Can't maintain proper humidity...even with double the beads

[Curmudgeon76]

Hey all,

I've been trying to keep the humidity constant in my humi around 65 and have found it to be damn near impossible. There is some variable somewhere that is tripping me up.

I have a glass topped Monte Afrique humidor. I seasoned it once but it seems it wasn't enough because I was recharging my beads every day. This time, I bought two 84% Boveda seasonsing packets and let them sit in the humidor for about 10 days. The humidity in there peaked around 70% but averaged around 67.

All this time I had my sticks in a tupperware container where the humidity was reading between 65-70 percent the whole time. I periodically opened the container to air out the cigars.

Once the 10 days were up, I put the beads into the humi until the RH was right at 65 percent: I then proceeded to transfer my sticks to the box. At this point, I had an ounce of COMPLETELY saturated 65 percent beads in there.

Within an hour, the humidity was right at 65 and I was happy. Occasionally throughout the day, it would dip down to 64. The next day, it remained at 64 constantly and would sometimes dip down to 63. The pattern continued: the next few couple days the humidity remained at 63, and would occasionaly dip to 62 etc. Now here I am approximately 5 days in, the humidity is down to 61 and almost all the beads in my drawstring bag are completely white.

Any suggestions guys? Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've tested the hygrometer twice and both times it was between 75-76 percent RH after 48 hours.

I'm considering buying a new hygro from Heartfelt and at this point, maybe even a new box. The humidor has not been constantly opened: only once per day to remove a stick. It's not like the humidity is super low in the room where my humidor is either: yesterday it was around 44% ambient RH.

Thanks in advance for any advice, this is driving me nuts.

Justin

 

[dpricenator]

Freakin crazy, I have been following your attempts from the begining, as I have the same box here at the office. I don't even know what to say, it seems you are doing all the right things. Sounds like that humidor is about to become an expensive place to store your accessories.

 

[djustice]

Are you positive the seal around the glass is good? Is the humidor in direct sunlight or in constant shade? Those could be just a couple of items to check. I personnaly don't worry to much about keeping the humidity exact. I've had mine vary from 50 - 70 before and I've never had a problem. 50 doesn't happen very often, just when I've been a little lazy and didn't get to it in time. I've actually gotten to the point where I like them a little on the dry side.

 

[Tegu]

I have to wonder if that humi is not leaking on you, with a boveda 84% in their for 10 days I would think a humi that small would get up above 70%. I think you must have got a bad one. You can test your beads and hygro by putting them in an airtight tupperware for a day and see what they read, if they are working correctly it has to be the humidor.

 

[Jwrussell]

I can't see any other explanation than the humidor is leaking. All the signs point to it:

Within an hour, the humidity was right at 65 and I was happy. Occasionally throughout the day, it would dip down to 64. The next day, it remained at 64 constantly and would sometimes dip down to 63. The pattern continued: the next few couple days the humidity remained at 63, and would occasionaly dip to 62 etc. Now here I am approximately 5 days in, the humidity is down to 61 and almost all the beads in my drawstring bag are completely white.

You have a seal problem somewhere.

 

[dpricenator]

I just took a look at mine and can see that the place where the glass is held in place, could easily have a leak. I would suggest a thin bead of silicone sealer, or silicone caulking to seal it. I say thin so it does not show from the top. Of course let it dry thouroughly, so the smell does not get in to your smokes. This may mean you have to re-season the box, as you will want to leave it wide open for at least 24-48 hours to dry. The box looks great so I would hate to see it get tossed or used for something else. Goood luck.

 

[N2Advnture]

Justin,

What are the dimensions of you humidor?

found it 10.75" x 7.75"x 2.6" - only 217 cu. in. requiring only 1 ounce of RH Beads

How many RH Beads are you currently using?

Have you replaced the battery and calibrated your digital hygrometer?

I too might suspect the glass seal.

~Mark

 

[rabbgp]

I, also have this humi. It is by far the best one I have. Try closing the lid on a dollar bill and pull the bill out. If it comes out easily then the seal is the problem. If not, then send me your sticks and I will store them in mine. =o)

The other suggestions mentioned here are good.

