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Florida Humidity

S

Scott Bushey

New Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Messages
127
Hi gang,
I just noticed that the humidity here in Florida is 74%. Generally, it runs even higher than that;especially during the rainy season. My humi's are runnin about 70-75. I notice my cigars have a bitter taste to them. I am attributing this to the over humidification.

I add: I have no humidifier in my humi's at this point.

Someone mentioned "rice"???

Suggestions?
 
I forgot to mention that I am keeping this humidification without any humidifier. I actually had to remove my humidifier.....
 
Dry Climax Beads. Don't open humi unless you need too. Bone dry cedar too if you plan ahead and kept it in zip-lock bag to stay dry. Air circulation too.
 
Open your humidor and turn on the A/C. It's the only thing I've found that works here in Sunny So. Florida :p

I've been using climmax beads for awhile and they work okay at dehumidification, but they are not the end-all to the humidity issue in our area.

I have a 150qt cooler and have plans to put an electronic heat pump on it. I believe it will control the high humidity in addition to the high temperatures we have. I estimate energy consumption about the same as a 100W light bulb. The pieces and parts cost about $150, the labor to put it together and make it work priceless. I will post pictures if it’s a success.
 
fllbrent said:
I have a 150qt cooler and have plans to put an electronic heat pump on it.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by "electric heat pump"? Is that similar or same as a thermoelectric cooler, or solid state cooler"? Just asking to make sure I'm not missing something to investigate myself. Live in AZ, with opposite humidity problem, but same temp problem. Planning on getting a thermoelectric cooler for humidor.

Pardon the threadjack :)

Agree w/ fllbrent, if you can afford it, cooling would be the way to go. Monte's advice is sound, too. :thumbs:
 
Last August here in Connecticut, he had a horrible streak of unbelieably high humidity that lasted for over five weeks. I had my refrigerdor and my coolerdor in my finished basement which was the dampest part of the house and the humidity was hovering around 90%. It got so bad that mold was forming on the furniture and ever so slightly on some of my cigars :0

Every single store in the entire Northeast United States was sold out of dehumidifiers and the minute they'd get a new shipment, the store would sell out of them in an hour or two. I cannot ever remember the humidity ever being that bad. The weird thing about it was it was NOT in the middle of any kind of a heat wave, we just had incredibly damp weather for quite a long stretch there.

One day, I hit it lucky at my local Wally World and picked up a unit. I set it up in my finished basement and it ran for a solid seven days before it got the humidity under control.

So, I guess the moral of the story is use your central air OR get a dehumidifier for the room or area where you store your cigars. In the summer months, I never had to add any water to my humidification units and now that I use the beads, I seldom add water even during the dry months in the winter.
 
I'm in Florida (Tampa Bay)..my humidors hover around 70% with internal house temp around 75F..no off flavors/odors noted so far..I do use the ventilation trays and keep my humidors about 1/2-3/4 capacity...just because a humidor can hold 150 sticks..does not mean it is best to do so.

What is your house temperature at? Do you have condensation on your windows in the moring?

Rice will absorb moisture that is why you see it in salt shakers and is also a goodway to keep small metal parts from rusting when in storage..to be effective though you would need to cover your sticks but then it would wick away the moisture from the stick.

To remove moisture you could put strips of spanish cedar into the box.. spanish cedar has great absorbtion.

Just my 2 cents

Rnccen
 
I'm in Florida (Tampa Bay)..my humidors hover around 70% with internal house temp around 75F..no off flavors/odors noted so far..I do use the ventilation trays and keep my humidors about 1/2-3/4 capacity...just because a humidor can hold 150 sticks..does not mean it is best to do so.

What is your house temperature at? Do you have condensation on your windows in the moring?
Click to expand...

S: We keep the temp in our home around the same. I am using two closed unit humi's and 1 coolidor. I try and keep them "loose". No condensation to speak of.........

Rice will absorb moisture that is why you see it in salt shakers and is also a goodway to keep small metal parts from rusting when in storage..to be effective though you would need to cover your sticks but then it would wick away the moisture from the stick.
Click to expand...

S: Hmmmmm

To remove moisture you could put strips of spanish cedar into the box.. spanish cedar has great absorbtion.
Click to expand...

S: I have my coolidor lined w/ cedar.........

