humidity problems

[mnelson]

Okay guys i may be having major prblems right now!

I just got back to the place and for some reason i decided to check the humidity in my firdgeadors, and to my suprise both of them have jumped up to 77 RH (the usually are around 71, and the temps are around 67..... What do i do? I have 2 pounds of heartfelt beads in both (the beads are set at 70 RH) i have some small fans in each and alot of spanish cedar.

In one of the frideadors i hold singles and in the other boxes. I am not worried to much about the boxes (because of the cedar they sit in) But the current condition the singles are in scares me. I have 6 shelfs with about 60 sticks on each shelf, the trays are Spanish cedar.....

I dont know what to do, any ideas?

I looked around online and found this site:
http://www.cubancigarhouse.com/humidor.php


According to it i am in the perfect range but i am looking for some incite from some brothers

Thanks
Matthew

 

[daniyal]

Well the simplest solution would be to leave the door open for a couple of hours till the humidity is down to 70% or where you want it to be. Also the beads don't do a very good job of absorbing excess humidity, you may want to look at premium kitty litter if that is a problem for you. The easiest way is to leave it open till it gets down to where you want it.

Any idea what caused the sudden jump in humidity? Change in temp? switching off the heating?

 

[N2Advnture]

First, calibrate and replace the batteries in your digital hygrometer annually.

Then, simply dry the RH Beads with a hair dryer set on low and put them back in, they absorb any excess moisture to bring it back down to 70% RH.

You only want approximately 70% of the RH Beads to be hydrated (hydrated beads will be clear, dry beads will be milky white).

I hope this helps

~Mark

 

[tubaman]

Opening up the doors briefly will let out some of the humidity, but only if you are in a dry place. DC this time of year is dry, so that will work.

Are the beads clear? If they are, they have absorbed all they can handle. Contrary to what danyal above says, the heartfelt beads work great at removing humidity as long as they arent' saturated. They are 2 way humidification; i.e. they put in humidity and take it out. KL is one way only. I'm not getting into that whole debate again.:closedmou If they are clear, then you need to dry them out. This time of year, just sit them outside of the humi for awhile and they will turn white.

But let's get to the most basic question. Are you sure that you hygrometer is working? The first thing I would do is check and see if your hygrometers are accurate. I'm a firm believer in keep it simple stupid. If the humidification was ok earlier in the day, it's probably still ok. So check your hygrometer. If that's ok, check the seal around your doors, although this time of year where you are, the humidity would have drastically dropped if there was a bad seal. You have fridgeadors? I don't know enough about those to give you advice on those, but if you have concluded that your hygrometers are accurate, then check out your fridge. other guys on this board are much more knowledgeable than me about those, so I'll leave that to those guys.

As far as the quote about cigars being optimal in the 70% plus range, I disagree. I find the cigars burn poorly with that high of a humidity. I personally keep my rh between 61% and 65%, generally at 63%. A swing of a percentage point or 2 is not a big deal imo. There is a lot of discussion about serious long term aging (10 years) should be done at higher rh, like 70%, but I haven't noticed any problems with my cigars. But each person should do whatever he or she likes to enjoy the cigars. But the burn will be screwed up if they are stored over 70% imho.

 

[56Tweed]

I really agree with what some of the others have said.

1. Beads - If they aren't saturated then its definitely not 77%. Beads do work very well when it comes to removing humidity. The kitty litter can as well. Without getting into a debate about its use for maintaining humidity, I have no problem using it to remove excess humidity.

2. Check your hygrometer - I've gone through dozens of hygrometers because most of them are just crap. Even ones sold at quality establishments. You will want to change the battery if you have had it awhile and then do a salt test or test it with a boveda pack in a sealed bag.

3. Target Rh - My target is closer to 63%. I find that my cigars burn and draw better plus it reduces the risk of a humidity spike.

 

[oneaday]

What Kevin and Tweed said 100%

 

[mnelson]

Thanks for the info guys, the beads are actually like 50% clear so i dont know. I just got these digital humidification/temp sensors from heartfelt with the beads. They were both calibrated in boveda bags for 48 hours @ 70 degrees.

I am going to let the fidgeadors air out for a few hours, hopefully that will do it.

Do you think that 66-67 Degrees F will be okay for a RH of around 70.

 

[56Tweed]

I would I think its pretty unlikely that its 77% if the beads are only 50% clear.

 

[mnelson]

i tried to take some pictures of the beads but they didnt show the clarity very well, maybe they are 60% clear. I know that there are alot of solid white beads though. I am going to let it dry out until later tonight and see if that helps

 

[weskimad]

Sounds like all great advice. If half your beads are white, I'd agree it's not likely your RH it that high (and if they're not, take the advice and dry them). I'd be curious to see if you recheck the calibration of your hygrometer.

I know Tubaman doesn't want to rehash the kitty litter debate, but if they are one way, why is my coolidor and humidor holding at 65% while my house is at about 40% for the last few months here in the Northeast?

 

[Headbanger]

Your temps are just fine. Anything under 70 degrees is best.

I would be more concerned what the sticks look like then the beads. I believe you have the answers to your questions already. I imagine it would be hard to get a fridgedor to spike from 70-77% in our dry environment, even with the recent rain.

 

[mnelson]

after drying it out for a few hours it has dropped to 68F/69 RH YAY

 

[tubaman]

I know Tubaman doesn't want to rehash the kitty litter debate, but if they are one way, why is my coolidor and humidor holding at 65% while my house is at about 40% for the last few months here in the Northeast?

Do a search on Kitty litter, i'm not going over it again. If it's KL, it's one way. As to why it's holding for you, if it works do it.

 

[Headbanger]

Do a search on Kitty litter, i'm not going over it again. If it's KL, it's one way. As to why it's holding for you, if it works do it.

:rolling:

&

:rofl:

 

[tubaman]

I knew you would find that amusing Steve!

 

[JMN]

This happens occasionally to me as well with the beeds, I just always dry them out. Here are some other steps I reccomend though when dealing with cigar collection nightmares.
Step 1. Drink a beer.

Step 2. Open another.

Step 3. Complete the steps that everyone else here posted as far as drying out.
The beer is actually unnecessary to save the cigars, but gives you a reason to have one, and calm's ya down.

 

[weskimad]

I'll just read the bag.
:eyebrow:

 

[tubaman]

The picture you provided is not helpful as I don't know the full name of the product to do some research into it. Maybe you could list what exactly the name of the product is. It's hard for me to either make an argument against it or agree that this is viable if I don't have all of the information.

 

[dpricenator]

The picture you provided is not helpful as I don't know the full name of the product to do some research into it. Maybe you could list what exactly the name of the product is. It's hard for me to either make an argument against it or agree that this is viable if I don't have all of the information.

I found this link... says they are two way.

http://www.luxurybedding.com/product/care/37993/litter-pearls-ultra-pet-litter-pearls-tracks-less.html

 

[oneaday]

Two way or not I ain't puttin anything named Litter Pearl next to my sticks. It doesn't say what the RH control would be. Beads work to a set RH. Just because the product evaporates the moisture doesn't mean it regulates to a preset RH. This will be the same old argument and I have my same old answer, I don't see the value of saving a few bucks using a product that is guess work at best, with many hundreds of dollars invested for most of us and thousands for some of us.
Saving what amounts to the cost of a couple of good sticks. As Daddy used to say stepping over dollars to pick up nickles.