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Humidifier Problem?

C

cruc

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
Messages
4
This is my first humidor, so any help would be great. I got this humidor about 2 weeks ago. It holds about 200 cigars and came with a humidifier and hydrometer. I did everything it said to break in the new humidor. Still I can only get the humidity up to about 67-68. I did the salt test on both the dial and digital hydrometers. The dial I adjusted during the test and reads a perfect 75%. The digital was off about 2-3 points. Now from what I have been reading 67-68 is not too bad, but what is going to happen when I start to fill this humidor. Is the humidifier going to be too small. The humidifier that came with this humidor is about 6x2.5x.75. Some sites that I have been on said that this size humidifier is for humidors that hold 75-150 cigars. I was also looking at replacing the humidifier with one of those Oshkosh Humidifiers, but every site I seen them on didn't say how many cigars it was good for. I don't want to get one that's going to be too big for the humidor that I got. If it helps, this is the humidor that I got.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=11675

Like I said, any help would be great.

cruc
 
There are many factors that affect the RH. Right now in your case I would say it is volume and air temp. First, volume is holding down your ability to get the RH any higher. The humidifier has to try and keep all that air humid. If there were sticks in the humidor, there would be less air, and there fore the humidifier would be able to "keep up" the RH.
Second, if you are in a cool climate, that would affect how much water vapor is being released by the humidifier. For instance, if you were to take your humidor outside in the warm sun, the RH would spike. Or if you were to take and put your humidor in the fridge, the RH would dip.
If you really want your box to be at %70 before adding sticks do this. Place your humidor in a trash bag. Open your humi, place a dish of Distilled H2O in the bottom being careful not to spill any. If you think you may spill, then place a wet papertowel in the dish. Close the lid. Now put some pretty wet paper towels in sandwich bags inside the trash bag. Tie a knot in the trash bag and come back in 24-36 hours. The air outside the humi will become very moist, which may give your humi a little boost to bet the extra couple of points you are looking for.
Honestly though, I think the RH will come up when you add your cigars. Hope that helps.

Emo
 
Also, adding to what emodx said... 67-68% is really quite fine for cigars -- many people even think optimal.
 
Thanks alot. I really appreciate your help. I'm so glad I found this site. It's great.
 
I think you will be surprised at how little the additon of cigars makes. They don't drop the humidity in your humidor, they just use it up more quickly than when it's empty. At the most, you'll need to fill your element more often than when empty.

No big deal. And like Moki said, 67-68 is great. You'll find that many of your cigars smoke better at 67-68 than 70-72.
 
"At the most, you'll need to fill your element more often than when empty"

I don't think that is true.

also, iif you put cigars in there that are overly dry or overly humid it will definitely cause a humidoty swing until they get back to normal. I think the point that emo was trying to make is that once you have cigars in there (assuming that they are currenlty at the proper humidity level), your humidifier has to do less "work" b/c there is less air in the humi for it to keep humidified. Based on that, you would have to refill the humidifier less often. But refill frequency has to do with many other things such as the humidity of the outsied air, how often you open the humi, etc.
 
"I don't think that is true."

I respectfully defend my statement, as it's simple logic.

If you have a humidor w/ no cigars in it. Just the humidor is absorbing humidity. Provided you seasoned it correctly, it won't absorb much.

If you have a humidor crammed full of cigars, your humidifying element will lose moisture more quickly due to your cigars acting as sponges.
 
it takes more work from your humidifier to keep an empty humidor properly humidified compared to when it is full. again, assuming that the cigars are properly humidified. the simple logic behind that being that there is lees air to keep humidified.
 
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