Just my 2 cents

Rnccen

I am getting frustrated.
scott
 
joxxy said:
What do you mean by "electric heat pump"? Is that similar or same as a thermoelectric cooler, or solid state cooler"?
Click to expand...
That's it ;)
 
I am beginning to wonder if one of those wine keepers that are sold at Home depot wouldn't solve this conundrum?
 
Scott, if your keeping your house at 75F and your humidity is not below 70% you have a potential issue. BLACK MOLD. Not trying to scare you, but it sound like the conditions are right for this stuff. I recommend you have someone check your house to find out why the humidity is so high at this low temperature. edit: This should not apply if keeping your windows open all the time

Some reason I know would cause this are:
1) A/C unit to large for house i.e. using a 4 ton unit to cool a 1200sf house would not allow the A/C to pull enough moisture from the air before the desire temp was achieved.
2) Turning the A/C off and opening the windows during the day. This allows high moisture air to collect in your carpets, drapes, furniture, etc. When you turn on the A/C the air condenses and the humidity rises.
3) No Fresh Air intake. I’m not sure how this one works but had an old building in Downtown Ft Lauderdale that we had to retrofit for fresh air to bring down the humidity levels.
 
Well, I placed a small fan at the partially open door of my cooli and it seems to be bringing it downIt looks as if I am runnin now at about 69%. I will have to do this for the time. I also ordered the 65% Climaxx beads...........so I wait now. I feel scientific!
 
:( :( :(

All this talk of you guys living in the tropics is getting me depressed :D I thought people from the north only went to Florida to escape taxes :0 I'm not a big fan of extreme hot or extreme cold weather but as I get older the extreme cold we get here in the northeast starts to really aggrevate me.
 
If you want to come to South Florida, better buy your house now!

No BS, in the past two years my home has increased in value over 50% :0
 
fllbrent said:
If you want to come to South Florida, better buy your house now!

No BS, in the past two years my home has increased in value over 50% :0
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Yep
There's no better time than the present if you want to move down here to South Florida.
There are some real beautiful pre-construction home communities being built down here as we speak.
South Florida is growing at a very fast rate, what was once thousands of acres of fileds as far as the eye can see are now being filled with some gorgeous homes. :)
 
i just moved to the southwest florida area and i cant believe how much it is growing. a few years ago my town had a population in the hundreds. now we have a university and in a few years will get two malls.

and on the topic of humidity, theres this one cigar shop by the beach that always has its door open. i go in there to get some sticks and to my surprise he didnt have any of his cigars in a humidor. he said leaving the door open all day makes it humid enough to not need one and then he just cranks the AC to keep it from getting hot as hell.
 
JonB said:
i just moved to the southwest florida area and i cant believe how much it is growing. a few years ago my town had a population in the hundreds. now we have a university and in a few years will get two malls.

and on the topic of humidity, theres this one cigar shop by the beach that always has its door open. i go in there to get some sticks and to my surprise he didnt have any of his cigars in a humidor. he said leaving the door open all day makes it humid enough to not need one and then he just cranks the AC to keep it from getting hot as hell.
Click to expand...
A good friend of mine who is behind/owns/runs/makes/etc Sosa cigars here in Miami has every cigar he sells simply sitting out at room temperature in his store. His entire store, as it were, serves as the humidor. Just natural air here in Miami (or at his shop on Calle Ocho) does the trick. You'll find a similar set up over at Rolando Reyes, Sr. shop (i.e., Puros Indios), as well as Padron's storefront. However, Nick Perdomo over in Miami Lakes (Tabacalera Perdomo) has a massive walk-in humidor at his storefront.

I don't have the problem with my walk-in at my house or any of my desk top humis. The house is generally kept quite cool, so with the humis running I'm always right at 70/71. Get a nice, balanced effect, even living right on So. Beach. However, my house in Key Largo has humis with no humidifiers in them, and the humi stays right where I want it. :)
 
I live just as far south as you can get, and leave the doors open almost all day. I love the ocean breeze. It is nice having the Gulf of Mexico 100 yards from your back door. It usually doesnt get below 70 in my house too often. I have found that a well sealed fridgedor and %65 Climaxx is the perfect soulution. I hover at %68/69 year round. It is so worth moving to Climaxx.

Emo
 
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