the box, you should be fine. Were you inclined, you could line those area's where the drawers meet the box with felt. It may help.

With mine, I placed some shims (well I'll call them shims - extra wood under the drawers) so that there was more friction. This made me feel more confident when closing that the drawer, as it seemingly made a more solid contact with the box. It made me feel better... not sure if it helped - I think it did?

As for humidification - looking at yours, it's not obvious if each section is supposed to be it's own little unit or not with the drawers having solid bottoms. Either way, I think it would be safe to assume that the humidity will travel up on yours as it does with mine and all of ours. This can be a little bit of an issue in a compartmentalized humi as the top section will get a mountain of RH that can't travel down easy and you'll be fighting to keep the bottom stable.

For years my upper section ran at 70RH and my bottom ran at 65. I aged up top and smoked out of the bottom.

Anyway, your packs would surely do the trick as they are a push / pull system - and I know you can re-humidify them, but for me that was just a bit too much. I eventually went ahead and bought a full pound of Heartfelt beads. I took out the foam in the little black boxes, and placed beads in them (which I never moisten). Then I divided what I had left into thirds, and placed those thirds equally into all three sections.

Of course my humi was seasoned so as I placed the beads in the humi in their relative locations, I placed a sponge with distilled water inside for twelve hours. Then I waited to see what was going on. It was good to go - so I pulled out the sponge and waited for the drop. When it did I moistened the bottom beads. I NEVER moisten the beads up top - only on the bottom shelf. As those beads spew out RH which travels up, the beads up top capture the excess and remarkably - keep my whole humi in check.

That's the system that works for me and my drawer unit. Believe it or not, it works really well with me just moistening the bottom beads. Going with the full pound of beads I am sure really helped lol!

Good luck and again - congrats - cool Humi!!

 

[manover84]

It's actually deceiving looking at the pic but the drawers are separate from the inside main humi. There's just the inside humi with a top shelf and separate drawers. I wouldn't buy a humidor like this but it was a gift and I want to put it to use. Thanks again for all the great advice. I'm just trying to find a good fix for the loose drawers, I like the wood sheet underneath. I may just put some cedar sheets on both sides. And the main section locks and it feels tight so I'm pretty at ease with that.

 

[cgraunke]

Good luck, buddy!
Keep us posted as things progress!

 

[manover84]

Now just because this humidor has a lock doesn't necessarily mean it has a good seal. Would I be better off with a 69 or 72 Bovedas in here to get around 70 give or take? How many??

 

[8ball]

CI is having a big boveda sale if you have not purchased them yet. You can get 12 for like $25. I went with 65's. I would probably stay away from 72's, but some of that may escape if you don't have a good seal, bringing the rh down.

 

[CVAC085]

CI is having a big boveda sale if you have not purchased them yet. You can get 12 for like $25. I went with 65's. I would probably stay away from 72's, but some of that may escape if you don't have a good seal, bringing the rh down.

+1 for the CI deal. Jump on that really quick. Already saw some of the bigger packages sold out. I'd probably go with the 65% as well or even the 69%, but no more than that for me and my humidor. In fact, with all this you guys got me worried about my sticks. I'm bonding with my humidor and humidifiers now. It's been a while. A while as in, haven't gave it love since sunday lol.

 

[Zigarro]

I thought the CI sale was for the 8gram packs, are they also selling the 60s?