bought a new humidor but humidity dropped when placed cigars in there

[cigar2347]

Hi

I bought a new cigar humidor and followed the instructions by placing a shot glass with water inside, and filling the humidification system with water. Although not distilled water, the water was a triple filtered and reverse osmosis.

After a day, the humidity reached 65%, so i took the shot glass out and placed my cigars from another humidor in it, and 2 hours later the humidity dropped down to 50%. Brand new the humidity was 30%.


are my cigars to dry or is the humidor not seasoned yet?
can i speed up the process?

 

[kona1000]

Used distilled. And do not speed up the process and yes your stogies are dry- but where did you get them, It takes time and patience.

 

[Joebunaga]

Seasoning can take awhile. Depends on how dry the humidor is. Rod had a great seasoning guide posted but the URL I have isn't working anymore.

 

[tomthirtysix]

Hi

I bought a new cigar humidor and followed the instructions by placing a shot glass with water inside, and filling the humidification system with water. Although not distilled water, the water was a triple filtered and reverse osmosis.

After a day, the humidity reached 65%, so i took the shot glass out and placed my cigars from another humidor in it, and 2 hours later the humidity dropped down to 50%. Brand new the humidity was 30%.


are my cigars to dry or is the humidor not seasoned yet?
can i speed up the process?

You could have try double reverse osmosified water. Send MMM a PM. He actually has a Doctorate in Osmosis Engineering and can probably help you out.

 

[CBoukal]

Rod fixed the link!!! This should help you out a great deal
http://www.cigarpass.com/cigars-101/76-how-to-season-a-humidor.html

 

[Rod]

Use that link and don't rush the process. I would allow 2 weeks to ensure your humidor is properly seasoned. If you rush the process then you could face RH issues for as long as you have the humidor. Not worth it.

ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER!

 

[cigar2347]

HOLLY COW!!! long process! thank you for the link.

I think its a good investment, I follow the instructions.

but anyone know the reason why distilled water is a must?

 

[cigar2347]

Thank you guys, greatly appreciated.

 

[louich]

No minerals inside so it prevent 'contamination' of the humidor and the stick.

Edit: \/ \/ what he said \/ \/

 

[CBoukal]

Quickly google says:
Distilled water is the only water you should use inside your humidor's humidifier system. The reason is very simple, distilled water has no chemicals in the water such as chlorine, and other chemicals that are used to clean your tap water.
You must understand if you use tap water all those chemicals that are in the water will be absorbed into your cigars, you would not want to taste chlorine or any other chemical when you light up your fine cigar.
The whole idea in a humidifier system in a humidor is to ensure that your cigars stay fresh and age properly while inside your humidor, using distilled water will ensure that they will not have any unpleasant tasting chemicals being absorbed into your cigars.
Distilled water is actually water that has been boiled to get rid of any chemicals in the water, the steam of the boiled water is trapped and saved, giving you pure H2O, "distilled H2O"

But there are a lot of guys here with a longer answer I am sure. The real question is "WHY NOT"

 

[Rod]

Distilled water is water in the purest form. Tap water/drinking water contains minerals, trace amounts of chlorine and other chemicals. This will negatively affect your hygrometer by leaving deposits behind over time.

Would you drink Vodka with ice made from tap water or from purified water? Get the picture? Besides, distilled water is super cheap.

Ultimately, if you want to use regular tap water, go for it. I just don't recommend it.

 

[broblues]

Distilled water is water in the purest form. Tap water/drinking water contains minerals, trace amounts of chlorine and other chemicals. This will negatively affect your hygrometer by leaving deposits behind over time.

Would you drink Vodka with ice made from tap water or from purified water? Get the picture? Besides, distilled water is super cheap.

Ultimately, if you want to use regular tap water, go for it. I just don't recommend it.

Don't forget bacteria.

 

[Seizure]

DO NOT use Regular Tap water. I got lazy when i ran out of distilled water and din't want to go to the store to get another gallon for $1.50 or something, so I used Tap water and here's what happened. Hundreds of dollars of cigars ruined all to save $1.50

http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/topic/54668-help-bloom-or-mold/#entry818918

 

[Cigar FF]

All I can add to this is that patience is a virtue...lots of patience. I went through the exact same thing and rushed the process. I only used distilled as I had a few bucks invested in cigarsd already. I almost lost my inventory of about 50 cigars b/c I tried to get my sticks into a humidor as quickly as possible.

To re-hyrdrate them, consider putting them in tupperware where the seal is generally very good and you should have no problem with external sources causing the RH drop. You'll then be able to better determine if your sticks are dry. You'll likely need digital hygrometer if you don't already have one. Many recommendations in the forums already.

I liked my Lock and Lock tuppador so much that I have not placed my cigars in a humidor yet. It's been 6+ months. This is also b/c life has been busy with a 2 month old and a 2 y/o running the coup.