Is it me or the humidor?

[sathington73]

I know this may come across as too anal, so I should start off by saying that I'm not at all worried about my sticks and I'm not really "concerned" about a few fluctuations in humidity. I'm just a bit of a nerd/engineer, and I have a compulsion to understand how things work.

My problem:
I bought a cheap humidor online about a month ago. Standard plain and simple 50 count. I've checked the seal in all the ways I know (dollar bill test, flashlight test, makes a "whoosh" sound when you drop the lid) and it seems good. I've got 20-25 cigars, a digital hygrometer (did the salt test for 24 hours), and a 1 ounce tube of 65% Heartfelt beads.

I seasoned the humidor for a few days with just a dish of water in there until it came up to 70%, then moved my cigars in, and it stayed between 65% and 70% for about a week. Since then the beads don't look dried out, but the humidity will drop about 1% per day. When it gets down to 60%, I'll add water to the beads, although they still look about half clear. The humidity will rise back up toward 70% (I'm probably over-hydrating the beads) and then fall back down again at the same rate.

Like I said, I'm not really worried about the cigars, but would like to understand what's going on. As far as I can tell there are three options:
A) I have a cheap humidor that won't hold humidity. Although the seal seems fine to me.
2) I'm doing something wrong with my setup. I consider myself a smart guy, but I am new to the hobby.
D) Is it possible I got 60% beads instead of 65%? I ordered 65% and the tube has blue caps. I don't know how the orders are filled or if that kind of mixup very likely. I guess I could try waiting longer and see if it steadies out at 60%.

Any other ideas, or some other experiment I could try?

 

[smokinghole]

I don't know if they use specific caps for specific beads however I do have 65% and it has blue caps. A test you can perform would be to throw my hydro in an as airtight bag or container as possible and then see where it's at after 4-5 hours. If it's closer to 60 then you might be right. However if it's around 65 then it's probably your humidor. There could be a leak that causes a rapid evaporation of the moisture in your beads. Have you tried a flashlight in the humi while in a dark room? If you can see light you have a leak.

It's hard to see in those tubes anyhow I pretty much dried my humi out over the winter this year. Everything is good again though.

 

[Craig Mac]

Could possibly be from opening and closing the box a few times a day, it is near a vent in the house(heat or AC)? Any direct sunlight? To me it doesn't sound like a concernable issue as long as it is not below 60 or over 70%. Sometimes the cigars/humidors need a month or two to completely stabalize. More importantly if they are smoking fine then I wouldn't worry. Personally I would get one of the hygrometer calibration kits and fully test my hygrometer, but other than that just relax.

 

[jjon90]

I agree, give it time, give it time...

 

[sathington73]

Isolating the beads and hygrometer is a good idea to check both of those components, I will try that.

Craig Mac, just to answer your questions, it's in a large walk-in closet that does have an A/C register. The temperature is a constant 68.

Like I said, I'm definitely not worried about anything, just curious. My hygrometer doesn't have a calibration feature, but it's not so much the accuracy that I'm questioning, it's the fluctuations, which I imagine would be the same if it was calibrated or not.

 

[PLUSH]

wow, I wish my closet was a constant 68, then I would not need a cooler.

 

[dpricenator]

I do not think you seasoned the humidor long enough. I'll bet it is still pulling humidity. Generally I would say during seasoning to, let it get to 80% then allow it to back down to 65 or so, by removing the dish of water.

 

[sathington73]

OK, so the answer to my thread title is: It's me. I'm just too impatient.

I would say I'll try to ignore it for a month and then check to make sure it's settled down, but in reality, I don't smoke enough to keep up with the rate I'm buying. I'll probably have moved on to a 40 gallon storage bin by then.

 

[dpricenator]

OK, so the answer to my thread title is: It's me. I'm just too impatient.

I would say I'll try to ignore it for a month and then check to make sure it's settled down, but in reality, I don't smoke enough to keep up with the rate I'm buying. I'll probably have moved on to a 40 gallon storage bin by then.

Igloo cooler from walmart is a better option. 1lb of beads, and you're good to go.

 

[sathington73]

Sorry to necro the thread, but I have an update. I moved my stash to a Lock & Lock container that was slightly larger than my humidor and was much cheaper and it's held humidity perfectly. Should've just done that to start with. It was originally just temporary storage while I tried to re-season my humidor.

I put a dish with about 2oz of water along with my 2 oz tube of beads and 2 different hygrometers in the humidor and let it sit closed for three weeks. When I came back to it this week, the water was gone, my beads were dry and the humidity was about 50%, which is close to the ambient humidity in my house.

So to answer my own question again, I'm impatient, but my humidor also sucked. I salvaged the cedar lining for use in the Lock & Lock, and tossed the rest. Coolers are excellent, and I'll probably end up with one eventually (after I get my daughters through college), but for me and others like me who don't smoke enough to necessitate an entire cooler, Lock & Lock containers are awesome. Mine is about the size of a 50 ct desktop, I've got 5 pieces of cedar, 2 oz of Heartfelt beads and 57 cigars holding perfect temp and humidity in my closet, and I'm happy with it.