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Covering around the Seal on a Humidor

B

Bill Clinton

Part of the Ron Jeremy Generation
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
309
What can I do to improve the seal on my footlocker humidor? The humidity level goes down to the 60%-63% mark about every 5 to 7 days every time after I recharge the 70% beads and the humistats. This problem has been happening ever since the colder weather started up here in New England. I am getting fed up with having to keep recharging the 70% beads and the humistats on my humidor every 5 to 7 days.

I want to find a way to correct this problem. I would like to try to put something around the lid's seal to prevent humidity loss from inside the humidor. What can I use to "wrap" around the seal of the lid in order to keep the humidity level inside the humidor at a constant 70%? I am not handy, so I need a "simple" fix if there is one available. I was thinking of putting some sort of covering or weatherproofing around the bottom part of the lid where it meets/shuts with the top part of the humidor where the seal is located. I need something that will cover up the seam between the lid and the humidor so it can give it a good seal when the lid is closed. What can I use? Please give me some input with your ideas.
I am sick and tired of having to keep recharging the beads and the humistats inside my humidor every 5 to 7 days. Please help me out.

Thanks,
George G.
 
I've read all of the links that you posted above, but none of them talk about putting weather stripping around the seam between the lid where it closes on top of the humidor.
 
You sure are having a lot of problems!
Are you sure you have enough beads in your box???

Jim
 
you've have either a bad seal or as Tenpin suggested, not enough beads. As everyone has also said in previous threads (including Viper) this is by far the worst and most taxing time on a humidor.Here is a suggestion for you to try:

I would get an air tight container slightly larger than your humidor and place the entire humidor (closed) inside said container and leave it for a 5-7 days. then check the relative humidity, if is dropping, it points to:
A) your humidor is not seasoned properly
B) you do not have enough beads
C) the beads need to be in a mesh bag to allow the water vapor to escape into the humidor.

I am by far, not an expert in humidors, but ,most of us here have not had any problems with beads like you have. i charged my beads last week, that was the first time in 6 months. also try the dollar bill test on your seal. open your humidor and place a bill in between the seal and the cover and close the humidor, you should be able to pull the bill out, but with some resistance. if that checks out, then you need more beads, or proper seasoning. Hope this helps in your problem, i am fresh out of ideas here, if a FOG or someone with more experience knows of anything else, please chime in.
 
UPDATE:
The last time that I recharged the beads and the humistats was over 5 days ago. I go to my office today and when I checked the humidity level is was only at 62%. I ended up recharging the beads again. This time around, I opened both ends of each plastic tube and poured a small amount of distilled water into each end. I also recharged both humistats with distilled water.

The other thing which I did was I went to Lowe's and I purchased some stick-on adhesive weatherstripping. I am going to try to tape the weatherstripping on the outside perimeter of the humidor lid along the seam of the lid. Maybe this will solve the problem? We will have to see.

As for not having enough beads, I have about 12 ounces of beads. There are 4 ounces of beads inside each of the plastic tubes. I have about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 ounces more of beads than what I really need for the size humidor that I have.
I don't know if purchasing more beads will actually solve the problem.

There is another problem that I am also having here:
I noticed a strong "plastic" odor that's coming from all the tubes that are sitting inside my humidor. The plastic odor smell was kind of strong when I took a whiff inside the humidor earlier tonite. I hope that my cigars don't start tasting like plastic or that the plastic odor doesn't penetrate inside my cigars. There are people in here that have told me not to worry about the "plastic" odor smell that's coming from each of the 3 plastic tubes that are inside this humidor, but after 2 months of having the plastic tubes inside the humidor, the odor has NOT gone away. It's still there and it's strong enough to smell when you stick your face inside the humidor and take a whiff.
I would like to know if this odor is going to get on my cigars and ruin them?
I have expensive cigars in this particular humidor and it's going to be a real shame if the plastic odor that the tubes emit get inside my cigars. I am going to be Bullsh*t about it.
 
buy a pair of pantyhose and put your beads in there, i think this will solve all your issues, or the mesh bag from vipers site.
 
