New humidor, questions regarding the order of things

[WMGF]

Should I season my humidor before doing anything else like adding adhesives for magnets and other stuff?

There's also a rectangle place where you can place the regular (foam?) humi unit. I have a heartfelt rectangle bead case - has anyone here ever put these on the "roof" of their humidor before? The only thing I would be concerned about is it collecting too much water and then dripping said water onto the cigars - not sure how often that would happen though.

I was going to season it the slow way with a few shot glasses of distilled water - the guide (in this forum) says that this can take 1-2 weeks. Has this been the general experience for everyone here?

Edit: Also, would there be any problem with me just leaving the humidification unit that came with the humidor in the top as a decoration? It looks pretty cool and I was thinking of doing my tray of heartfelt beads on the bottom and a tube on top. It wouldn't absorb any humidity would it?

 

[Craig Mac]

I found I was too impatient to wait out 2+ weeks when seasoning mine, if you are a patient person go with the shot glass method. I did it once like that but the next few I did differently.

Personally, I lightly wiped my humis for seasoning with a sponge. I got a brand new unscented sponge, wet it with distilled water and rung it out really good. Lightly wipe the inside of the box, and don't let the wood get "wet". Put the shot glass in and closed the lid, I repeat the proces again two days later and my humis were usally good to go in 4-5 days.

I have beads attached to the lid of one of my humis. If you are adding water correctly to the beads there won't be enough water in them to "drip" as you put it. You only need to add a little bit of distilled to the beads, enough that 50% of the beads are clear and the other 50% are white.

Pick up a digital hygrometer and calibrate that while waiting on your humidor as well!!

 

[El Jefe]

I tend to think seasoning is not necessary all the time. If a humidor can maintain a constant 65-70% humidity with just the humidifier and maybe a couple of sticks, I feel like its ready to go. I could be wrong but the condition of my cigars make me think its fine.

 

[Craig Mac]

I tend to think seasoning is not necessary all the time. If a humidor can maintain a constant 65-70% humidity with just the humidifier and maybe a couple of sticks, I feel like its ready to go. I could be wrong but the condition of my cigars make me think its fine.

You season it to get it to 65-70% initially then it should be good to go. If you add your sticks to an unseasoned/dry box they can be damaged, not worth the risk of ruining your stash because you didn't stabilize the enviornment first.

 

[El Jefe]

You season it to get it to 65-70% initially then it should be good to go. If you add your sticks to an unseasoned/dry box they can be damaged, not worth the risk of ruining your stash because you didn't stabilize the enviornment first.

I definitely agree with you that you can ruin your sticks. I guess from my experience it and our natural climate in NC, none of the humi's I've had required the wipe down/shot glass treatment that is usually prescribed. Most of the time, I've been able to load up the humidifier, check the humidity reading after a day or so and then throw the sticks in and everything usually settles pretty evenly. I definitely wouldn't recommend my method to someone who's in a much drier climate. Kind of why I said seasoning with water isn't always necessary.