Keep us posted.

 

[Angry Bill]

I had to repair my boss' humidor, which also has a glass top. The seal between the wood and glass had an area that had lifted up. After putting the odor free silicone sealant, the humidity has been consistent and no problems, other than keeping cigars in there to smoke. hehe.

I also set his humi up with Beads.

 

[terrantheman]

Get a damn cooler the seal is great on those and the worry is at approximately 0%... This is a helluva lot cheaper than buying a new humi and you can store boxes of cigars instead of flippin' single:yes: As you get more and more sick with this hobby you'll find that I was correct and the space was exactly what you needed. Now as far as my advise goes I'm not even going to charge you anything just knowing that you have peace of mind is all the payment I require, a good cigar collection is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[Jwrussell]

The above posts have it right. There are a number of silicone sealants you can pick up that are odorless and won't harm or contaminate your smokes. You'll still want them in a tupper-dor while you allow the sealant to dry, but I'd be willing to bet the smokes in your humi (hehe, see how that works?) that this fixes your problem.

 

[RigilKent]

agreed its probably the seal around the glass seal that up and you should be good if not i it may be lost

 

[Curmudgeon76]

Hello guys,

Thanks for all the input. Yes, I'm starting to agree with you all: I have checked all other variables and it seems the only thing it can be now is the seal on the box. The seal for the lid seems pretty darn good: the dollar bill trick requires me to tug pretty hard to get it out, but I am pretty certain now that it must be the glass, I'll post a photo of the inside of the glass, maybe you guys can give me some suggestions as to the best spot to apply the sealant. Thanks again.

Justin

 

[djustice]

If your going to apply sealant just go ahead do the whole thing. That way your taking the guess work out of it.

 

[JMN]

I bought my friend this humi, and I also think the glass is culprit. Are you sure it is not sitting in the sun at all. This kills the humidity in my humi's quickly.

 

[dpricenator]

You need a bead of sealant around the joint between the glass and wood. You want to seal every linear inch where the glass meets woods. This is obvious in the one I have here. Let me see if I can find a camera in ther office.

 

[Mitch]

Unless you had the humidor ever stabalized for long term, it could just be the wood is just too dry. I've hind of had the opposite problem with a humi I just built, it's slowly coming down, but the wood was stored long term in a damp warehouse before I built it. It's taken weeks for the humidity to drop down to where I want it.

Couple of things you might consider. If you take out the Spanish Cedar pannels you can probably cut a plastic bag to work as a moisture barrier and reinstall it under the liner. This will at least let you now the issue isn't with the outter wood sucking the moisture out of the humi.

Also, you could put an open container of water in there and leave the beads dry to suck excess mointure out (don't wet them).

Also, where is your humi? is it right under an AC or heating vent? temperature fluctions can lay havic on your humidity as well.

 

[Curmudgeon76]

Ok guys,

I've posted a picture of the box open, just to get an idea where to fill in with the sealant, I just marked the areas where I'm suspecting I've need to seal, just wanted to get some feedback to see if those were the right spots.

I am just waiting for the "yes those are the right spots" or "no those aren't the right spots" plus the "you keep your humidor in the kitchen by the sink"? Comments. Anyhow, my apartment is dark and so I went to where the light is haha.

Justin

 

[rabbgp]

Those locations look right. I will look at my (Identical) humi tonight and see if it is similar to yours.

 

[Curmudgeon76]

rabbgp (sorry to use screen names, haven't learned everyone's names yet!),

So you like the Monte Afrique? It's a great looking box, I agree. I really think, for my average consumption, it's a great box (minus the seal issue which I am going to attempt to resolve tomorrow, sometime after my graduation ceremony :smokingme though I know that now that I'm a member of the forum, I will outgrow it as I continue to build my collection, as there are FAR too many bad influences here. ;-)

My problem is, I have no patience and I want to smoke that goregous Davdihoff, right away, not let it age for months! (I'm working on it)

Thanks again to everyone for the advice, I'm learning more and more everyday: I've been a member of several different internet forums over the years, pertaining to several different subjects, and none of had the degree of friendly and helpful people that I have found here.

Justin