Rob_k said:
buy a pair of pantyhose and put your beads in there, i think this will solve all your issues, or the mesh bag from vipers site.
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You do not understand something here. I do NOT have any room to place a mesh bag or pantyhose full of Viper's beads in a small dish inside my humidor. I can only use the thin plastic tubes that I purchased from Viper. Space is very tight inside my humidor. I am lucky to even be able to fit 3 of the 4 ounce plastic tubes inside my humidor. I have no choice but to use the plastic tubes because they are space saving for me. I don't know if the plastic odor that the Viper tubes are emitting will penetrate inside my cigars and damage them? I've read that any type of foreign odor inside a humidor can penetrate inside the cigars if it's strong enough. That's why I am raising this issue and topic in here again. How can an odor like this plastic odor that is currently coming from the Viper tubes not affect the cigars when it's present inside a humidor for a long time?
 
Bill Clinton said:
Rob_k said:
buy a pair of pantyhose and put your beads in there, i think this will solve all your issues, or the mesh bag from vipers site.
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You do not understand something here. I do NOT have any room to place a mesh bag or pantyhose full of Viper's beads in a small dish inside my humidor. I can only use the thin plastic tubes that I purchased from Viper. Space is very tight inside my humidor. I am lucky to even be able to fit 3 of the 4 ounce plastic tubes inside my humidor. I have no choice but to use the plastic tubes because they are space saving for me. I don't know if the plastic odor that the Viper tubes are emitting will penetrate inside my cigars and damage them? I've read that any type of foreign odor inside a humidor can penetrate inside the cigars if it's strong enough. That's why I am raising this issue and topic in here again. How can an odor like this plastic odor that is currently coming from the Viper tubes not affect the cigars when it's present inside a humidor for a long time?
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if you have room for plastic tubes, then you surely have room for the mesh bag. and this bag doesn't have to be in a dish. no plastic, no odor. seems that way to me anyhow. if your humi is that packed where you can't fit humidification, you have an over loaded humidor my friend, time to expand or re organize.
 
I just ordered 1 1/2 lbs of brand new 70% beads and a few of the white bean storage bags from Viper (1 large bag and 2 smaller bags). I am going to take out all 3 of the plastic humi tubes that are currently inside my humidor and replace them with the new 70% beads and the bags. I requested express overnight delivery for them. I really need them right away very badly for my humidor.

I am going to try and air out my humidor this afternoon/evening for a few hours in order to try to get the plastic odor that's currently inside my humidor to go away. I hope that airing it out will make the plastic odor disappear quickly.
What do you think? Do you think a few hours of airing out the humidor will make the plastic odor disappear?
 
In this weather, here in the NE, airing out your humidor will dry the SP. cedar out so quickly that you might have to re-season all over again. By the way, if you smoke more cigars it'll screw up your olifactory sensitivities to the point that you won't notice the plastic smell anymore. :laugh:

Doc.
 
Devil Doc said:
In this weather, here in the NE, airing out your humidor will dry the SP. cedar out so quickly that you might have to re-season all over again. By the way, if you smoke more cigars it'll screw up your olifactory sensitivities to the point that you won't notice the plastic smell anymore.  :laugh:

Doc.
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I wasn't thinking of keeping the humidor open overnight or anything like that when airing it out. Instead, I was thinking about airing it out for only a few hours (3 or 4 hours at the most). Then, I would recharge the 2 humistats that go on the inside of the lid again and put all the cigar boxes back inside the humidor and keep the humidor sealed shut until I get the 1 1/2 lbs of brand new 70% beads and the drawstring bags/pouches that I just ordered from Viper.

I just hope that 3 or 4 hours of keeping the humidor open to air it out will be enough to make the plastic odor completely go away.
 
I took the humi tubes out of my humidor and I then aired out the humidor for about 1 1/2 hours. I then put weather stripping around the seam of the lid. I haven't gone back to my office yet to check out and see what the humidity level is inside my humidor after putting the weather stripping on. I am hoping that the humidity level will go up to and stay at 70%-72%.
 
What is the weather stripping made of? I'm afraid that the weatherstripping or the adhesive may outgas and produce unpleasant smells in your humi.

JK
 
JimK said:
What is the weather stripping made of?  I'm afraid that the weatherstripping or the adhesive may outgas and produce unpleasant smells in your humi.

