OK, so Joshua's thread got me to thinking that this might be a good idea. I'm no expert, but I think I've got the basics down enough to throw something together here. :wink:
The most common questions I see from folks who have just bought humidors tend to be about seasoning the humidor and what to use for humidification. Both are very valid questions, but before you can really address either you have to start somewhere else: an accurate, calibrated hygrometer. If you've purchased a humidor with one of those pretty analog hygros on the front and are planning on using that to guage your humidity, THINK AGAIN! Analog hygros are good for one thing: Looks. That's it. I've yet to see one that was worth a damn. Hell, the one on my humidor has been pegged at 80% since I bought it. Now most analogs can be adjusted via a screw in the back, but even after being adjusted they tend to wander...QUICKLY. Your best bet is to leave that pretty decoration (after all, that's what it really is) alone and get yourself a good digital hygrometer. While the options available for hygrometers are always changing, and there are some reasons for choosing other hygrometers, the standard in our hobby for a few years now has been the adjustable digital hygrometers (they are available from multiple site sponsors). Most come with a Boveda Pack calibration pack, but if not be sure to pick one up. You can also grab a standard boveda pack and use a good ziplock bag or plastic container with a GOOD seal on it. I really can't stress this enough, calibrate your hygrometers regularly![/url] Every 6 months you should check them for accuracy and I recommend changing the batteries once a year. Keep those two points in mind if you ever start running into humidity problems. If you are trying to diagnose a problem and haven't calibrated your hygro recently, do that before anything else (and consider changing the battery as well).
OK, so now you've got yourself a reliable Hygrometer, now what? Well, first of all, go put that rag away, you won't need it. This can be a fairly hot topic, but I'm a firm believer that there is no reason to wipe down the inside of a humidor. Just as with aging cigars, slower is better. Wiping down the cedar of your humidor runs the risk of raising small splinters on the cedar, thus risking tearing your cigars. You also run the risk of staining the cedar. This is obviously only an aesthetic problem, but most of us appreciate good aesthetics right? :eyebrow: Granted, it's a minor risk and plenty of people have wiped down their humis with no problems, but really, why run any risk?
So, how to season your humi then? The easiest, and cheapest way is to fill one or more shot glasses with distilled water, put them in your humidor, close the lid, and relax. If you want to speed things up a bit, add a clean, new sponge to whatever container you are using. It will add to the surface area and help with evaporation (credit to CigarNut on that one). There's no need to check the humidor very often at this point as this will take 1-2 weeks. In fact, if you have put enough distilled water in shotglasses or other containers, I would recommend not opening the humidor for 1 week. If you have a glasstop humidor, you won't need to open the humidor at all until it's ready so long as you have enough distilled water in there. You will know the humidor is ready for cigars when it has reached your desired humidity or slightly higher. Most folks around here like a humidity of 65% so once your hygro reads 65-70%, take out the shotglasses (or other containers) of distilled water, add smokes and your humidification media and you are done! Almost. :wink: Keep in mind that if the cigars you are adding to your humidor are on the "wet" side, that humidity will rise somewhat until your media can cope. The same with "dry" smokes. Don't go nuts checking your humidity every hour when you first put smokes in. Go have a drink and try and relax. Give your humidor, smokes and media time to equalize.
Now, before moving on to what kind of humidification you are going to put in your humi, a word about the quantity of cigars you are throwing in there. Humidors work best when 75% or more full. So while everyone here will recommend you purchase the biggest humidor you can afford (it's amazing how quickly they fill up) you will want to keep it as full as possible. This doesn't mean you will have a horrible time keeping your humidity stable if you DON'T have your humidor at 75% or more capacity, but it may be a tad more difficult than if you did.
