Humidity Issues
- Thread starter seeharrison
- Start date
Here's my suggestion. The boxes are likely the same RH as the cigars that are in them. Maybe there are a bit too dry and will affect your humidor environment but only for a short time (days or weeks??). I would just put them in and throw a couple of Bovedas into each box. Leave the box lids ajar so air can circulate and spritz your KL when needed. Remember that if the air in your humidor drops in RH it doesn't mean your cigars are responding as fast. Air can change just by opening the door while cigars will take days to be affected.
I'll also state the obvious... make sure the boxes in the freezer are well sealed in plastic since a freezer will really dry them out.
It looks like you've got your original problem worked out. It was just a matter of time. Adding three more boxes may send the RH out of wack but it's only a matter of time.
I'll also state the obvious... make sure the boxes in the freezer are well sealed in plastic since a freezer will really dry them out.
It looks like you've got your original problem worked out. It was just a matter of time. Adding three more boxes may send the RH out of wack but it's only a matter of time.
Im sorry, skimmed some of this. Is this an actual fridge? Or does it use' ahh whats the term im looking for? dialectric cooling? (Someone correct me please) If its a fridge with a compressor, well that sucks all the moisture out of the air.
It’s a thermoelectric (no compressor) wine fridge. (Edgestar is the brand)
Since you opened the door... What does everyone keep their CC’s at? Do you keep them in a separate cooler/wineador to maintain the lower humidity? Right now I’ve got about 150 CC’s, so don’t really have a place to stash them separately.
Glassman
Glass Gars Guns Garden
Most people keep them at 62-65. Some keep them on the higher side of that for aging, and the lower side of that for smoking.
I am surprised that new boxes of cigars could pull your RH that low. If the boxes were that dried out, I'd be worried that the cigars in those boxes had been completely dried out too. I try to keep my cc and nc at around 65% and around 63 F. IIRC the recommendation that comes with CC is to keep the temp between 16C-18C and 65%-70% RH, though 70% seems kind of high.
Just following up on my original post.
Despite adding pans of KL and having 15 or so 69% Boveda 60 gram, I can't get my humidity above 61%. I've been looking at the small humidifier from Staebell (http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/electronic.htm) for $299.00. Has anyone used this in a Wineador? I've got an Edgestar TWR282S (https://www.winecoolerdirect.com/koldfront-28-bottle-ultra-capacity-thermoelectric-wine-cooler-platinum/TWR282.html) with drawers and shelves from Forrest. I'd eventually like to move over to an Aristocrat cabinet, but it's not in the budget right now. Cheers!
Despite adding pans of KL and having 15 or so 69% Boveda 60 gram, I can't get my humidity above 61%. I've been looking at the small humidifier from Staebell (http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/electronic.htm) for $299.00. Has anyone used this in a Wineador? I've got an Edgestar TWR282S (https://www.winecoolerdirect.com/koldfront-28-bottle-ultra-capacity-thermoelectric-wine-cooler-platinum/TWR282.html) with drawers and shelves from Forrest. I'd eventually like to move over to an Aristocrat cabinet, but it's not in the budget right now. Cheers!
This seems very strange. Is the KL you're adding dry, or are you spritzing it?
If you have that many bovedas, and moistened kl, then I think your readings are off. I've had several hygros go bad with no warning. I'd quadruple check your readings before adding any more moisture to that environment.
How do the cigars look/smoke? Do they seem dry?
I've been spritzing the KL twice a day since I put it in. I would have thought my readings were off, but I've got 4 hygrometers that were calibrated within the last few weeks. All of them are showing within 1% of each other. I am beyond puzzled on what's going on. I've got about 200 sticks in there right now and they definitely feel on the dry side. Several have cracked when I cut them to smoke.
So odd. I think others have suggested it, but I'd put everything in tuperdores with the bovedas until you can figure it out. If you don't have that many plastic containers, double bag with some food ziplocks. Adding that much moisture and everything is still dry doesn't add up. Maybe your seal is bad? How's the circulation?
My 2 cents is get the cigars sealed in with the bovedas, and then work out the problems with the wino. You can put them back in the boxes later.
Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
KL should take care of your issue......but you have to "train" it with DW and that means for a few days you have to spritz over the KL. Ensure that you use a receptacle that is shallow as some people think it's ok to put the litter in one big lump...that just defeats the purpose in regulating the RH. For the size of your windeador I'd use a pound at least and then begin the training until you get to the RH you want.
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When I first got my wineador, here’s what I did....
Got a bowl of DW and used a sponge to wipe down all the cedar.
Loaded 1/2 the trays with smokes, the other half went into a tupperdore.
Added a bowl with a sponge of DW, and left it shut for a week. I stuck my hygrometer on a shelf so I could see the temp and RH through the door.
I also left it unplugged, since the temps were around 70’ish.
Once I was at 70 RH, I added the other smokes, swapped the bowl of DW w/ sponges to HFBs (65RH) or you can use KL, and let it creep back down to 65% RH.
I was off and running from there, haven’t had to mess with it since other than rehydrating the beads
Good luck, YMMV!
Got a bowl of DW and used a sponge to wipe down all the cedar.
Loaded 1/2 the trays with smokes, the other half went into a tupperdore.
Added a bowl with a sponge of DW, and left it shut for a week. I stuck my hygrometer on a shelf so I could see the temp and RH through the door.
I also left it unplugged, since the temps were around 70’ish.
Once I was at 70 RH, I added the other smokes, swapped the bowl of DW w/ sponges to HFBs (65RH) or you can use KL, and let it creep back down to 65% RH.
I was off and running from there, haven’t had to mess with it since other than rehydrating the beads
Good luck, YMMV!
Maybe this is my issue! I’ve got two 6x4 containers that are about 3 inches deep. They are full of my KL. I think I had read about people using aquarium filters to make small KL pouches. I’ll give that a try and see if it improves anything. Cheers!
Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
Think about it....shallow means more surface exposure to the KL which means it won't be impeded as a lump of KL means there is wayyyyy tooooo much where the DW isn't getting to do its job. An inch is plenty deep and then you'll see how the RH will move up. Report back...inquiring minds like to see what goes on.
Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
I got the scratches to prove it!