JK
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The weather stripping that I used is made out of foam rubber and it's white in color. It is the peel and stick type of weather stripping that's made for windows and doors. I looked all over Lowe's for weahter stripping and this type of weather stripping is the most common and the only type of weather stripping that they sell. It's available in many different thicknesses and widths. I got the one which was 3/4 " inch wide x 1/4" inch thick x 10' feet long. I sized out and cut each strip for the length of each side of the humidor. I placed the weather stripping ONLY on the outside part of the humidor along the edge of the lid and along the edge of the body of the humidor right before where the lid "meets" with the body of the humidor on the edge of the seam.

NONE of the weather stripping is exposed to the inside of the lid of the humidor. There is an odor that the weather stripping emits, but the odor that is being emitted is exposed only to the exterior part of the humidor. When the lid is closed shut, both strips of the weather stripping meet with each other to act as a seal on the outside part of the humidor along the seam where the lid meets the body of the humidor.

If you look at the humidor without the weather stripping on it, when the lid is closed shut, there are no noticeable gaps or openings between the body of the humidor and the lid along the seam. I noticed that there is a "protruding wooden lip" on the inside of the humidor around the inside perimeter of the lid. This protruding lip "overlaps" into the body of the humidor when the lid is closed shut and acts as a "barrier" between the inside wall of the body of the humidor and the lid. Before I put the weather stripping on, with the lid closed shut, the only thing that you could see between the lid and the body of the humidor is the exterior seam. And the exterior seam didn't seem to have any gaps in it.

I asked Viper about this type of fix and he told me that putting weather stripping along the lid and along the body of the humidor where the lid meets the body of the humidor is a very common thing. He told me that the weather stripping would not affect the cigars.

I would be interested to find out from the other members in here whether or not the odor from the foam rubber weather stripping that's only on the outside of the humidor would pose as a problem to the cigars and whether or not any members in here have ruined their cigars from putting weather stripping on the outside of their humidors? I was told by someone that some humidors use the same type of weather stripping that I used for sealing the lids on them. I would like to get some input on this.

Please also give me your input regarding the weather stripping fix that I just did on my humidor. Do you think that this type of weather stripping that I used is going to be safe for my cigars if it is exposed ONLY on the outside part of the humidor like mine is? Has anybody else in here fixed their humidor in the same exact places like I did and in the same way like I did with weather stripping? I would like to know whether or not you've had good luck by doing this type of fix and whether or not your cigars have been negatively affected by it?

Thank You,
George G.
 
George, I have a solution for you. Go to the local marine hardware store and get a small puck of sail makers wax. Gently rub the wax along the contact points of your lid/humidor. This will reduce the "breating room" between the lid and humi. The sailmakers wax I have used from West Marine had no odor. So take a pocket knife with you and peel back a small portion of the plastic and give it a whiff.

-E
 
Bill Clinton said:
JimK said:
What is the weather stripping made of?  I'm afraid that the weatherstripping or the adhesive may outgas and produce unpleasant smells in your humi.

JK
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I placed the weather stripping ONLY on the outside part of the humidor along the edge of the lid and along the edge of the body of the humidor right before where the lid "meets" with the body of the humidor on the edge of the seam.

NONE of the weather stripping is exposed to the inside of the lid of the humidor. There is an odor that the weather stripping emits, but the odor that is being emitted is exposed only to the exterior part of the humidor. When the lid is closed shut, both strips of the weather stripping meet with each other to act as a seal on the outside part of the humidor along the seam where the lid meets the body of the humidor.

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Well, if the weather stripping is completely sealed off from the humidor, then the weather stripping is unnecessary, since that would mean your humidor is perfectly sealed inside the lip. However, if your humidor is not perfectly sealed, I would be concerned about the smell of the stripping. It sounds like it is in an enclosed space, and has nowhere to go except inside your humidor.

JK
 
Am I the only one who thinks recharging beads once a week isn't too bad? I refill the water in my Moist-N-Aire every two weeks.
 
I personally do not add water to my beads. If the RH dips too low, I toss in a puck full of solution/foam. I have an aversion to adding water directly to the beads. It has always worked for me.

Emo
 
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