Anyone else have bead creep?

I bought a pound of 65% RH beads and humidity sheets about 2 years ago from Heartfelt and while they did not sit exactly at 65%, they were painless and only required care once in a blue moon. Recently I noticed my 2 digital hygrometers reading in the 70% range and figured it was the hygrometers. I replaced the batteries in each, salt tested them, and stuck them back in. They again read 70%. I notified David about the problem I was having and he sent out another pound of beads to replace the problematic ones. I bought another, of a different style, hygrometer and a Boveda calibrating bag. I took all 3 hygrometers, salt tested them for 48 hrs and then stuck them in the Boveda for another 48 hrs. After validating the calibration with the Boveda, I stuck all three meters in with the new beads. After another 48 hrs they read 70% RH with the new beads. I sent Dave a note to see if he could track this down on his side but was curious if anyone else has experienced similar issues?

-Chad

I read somewhere that you can 'condition' the beads.

Maybe this is a case of automatic conditioning?

A couple of question's....

What type of set up are you running? Vinotemp, cabinet, coolidor(s)?

Recent weather changes in your area? Has the humidity on the atmosphere been high than your desired level in your storage systems? Remember humidity can get in just like it leaks out.

Location of storage system(s)?

As an example, my power went out a few weeks back and my Vinotemp defaulted back to the lowest temp setting which is something like 55 Degrees. The rH% was 60%, so there was no real concern. I bumped the temp back to the 65 Degrees that I like to keep it at and went on my way. A couple days later I was at 72 rH% .....wtf...... Normally I would just crack it open a couple of minutes every day and just let it equalize, however, the rH% in the atmosphere ranges between 70-80% in the summer, so that was a non-option.

To solve the problem I dried my beads completely with a hair drier and moved the dehumidifier next to the vinotemp (no sure if this really helped or not), and decreased the temp setting to 60 Degrees. Like magic I was back running at 65% rH in hours. I slow up the temp a degree a day until I got back to 65 Degrees and according to the Hygrometers I am running at 66 Degrees and 66rH%

There is no moral to this story other than rH% occasionally gets screwy.

Mine do that in the summertime, but I just attribute it to an increase in the surrounding ambient humidity during the season. It's a steady 72% in my basement right now this summer and my humis climb to 70% from their normal 64%.

As soon as fall comes the humidity drops back down to 64% and stay there even if the humidity stays around 48% outside the coolerdors.

I just leave my cigars out right now so I don't have to play coolerdeor tetris.

jfields said:

Mine do that in the summertime, but I just attribute it to an increase in the surrounding ambient humidity during the season. It's a steady 72% in my basement right now this summer and my humis climb to 70% from their normal 64%.

As soon as fall comes the humidity drops back down to 64% and stay there even if the humidity stays around 48% outside the coolerdors.

I just leave my cigars out right now so I don't have to play coolerdeor tetris.

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I have the same thing in the summer. My RH is usually around 68% in the summer, especially around rain showers and super humid days. If I notice any burn issues because of the increase in humidity, I'll just dry box a cigar for half a day before I plan on smoking it.

This started 3 or so months ago and has continued through the summer. WA is pretty middle of the road as far as weather goes and is 44% RH at the moment which is pretty normal here. I will try drying out all the beads to see if they will "reset".

-Chad

I've had mine do the same thing as of late in my coolerdor, so I simply take out one of the three socks of beads systematically and leave them out for a day or so, put it back in. In approximately a week, it acclimates itself. Simple fix.

I live in a dry environment, and my 65% RH beads are reading 70% on the meters.

Your beads are too wet to reduce the RH inside. Remove the beads and let them dry out.
Let the humi work without the beads until it reaches 65%, then add beads back in.

Nimrod said:

I live in a dry environment, and my 65% RH beads are reading 70% on the meters.

Your beads are too wet to reduce the RH inside. Remove the beads and let them dry out.
Let the humi work without the beads until it reaches 65%, then add beads back in.

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I don't believe this is the problem, only about 1/10th are clear. Regardless, drying them all out for a few days won't hurt.


Thanks everyone for the input, I will report back in after a few days.

Back when I used to smoke "that stuff" I got some bad creep that laid me out.


Sorry, had to. Let us now how you handle the situation!

chadth said:

I don't believe this is the problem, only about 1/10th are clear. Regardless, drying them all out for a few days won't hurt.


Thanks everyone for the input, I will report back in after a few days.

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Use a blow drier for a couple of minutes and I bet you get the same result :thumbs:

I get a higher RH with my 65 heartfelt beads in the summer as well. They usually hold steady around 68% or so. I had asked David before about drying the beads out and another way you can dry them out is put them in the oven on the lowest setting for about 5 mins and then check them. Repeat if you need to but don't leave them unattended in the oven.

Gawl said:

I get a higher RH with my 65 heartfelt beads in the summer as well. They usually hold steady around 68% or so. I had asked David before about drying the beads out and another way you can dry them out is put them in the oven on the lowest setting for about 5 mins and then check them. Repeat if you need to but don't leave them unattended in the oven.

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Interesting. My 65% beads do the exact same thing. I had 70% beads before but they held at about 73% so I made the switch. I'm happy as long as things stay constant, a few % isn't that big a deal to me.

Maybe getting some 60% to throw in might help bring the humidity down... Not sure, good luck!

Yup, my 65% beads are pushing 70% these days. My setup is vinotemp in the basement with a dehumidifier running. I recalibrated my hygrometer, dried the beads out a touch and I'm down to 68%.

Bottom line is as long as I'm somewhere in the 65-70% range, I'm happy. Everything seems to be smoking just fine. That's what it's all about.

BR