High humidification question....!

[fuente]

Some of you may recognize me from days gone by. Haven't been here in quite a while as I don't smoke that much anymore due to family life (3 little boys). It's good to see some old familiar faces as well as all the new people. Here's my problem:

I've got an Aristocrat mini which at the moment is about half full. The RH here in my area of the SF Bay Area is, well, perfect for cigar storage. I rarely, if even have to turn the CO on...in fact the RH in closet today is 70%. I'll get to why that is important in a second.

I really haven't been paying attention to the hygrometer, which in retrospect was not a good idea, and I opened the cabinet yesterday to, of all things, pull out a few sticks to gift to a new found BOTL. The RH was at 84%...there is nothing in there except an empty CO, which, I'm assuming was full, but has now given all it's moisture to the cedar and cigars. The CO not plugged in, and hadn't been for quite some time, it for sure was a passive exchange.

Still thinking this was a hygro issue, I pull a few boxes and the sticks are wet, and some had white surface mold. Nothing in/on the foot, so I just wiped it off...but seeing a full box of Monte #2's in that condition is, well, something I don't want to see ever again.

My thought is that since I very rarely open the humidor, the water from the CO evaporated and has now saturated the cedar and some of the cigars (only a few boxes on the bottom shelf were affected..others on the top and in the drawer were still fine).

My solution is to pull everything out, and store them in my closet for a while. The closet is dark, cool, and the RH is 70%. I plan on replacing the hygro just to cover all bases.

I guess it makes sense, particularly if the temp is up in there to facilitate evaporation. The water had do where to go.

To prevent this in the future I'm just going to remove the CO. Don't need it around here.

What do you guys think?

Thanks and good to be back.

Matt

 

[funkejj]

One word to solve this "Beads" Instead of buying a new cigar oasis spend the money on RH Beads and never worry again.

 

[fuente]

Thanks Jason.

The CO was not malfunctioning, as it was not plugged in. It was akin to having a dish-full of water in the humi, coupled with not opening it for quite a while...plus me not paying attention.

I think I'll try some DampRid to get the exess moisture out quickly, then put everything back in.

The wet ones are going to cause an RH spike, but that should be fine I think.

Anything around 70%, in my experience, is fine for me...and the RH around here in my house is always around that, so I shouldn't need beads or anything else.

 

[jwyatt55]

+1 JJ!! The beads will make sure you stay at your desired RH by releasing moisture if needed but they will also absorb moisture. If you had the beads already you would have cracked open your humi to find saturated beads instead of saturated cigars.

 

[fuente]

I agree, but what I am saying is that I have no need for the beads. In this one specific case, yes, beads would have saved me, but the humidity in my house stays right aroun 70% all the time, or at least enough of the time to keep the humi at around 70%.

My mistake was leaving the CO in there full of water. In that case, yes, the sticks acted like the beads and pulled in all the moisture.

Removing any source of humidification, coupled with may room RH never getting about 70%, eliminates the need for the beads.

Thanks!

 

[Starz26]

Curious as to how long the CO was in there and how long before you noticed the spike in RH.

 

[fuente]

Well, it has been in there for at least 6 months. The water had dried up months ago I would think.

I remember looking at the hygro and seeing RH in the mid 70's...then the high 70's..then the low 80's..over probably the last 3 months.

Irresponsible on my part, big time. I assumed the hygro was bad, and didn't make the connection with the water in the CO.

 

[jwyatt55]

I agree, but what I am saying is that I have no need for the beads. In this one specific case, yes, beads would have saved me, but the humidity in my house stays right aroun 70% all the time, or at least enough of the time to keep the humi at around 70%.

My mistake was leaving the CO in there full of water. In that case, yes, the sticks acted like the beads and pulled in all the moisture.

Removing any source of humidification, coupled with may room RH never getting about 70%, eliminates the need for the beads.

Thanks!

Personally I am very picky when it comes to my stash storage. If it was me I would invest in the beads just for the peace of mind that they will keep the RH constant regardless of changes in RH of outside air or the problem you just encountered. Just me though. If you are confident that your closet will hold the RH you want go for it!

 

[fuente]

Well, the closet is temporary, until I can get the RH in the humi down to acceptable levels. You're right though, the beads would prevent anything like this happening again, and since the wet smokes will raise the RH anyway when they go back in, the beads are a good idea.

I think I'll get those, as well as a new hygro.


Thanks!

 

[Mitch]

What happened with the temperature? If the temperature went up even short term, that would cause the water to go to the air. If the temperature then dropped back down, the moisture would have nowhere to go except the cigars and cedar.

 

[fuente]

Mitch, that's probably what happened. I'm sure the temp went up and that's what happened. I can't remember when I put the water in the CO...and if I can't remember it's probably been since last summer/fall, which would put us in the 90's for a few weeks. And we have no A/C, so there you go.

On the plus side I see no signs of mold in the filler/foot, and no signs of blue/green mold or beetle hatch.

Thanks!

 

[Mitch]

Mitch, that's probably what happened. I'm sure the temp went up and that's what happened. I can't remember when I put the water in the CO...and if I can't remember it's probably been since last summer/fall, which would put us in the 90's for a few weeks. And we have no A/C, so there you go.

On the plus side I see no signs of mold in the filler/foot, and no signs of blue/green mold or beetle hatch.

Thanks!

I'm doing some experimenting, watch the Myth Buster thread if you want to follow along, but I'm starting to thing that beads have a huge advantage over forced humidification that can not take moisture back out of the air.

For now, you might want to put a tub of "Damp-Rid" in there to bring the RH down. Works well, and you can leave all the cigars and such in there while you do it, it dosn't harm anything.

 

[fuente]

yep. just got the small tub today. Will be going in momentarily.

 

[fuente]

I purchased another digital hygro (Rite-Aid, 14 bucks) and did the salt test (I know, not perfect, but I've done it so many times in the past I've got it down pretty good) with my current one.

The results? The new hygro was dead on at 75% after about 4 hours. The old one was at 81%, and still moving up, after 6 hours.

So, I took the new hygro out, put it back into my humi with my sticks and the Damp-Rid (With the lid completely off), and it's down to 71% in about 2 hours.

Not sure if that is because of the transfer of the hygro (did that about 10 minutes ago), or it the Damp-Rid actually works that fast.

I'll leave it in overnight and see what we get in the morning.

 

[Mitch]

More than anything else, I go by how the cigars feel and how tight the bands are on the cigars. I like the bands just a bit loose so they can spin without much effort, but don't try to slide up and down. That is a good measure of how swollen your cigars are from moisture compaired to when they were rolled. Also, is your battery new in the old hygrometer? I know some of mine start to drift as the battery gets old.

 

[fuente]

I swapped out the battery a few times...that's not it I don't think. It's old, probably 7 years old. Maybe just drifted over the years. It's at 84% this morning.

I know what you mean about the 'feel'. When I first started collecting years ago I'd get worried about 1-2% RH...it's trivial. The only thing that matters is how then look and feel.

And since mine were wet and moldly, well, that's not good !

Thanks for all the advice. I'll post back when I get the humi down to 65% or so. It's at 70% this morning, using the Damp-Rid (lid all the way off), and using the new hygro.