home salt test vs commercial calibration kit

[mementomori]

I had been always making salt test as long as i remember . Now i got several western caliber 2's . Just redone salt test on all of them , i created "plus , minus " stickers . Some showed 2-3 plus some 2-3 minus . Something told me to buy some commercial kits this time , just to double check . Well, after keeping my hygrometers for about 36 hrs all of them show exactly 75 RH. Now, i know i'm doing correctly the salt test on my own , so why commercial kit tells me my salt tests are worthless and my western calibers are dead on correct . I mean i learned the salt test long time ago from veteran cigar merchant and long time afficionado , so everything i'm doing is right . Are just commercial test the best and final answer to calibration question ? What do you think ?

 

[Yeahthatsme]

From what I understand the salt test can be inaccurate unless you get the salt/water mix just right. I've always used boveda calibration kits for my hygros, they're like $3 so I never saw a reason to not add it to my order when I bought the hygro in the first place.

 

[SouthsideCigar]

As stated above, any test that relies on a manual process (in this case mixing salt and water together in he right solution) is not as accurate as using something that is produced for this purpose. I am sure there are those that will disagree, but the calibration kits will for the most part be more consistent and accurate.

Dave

 

[badhangover]

The "salt test" can and does work well. Commercial calibration kits also work well. The difference is cost versus convenience. Two of the driving forces in all accessory purchase decisions. Other forces to consider are aesthetic beauty (which doesn't apply here) and effectiveness (both short and long term - and both of the aforementioned methods work well short term).

In other words, when it gets right down to it in regards to cigar accessories.... Would you rather pay more for the easy way or would you rather skimp on cost and have to tinker your way to effectiveness? And does beauty matter at all to you? It's the difference between the salt test vs calibration kit, Zero Halliburton cigar case vs a Tupperware container, Dupont Ligne 2 lighter vs a Ronson JetLite lighter, so on and so on.....

 

[SamuraiJack]

For me $3 was worth the convenience and reusability (is that a word?).

 

[Setren]

Kind of a spin-off question/point... I just calibrate my hygrometers when I buy new Boveda packs. I just got a 65% one yesterday that I put in a ziploc bag with my hygrometers to calibrate. I don't think you need to calibrate it at 75%.