Humidor not staying humid?

[moki]

I just bought a new Diamond Crown humidor from my local smoke shop dealer. Before I bought it, I notice that the lid didn't fit as tight as any other humidor I'd seen -- ie, it didn't close slowly at the end, as the trapped air cushioned the top. I asked him if the lid was loose, and he said that it was just because it had been sitting out in very dry air and that it would swell once it got moist, which is fair enough, winters here in upstate NY get very, very dry.

So I took the humidor home, wiped it down inside and out with a little bit of distilled water, tanked up the humidifying element (this one apparently doesn't take PG), put my cigars in it, and let it sit.

Even after a week, it still isn't closing any tighter, and even with the humidifying element at maximum openness, I haven't seen it get much over 63%.

So the question is... am I being too impatient, or is this really a case of a box that just isn't quite cut tight enough?

 

[Lumberg]

I think a week is plenty of time, and I would return it. Especially if you wiped down the insides.

Don't buy from that guy again.

 

[moki]

I think a week is plenty of time, and I would return it. Especially if you wiped down the insides.

Don't buy from that guy again.

Yeah, I'm going to head down there tomorrow, humidor in hand -- but I think the guy gets another chance, he seems knowledgeable and friendly, not his fault the product ended up being a bummer.

 

[moki]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I hauled the humidor back to my local dealer today, and had a chat with him about it. He seems to think that the humidor is fine, and that it just needs a bit more time to get saturated, given the very low humidity around here currently (20-30% I'd say).

He put a piece of paper in the humidor, shut it, and was able to drag the humidor by it, so the seal seems to me there. I also checked out the other Diamond Crown humidors he had there, and they all closed the way mine does: more of a snap shut than the slow fading shut that other humidors I'd seen do, so perhaps it is just the way these things are designed.

He said to give it a few more weeks -- but he'd have no problem taking it back, and has sold lots of these boxes, and never had a problem. He also said he'd be happy to take it from me, story my cigars, and acclimatize it for me if I liked.

So we'll give it a bit longer. I put a small cup with distilled water-saturated paper towel in there, and I'm going to let it sit for the night, see if the humidity has gone up a bit by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I found a humidor I'm absolutely in love with, if I ever get this kind of pocket change:

Davidoff No. 1 Marine Red Mahogany Humidor
(140-170 cigar capacity)

If anyone wishes to bomb me with one of these, feel free

 

[Snowdust]

So I took the humidor home, wiped it down inside and out with a little bit of distilled water, tanked up the humidifying element (this one apparently doesn't take PG), put my cigars in it, and let it sit.

I had always heard to season a new humidor and bring it up humidity before adding cigars. It may take longer if your put them in right from the start IMO.

I would say give it a little more time as well.

 

[sir-smokes-a-lot]

So I took the humidor home, wiped it down inside and out with a little bit of distilled water, tanked up the humidifying element (this one apparently doesn't take PG), put my cigars in it, and let it sit.

I had always heard to season a new humidor and bring it up humidity before adding cigars. It may take longer if your put them in right from the start IMO.

I would say give it a little more time as well.

this is true.

if you put in the cigars right away, they are taking up all the water to stay nice and tropical,

try storing the smokes somewhere else, letting the humi rest for a week or so, then it should be good and you can put the smokes back inside.

:thumbs:

 

[Ellman]

I would say if your cigars are sucking up that much water they are pretty dry anyway, and i would rather have it take awhile to get my humidor up to humidity then have my cigars be that dry. IMHO

 

[moki]

if you put in the cigars right away, they are taking up all the water to stay nice and tropical,

try storing the smokes somewhere else, letting the humi rest for a week or so, then it should be good and you can put the smokes back inside.

My rationale was the opposite, actually... the cigars that I placed in there were already well humidified. I figured placing them in the humidor would act like one massive tobacco Credo, that when combined with the regular humidifying unit, would bring the wood up to speed quicker than any other method would.

If we're talking about pure water mass, adding the cigars in (assuming they are quite moist already) brings a whole lot more to the party than just leaving it empty, all other things remaining the same, no?

Anyway, the hard part is not opening the box to see if it is improving

 

[blair]

I'm having the same problem with one of my humidors. I'm glad you started this thread; it gives me some things to try. :thumbs:

 

[moki]

I would say if your cigars are sucking up that much water they are pretty dry anyway, and i would rather have it take awhile to get my humidor up to humidity then have my cigars be that dry. IMHO

Well, the worry is that it isn't the cigars that are sucking up the humidity, but rather that the seal isn't that great, and thus much of the moisture is lost to the outside world.

