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Need advise for dry sticks

CBoukal

CBoukal

Impeached Staff Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
8,993
Location
Omaha, NE
First Name
Chad
OK I got a new humidor about a month ago and seasoned it to 75% and calibrated the hydrometer. Then I put my sticks in there and it dropped to about 55% and it didn't come back up. I pulled the hydrometer and realized that it was way off again and bought a "proper" one from Heartfelt and calibrated that one. Now I am on track but I am at 59%. I have 6+ times the amount of beads in there for its size, and now a shot glass of water to try and catch back up. I wanted to see what you guys thought, do I move my sticks into a tupper-ware with the beads and get a "seasoning Kit" and try and do everything separate then put them back together or wait a week or so and see if I can get it back into shape this way

Thanks for any advice
 
55-60% is about perfect in my opinion. Everybody has their individual sweet spot for humidity, but mine is on the low end of the range. You might check the seal on your humi, that's a good way to lose humidity. When you say you "have 6+ time the amount of beads in there for its size", what percentage of those beads are saturated? If you have excess beads in there and they are dry, they are going to absorb moisture and keep your RH low. Acceptable, but low.
 
Currently they are all saturated because I am trying to get back up to the 65 -70% I was looking for. I bought the 70% beads which I do kind of regret because I am thinking the 65 would have been a better fit now that I know a little more about my cigars thanks to CP. Maybe I'll work with what I have and see if I can level it out at 65% ish
Thanks for the response
 
...so, do you think they are dry because the hygrometer doesn't read 75%, or do you not like the way they smoke...?? Big difference.

Like Moe says, lots of guys prefer to run their humidors around 60%....or lower.

Round up a hundred experienced cigar smokers and ask them what they run for RH in their cabinets. You'll get answers from 55%-75%. Point being is that it's really a personal preference and you might find things smoke quite well. Go by the taste and burn, not the numbers.
 
Well I thought they are dry because my RH dropped so much and didn't recover to anywhere close to the 70% that the beads should bring it to. Maybe I am totally off. I will keep playing with it
 
Another question that comes to mind is the type of container you have the beads in. A container with a larger diameter that is shallower tend to be more efficient than a container with a smaller diameter that is deeper (in general terms). Reason being is that there will be more surface area of beads exposed and able to help to regulate efficiently.

A lot of times it comes down to a matter of bead container size vs. convenience and cigar space.

There is really no reason you should have 6x the required beads and still have trouble that I can think of, unless there is a big leak somewhere and your ambient environment is dry?

Check the seal on your humidor -- turn off all the lights in the room where the humidor is located so that it is totally dark and put a flashlight in the humidor (turned on) and close the lid. Any light you see is air escaping.

Also, you can place a dollar bill half in and half out of the humidor and close the lid on it. Pull the bill and see how much resistance there is.

Best of luck! :)
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses, I figured out why it was so low, I had (3) 75% packs in there and the beads were working so hard to pull them down that it actually dried out the packs entirely. So I guess I feel pretty stupid that I put them in there to "jumpstart" the Humidor and ended up causing my own problem. Sunday AM I pulled the packets and reset the beads (which are in a heartfelt tube and bag). As of this AM I am up to 60% already so thanks again I think I just needed to talk it out with you guys and slow down.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience, I just learn something new as I'm new to smoking cigars.
 
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