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Beads vs Xikar Gel

T

TampaSupremo

Hellbent for Glory-land
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
234
OK, last night when I went to refill my Puck with distilled water, I accidently grabbed the jug filled with the wife's home made detergent. I'm sure you can imagine my reaction when a glob of detergent landed in my beads.

Anyway, I now need a replacement humidification unit. I was looking at the 4oz 65% unit from Heartfelt (the one in ABS plastic that fits in the space on the lid). I know the beads are highly recommended. However, I was also shown a Xikar gel humidifier (70%) when I stopped at Puff 'n Stuff (Al, if you are reading this, I would have asked you these things if I thought about it before I left). Anyone ever use one of these? Can anyone recommend one over the other?

A little background: I don't regulate my humidor's humidity as much as I just try to keep it from losing humidity (an ongoing problem). I was thinking that even though the gel doesn't really absorb extra humidity (I read that in here somewhere), that's not really a problem in my case.

Xikar's instructions say to use a PG solution. Can I use distilled water instead (assuming it does not have detergent in it :angry: )?

Thanks in advance,
TampaSupremo
 
I use the Xikar gel for smaller humidors, tupperware, or large boxes that can't fit into my cooler.

Personally, I'd go based off of quantity. The beads you can add/remove based on the amount of cigars, wheras the gel jar only humidifies up to a certain amount of sticks....multiple jars will take up quite a bit of room, depending on what size of humidor or storage device you are using.

The jar says to use the "Xikar PG Solution" which to me, is just promoting another one of their products. I'm sure distilled water is fine as it is with almost all of humidification devices, it just says it for a marketing tactic, or at least that is how I perceive it.
 
I use a 70% Xikar unit, and use water in it. So far I'm not impressed with it at all, as it can't keep the humidity anywhere near 70%. So far, with filling the gel with water daily, it still sits around 58%..

...and that's after ten days of seasoning.


So either my 50 count humi is a piece of crap, of these don't work to well, OR you really do gotta' use their PG solution.
 
I have used a jar of crystals made by Xikar ($10) and you don't have to put anything in there until after three months or so. It sits at 65% everyday with no maintenance as of yet. I also bought the beads for my other Humi and haven't had to do anything to them either.

It's great they both sit at 65% but kind of boring as I don't have to do anything.
 
I have Heartfelts 65% beads in both my cooledors and I could not be any more pleased how they keep the humidity so consistant. Granted I have cooledors I would not hesitate to use the beads in a humidor when I pick one up.
 
I use only the Xikar gel jars in my desktops, and they work perfectly. I also recharge the units with PG solution (and no it doesn't have to be Xikar PG solution). I would advise against using distilled water with the jars, using PG will ensure the correct RH at all times.
 
Thanks for all the info, folks.

I think I'll try the Xikar gel. Cheaper (always a plus) and I'd like to se how well it works since I've used beads in the past and they haven't really done the job for me.

TampaSupremo
 
TampaSuprmo,

Sorry to hear about your puck contamination. In response your question "Xikar's instructions say to use a PG solution. Can I use distilled water instead (assuming it does not have detergent in it)?"

The answer is you should not. Our gel and PG are designed to work together. The difference with PG is that it works withe the humidifier to absorb and emit humidity to maintain the RH levels. It is much more difficult to overfill humidifier. The Distilled water is more of a science and you can over humidify, resulting in a clogged humidifier.

One thing you should know is that the crystals in the humidifier expand to 400 times there normal size and will shrink as humidity leaves them. This means you hopefully won't have to fill up as much, although you may want to look into the possibility that your humidor is leaking.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions feel free to send me a message if you need more info.

Jacob from XIKAR
 
Just a little FYI, PG solution can usually be found at your local pharmacy, they might not stock it but should be able to order you some. I believe the last time I got some, over a year ago, is was in the order of 4-5 times cheaper than the Solutions you see from different vendors. I know there is a thread on it some where here, because that's where I got the idea. I believe one thread even had a chart comparing different concentrations of PG and the effect on rH levels.

Brandon
 
I believe that you could make your own PG solution (assuming you're talking about Polyethylene Glycol) by using the OTC laxative Miralax and disolving it into distilled water.

Ery
 
i have a feeling tampasupremo that keeping humidity up is an atlanta problem. my two desktops are finally maintaining somewhat after a lot of trouble, but still not to my liking. let me know how the xikar gel works.
 
I'm on the fence to as which one to get. I used RH beads in my desktop, and I really liked the beads. I think I might go with the Heartfielt beads when I get my desktop up and running again.



Edit: Spelling
 
I use the Xicar 70% beads and have had great success. I use them in my two 600 count end table humidors, and in my 125 count desktop.

As for the Xicar fluid, I only use it once a year. Overuse will result in the humidor's cedar "glazing over" and won't absorb humidity any longer. Other than the one time per year, I use distilled water.
 
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