 

[Ludwig]

Moki where did you get the box?

Havana House?

If so Paul and Jim are good buys and you cant go wrong.

 

[Shuji]

My rationale was the opposite, actually... the cigars that I placed in there were already well humidified. I figured placing them in the humidor would act like one massive tobacco Credo, that when combined with the regular humidifying unit, would bring the wood up to speed quicker than any other method would.

This is true. It will bring the wood up quicker than if they weren't there.

HOWEVER, both the wood AND the cigars are hygroscopic (is that the right term?).

This means that your cigars, laying on a piece of dry cedar, will NEED to release their moisture into the wood, thereby drying them out.

If your seal is no good, then you will ruin your smokes this way. You could ruin them anyway, because unless it is very, very deep with very thin cedar panels for the walls and bottom, you probably have more wood than cigar in there, and ALL moisture from your cigars is going to enter the wood.

 

[SMOKOZUNA]

Don't forget to factor in the temperature. It's very hard to get the humidity up if it's cold where you keep yoour Humi. In a week or two, you should be fine. :thumbs:

 

[moki]

This is true. It will bring the wood up quicker than if they weren't there.

HOWEVER, both the wood AND the cigars are hygroscopic (is that the right term?).

This means that your cigars, laying on a piece of dry cedar, will NEED to release their moisture into the wood, thereby drying them out.

If your seal is no good, then you will ruin your smokes this way. You could ruin them anyway, because unless it is very, very deep with very thin cedar panels for the walls and bottom, you probably have more wood than cigar in there, and ALL moisture from your cigars is going to enter the wood.

Welp, according to my last look (which was yesterday -- trying to resist opening it and letting the humidity run out), it's maintaining at least 63% in there, which isn't too terrible. I'm confident the cigars will be okay -- what I'm not sure about is whether the humidor will ever get up much over 63%, because I'm not sure the seal is tight.

But time will tell...

 

[MonkeyK]

Moki, it looks like someone is selling close to your dream humi:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=11675

 

[maduro357]

Well Moki I purchased a new humi, and rechieved one as a gift just before Xmas and was having a problem getting over 63% in either until I did two things. I filled them half way with sticks out of my coolerdor, and I got some PG ( 50/50 fresh cigar, I believe that's what your calling PG ), and put in my credo. I am not sure which did the trick, but I am holding steady.


I thought you could use fresh cigar in any credo.

Another way to check your seal is to put a small flash light in the humi, turned on of course, close it, turn the lights off in the room and see if you see the light.

shot my w.... hope it helps

M3

 

[moki]

Moki, it looks like someone is selling close to your dream humi:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=11675

Thanks for pointing that one out -- unfortunately, it doesn't have any removable trays (which is one of the things I'd really like).

 

[moki]

Well Moki I purchased a new humi, and rechieved one as a gift just before Xmas and was having a problem getting over 63% in either until I did two things. I filled them half way with sticks out of my coolerdor, and I got some PG ( 50/50 fresh cigar, I believe that's what your calling PG ), and put in my credo. I am not sure which did the trick, but I am holding steady.

Well, the Diamond Crown humidors have as special system in them that they say you're supposed to put only distilled water in. I'm sure you *could* put PG in it if you wanted to, but I'm going to give it a shot this way and see how it goes.

Incidentally, the "Credo" in the diamond crown is the main reason I picked it up. It's very convenient: it has a little "tank" in the center that you fill up through a spout (which has a cap on it). You don't need to soak anything (which can get a little messy), you just top off the reservoir, and it has a visual indicator of how full the reservoir is.

You also don't have to worry about over-saturating the credo, and possibly having it drip on your cigars, nor do you need to be careful that you've saturated it enough. Just top it off and forget it.

 

[Gunpowder]

Maybe I missed it but I have to ask the obvious. How are you measuring your humidity and have you confirmed the accuracy via salt test?

 

[moki]

Maybe I missed it but I have to ask the obvious. How are you measuring your humidity and have you confirmed the accuracy via salt test?

No, but I did confirm it with a few other known-good hydrometers. Two things of note:

1) We're now at a steady 66% -- let's see how it is after a week or so (need to resist opening it though!)

2) I just realized that my house has a built-in central humidifying system. I could crank that baby up to 70, and turn my whole house into a humidor. muahahaha....