Ok. So on to Humidification media. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Most folks getting involved in the hobby for the first time end up scouring their local pharmacies for Propylene Glycol or buying 50/50 solution to add to a Credo style humdifier. This is fine. It's a time tested method. 50/50 PG and distilled water will get you around 70% humidity. Most around here prefer their cigars at around 65% and you can get there with PG. But seriously folks, it's a pain in the ass to deal with. It can be very difficult to find PG. It's somewhat messy to deal with. And there are MUCH better alternatives! So, hopefully you are reading this before you've taken the plunge on your humidifcation media, and I've saved you some money and time. I've been down the PG route. I speak from experience. I've never even used the PG that I finally found after 2 weeks of searching. Before I could use it I had found what most consider to be the holy grail of humidification: BEADS. Be they HeartFelt Industries or HCM/Shilala (the two major suppliers at this time), 65% beads are the easiest, cleanest, simplest way to go. I'm partial to HeartFelt (our very own Viper139) and they are a supporting vendor for this site, so obviously I'll recommend them. Great pricing, absolutely STELLAR customer service and top notch product. These beads can be had in 60%, 65% or 70% and come preconditioned. You can buy the beads loose or in a variety of humdifiers. See here for frequently asked questions and how many you will need for your size humidor (or simply send Viper139 an email/PM, he'll be happy to help you out). HCM/Shilala beads are a different animal, but have become very popular as well. They can be had at just about any imaginable RH % you want and you can change their set-point if you change your mind as to what kind of RH % you want to keep your cigars at in the future. If you have any questions you can get a hold of Michael (CigarNut on the site) who is also very knowledgeable, happy to help and who has great customer service as well. You can't go wrong either way. I won't go into any more pro's/con's or differences other than to say they both seem to be high quality products provided by high quality brothers. :thumbsup:
One last note on Boveda Humdipaks. I prefer them for testing and calibration over humdification, but they will work just as well for humidification if you want to go this route. The downside of going this route is that the packs last only 3-4 months whereas the Heartfelt and HCM/Shilala beads will last indefinitely. There are a number of other humidification options out there including gel-style tubes, jars, etc. To each their own, but I've recommended what I believe to be your best options above.
Good luck and remember, be patient and try not to stress out too much about all of this!
The most common questions I see from folks who have just bought humidors tend to be about seasoning the humidor and what to use for humidification. Both are very valid questions, but before you can really address either you have to start somewhere else: an accurate, calibrated hygrometer. If you've purchased a humidor with one of those pretty analog hygros on the front and are planning on using that to guage your humidity, THINK AGAIN! Analog hygros are good for one thing: Looks. That's it. I've yet to see one that was worth a damn. Hell, the one on my humidor has been pegged at 80% since I bought it. Now most analogs can be adjusted via a screw in the back, but even after being adjusted they tend to wander...QUICKLY. Your best bet is to leave that pretty decoration (after all, that's what it really is) alone and get yourself a good digital hygrometer. While the options available for hygrometers are always changing, and there are some reasons for choosing other hygrometers, the standard in our hobby for a few years now has been the adjustable digital hygrometers (they are available from multiple site sponsors). Most come with a Boveda Pack calibration pack, but if not be sure to pick one up. You can also grab a standard boveda pack and use a good ziplock bag or plastic container with a GOOD seal on it. I really can't stress this enough, calibrate your hygrometers regularly![/url] Every 6 months you should check them for accuracy and I recommend changing the batteries once a year. Keep those two points in mind if you ever start running into humidity problems. If you are trying to diagnose a problem and haven't calibrated your hygro recently, do that before anything else (and consider changing the battery as well).
OK, so now you've got yourself a reliable Hygrometer, now what? Well, first of all, go put that rag away, you won't need it. This can be a fairly hot topic, but I'm a firm believer that there is no reason to wipe down the inside of a humidor. Just as with aging cigars, slower is better. Wiping down the cedar of your humidor runs the risk of raising small splinters on the cedar, thus risking tearing your cigars. You also run the risk of staining the cedar. This is obviously only an aesthetic problem, but most of us appreciate good aesthetics right? :eyebrow: Granted, it's a minor risk and plenty of people have wiped down their humis with no problems, but really, why run any risk?
So, how to season your humi then? The easiest, and cheapest way is to fill one or more shot glasses with distilled water, put them in your humidor, close the lid, and relax. If you want to speed things up a bit, add a clean, new sponge to whatever container you are using. It will add to the surface area and help with evaporation (credit to CigarNut on that one). There's no need to check the humidor very often at this point as this will take 1-2 weeks. In fact, if you have put enough distilled water in shotglasses or other containers, I would recommend not opening the humidor for 1 week. If you have a glasstop humidor, you won't need to open the humidor at all until it's ready so long as you have enough distilled water in there. You will know the humidor is ready for cigars when it has reached your desired humidity or slightly higher. Most folks around here like a humidity of 65% so once your hygro reads 65-70%, take out the shotglasses (or other containers) of distilled water, add smokes and your humidification media and you are done! Almost. :wink: Keep in mind that if the cigars you are adding to your humidor are on the "wet" side, that humidity will rise somewhat until your media can cope. The same with "dry" smokes. Don't go nuts checking your humidity every hour when you first put smokes in. Go have a drink and try and relax. Give your humidor, smokes and media time to equalize.
Now, before moving on to what kind of humidification you are going to put in your humi, a word about the quantity of cigars you are throwing in there. Humidors work best when 75% or more full. So while everyone here will recommend you purchase the biggest humidor you can afford (it's amazing how quickly they fill up) you will want to keep it as full as possible. This doesn't mean you will have a horrible time keeping your humidity stable if you DON'T have your humidor at 75% or more capacity, but it may be a tad more difficult than if you did.
Ok. So on to Humidification media. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Most folks getting involved in the hobby for the first time end up scouring their local pharmacies for Propylene Glycol or buying 50/50 solution to add to a Credo style humdifier. This is fine. It's a time tested method. 50/50 PG and distilled water will get you around 70% humidity. Most around here prefer their cigars at around 65% and you can get there with PG. But seriously folks, it's a pain in the ass to deal with. It can be very difficult to find PG. It's somewhat messy to deal with. And there are MUCH better alternatives! So, hopefully you are reading this before you've taken the plunge on your humidifcation media, and I've saved you some money and time. I've been down the PG route. I speak from experience. I've never even used the PG that I finally found after 2 weeks of searching. Before I could use it I had found what most consider to be the holy grail of humidification: BEADS. Be they HeartFelt Industries or HCM/Shilala (the two major suppliers at this time), 65% beads are the easiest, cleanest, simplest way to go. I'm partial to HeartFelt (our very own Viper139) and they are a supporting vendor for this site, so obviously I'll recommend them. Great pricing, absolutely STELLAR customer service and top notch product. These beads can be had in 60%, 65% or 70% and come preconditioned. You can buy the beads loose or in a variety of humdifiers. See here for frequently asked questions and how many you will need for your size humidor (or simply send Viper139 an email/PM, he'll be happy to help you out). HCM/Shilala beads are a different animal, but have become very popular as well. They can be had at just about any imaginable RH % you want and you can change their set-point if you change your mind as to what kind of RH % you want to keep your cigars at in the future. If you have any questions you can get a hold of Michael (CigarNut on the site) who is also very knowledgeable, happy to help and who has great customer service as well. You can't go wrong either way. I won't go into any more pro's/con's or differences other than to say they both seem to be high quality products provided by high quality brothers. :thumbsup:
One last note on Boveda Humdipaks. I prefer them for testing and calibration over humdification, but they will work just as well for humidification if you want to go this route. The downside of going this route is that the packs last only 3-4 months whereas the Heartfelt and HCM/Shilala beads will last indefinitely. There are a number of other humidification options out there including gel-style tubes, jars, etc. To each their own, but I've recommended what I believe to be your best options above.
Good luck and remember, be patient and try not to stress out too much about all of this!
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