Digital Hygrometer: Adjustable or with memory option?

[buzz]

Hey guys,

I have been searching and reading posts to try and decide which hygrometer to get and have narrowed it down to these two:

Western Caliber III
Pros: Adjustable, accurate to 1 degree and 1% RH
Cons: No memory, maybe doesn't fit as nicely between cigars?

Little Havana
Pros: Minimum and maximum memory, fits nicely between cigars
Cons: Not adjustable, only accurate to 1.8 degrees and 1.5% RH

Can anyone offer their advice on which one to go with? I am leaning towards the Western Caliber but I don't know how important the memory option is.

Thanks,
Buzz

[bigwhiteash]

The memory function isn't all that important. I have a couple Western Caliber II's that have served me just fine, even though I hardly look at them anymore. I'm that confident in my beads, and my cigars are smoking just fine!

Whatever you chose, just make sure it's properly calibrated every few months. I use the Boveda calibration kit since the Westerns advise against the salt test.

[buzz]

The memory function isn't all that important. I have a couple Western Caliber II's that have served me just fine, even though I hardly look at them anymore. I'm that confident in my beads, and my cigars are smoking just fine!

Whatever you chose, just make sure it's properly calibrated every few months. I use the Boveda calibration kit since the Westerns advise against the salt test.

Thanks, it's interesting that they don't want you to do the salt test... I wonder why.

-Buzz

[bigwhiteash]

Salt is highly corrosive, not considered acceptable for testing a precision scientific instrument...

At least that's what the instructions say!

[basil]

I have a Little Havana and it's worked fine. I think the first battery lasted about 3 years. Right now it's in a terrarium with a chameleon though; point being, I know enough about managing the humidity in the humi to not really need a hygrometer any longer.

Also using another cigar-shaped one in the coolidor that I thought came from Holt's but I'm not seeing it on that website. BestCigarPrices has one that has a remote sensor that looks pretty cool - the part that goes in the humi is also shaped like a cigar. $30 though. Both of mine were around $15.

The temp and rh accuracy ranges you post are not enough to sweat.

[buzz]

Thanks basil,

Please correct me if I am wrong guys but it seems that the more important thing would be the consistency of the humidity and temperature levels, not the actual values. So if my hygrometer is 3% RH off and 2 degrees off, I shouldn't worry as long as it is consistent all day long - right? So with that in mind maybe having the memory option would be more beneficial to insure (or ensure?) that my minimum and maximum values don't swing too much?

Edit: I said the values don't matter as much as the consistency - I should have added that as long as the values fall within the appropriate ranges for a humidor.

-Buzz

[ashauler]

Yes, consistency or stability is the critical factor. Once you find your preferred rh's (storage and smoking) the object is to keep it there as much of the time as possible.

You can compensate for variances in your hygro.....once you know what they are.

[basil]

I think a tighter consistency is going to be more important for long-term storage/aging. For instance, 70/70 is a good mark to aim for, with as little change as possible. If this is a storage-only box, then opening it regularly for a cigar to smoke, disturbing the ambient conditions therein, won't be a problem.

If you're talking about a humi you're smoking from most of the time, then some fluctuation won't matter or even be noticed. Conditions in my humi go from probably around 58-65% rh and from 65-78 degrees. Which is cool, because a cigar from a 70% rh box is usually too wet to smoke. I've never noticed the temp to make any difference, unless it's the temp in a car on a hot day. Also, from that same box - an igloo cooler - I've seen cigars develop plume, which is supposed to be a sign of a well-aged cigar, having been left undisturbed for a relatively long period. These were Fuente Anejos, with the fluctuations described above. But they were in a cigar box that I left closed.

[mail man]

Just a couple of quick questions, is "plume" the kind of fuzzy coating that develops on the cigar?
and is this from the oils in the stick?

Thanks
Keith

[bigwhiteash]

If it's fuzzy, it's mold.

Plume is very tiny crystals that can be wiped of easily.

[badwhale]

Just a couple of quick questions, is "plume" the kind of fuzzy coating that develops on the cigar?
and is this from the oils in the stick?

Thanks
Keith

That description sounds like mold.

I've been told that plume is from oils in the cigar "seeping" out of the tobacco, onto the surface of the wrapper. It makes a kind of sparkly look, like if you rolled it in some really fine sand.

Will

[mail man]

That description sounds like mold.

I've been told that plume is from oils in the cigar "seeping" out of the tobacco, onto the surface of the wrapper. It makes a kind of sparkly look, like if you rolled it in some really fine sand.

Will

I've never seen plume (or mold) myself, but this description is spot on as to what I was trying to describe.

Thanks guys, for explaining this.

Keith

[buzz]

I think a tighter consistency is going to be more important for long-term storage/aging. For instance, 70/70 is a good mark to aim for, with as little change as possible. If this is a storage-only box, then opening it regularly for a cigar to smoke, disturbing the ambient conditions therein, won't be a problem.

If you're talking about a humi you're smoking from most of the time, then some fluctuation won't matter or even be noticed. Conditions in my humi go from probably around 58-65% rh and from 65-78 degrees. Which is cool, because a cigar from a 70% rh box is usually too wet to smoke. I've never noticed the temp to make any difference, unless it's the temp in a car on a hot day. Also, from that same box - an igloo cooler - I've seen cigars develop plume, which is supposed to be a sign of a well-aged cigar, having been left undisturbed for a relatively long period. These were Fuente Anejos, with the fluctuations described above. But they were in a cigar box that I left closed.

Thanks basil, I plan on having a small "pretty" (per my wife's request) humidor to be my go-to humi and a large coolidor in the closet for longer storage. So I will pay closer attention to the consistency of the humidity in the coolidor.

-Buzz

[basil]

Dennis is right - if it's fuzzy it's mold. I find that it wipes off easily too. It forms on the surface first and if there is only a little bit, then wipe the cigar off and smoke it. If it is on thick, or on say over 25% of the surface and/or it can be seen in the filler (at the foot), or maybe has distorted the shape of the cigar, then I'd chunk it. I don't freak when I find mold. It's the same as bread mold and there's no getting around your cigars being exposed to the spores - every cigar in your house is "contaminated" right now. The only control you have is that over the rh and temp. I've gotten more mold in boxes from vendors than I've found in my humis and I've sent some back and kept some where there were only two very lightly affected cigars. These were removed and once the box of cigars was placed in appropriate conditions, the mold did not spread. Granted, I live in an arid climate and mold has just been a negligible issue. (Out of curiosity I checked the rh in a sack of bread once and I don't remember what it was, but it was way high, maybe in the 90s, and much more conducive, as we've all seen, to formation of mold.) IMO, mold doesn't warrant an emergency environmental response action - if they're not in cellophane, they go in a baggie and then maybe in a separate box in the humi. I've never noticed a difference in a cigar that I knew to have had mold on it right before I lit it.

On the plume, I guess I've seen tiny sparkles on a wrapper before, but when I see very small, bright white, non-fuzzy specks and patches (I understand they're crystals, but I'm pretty sure crystalline patterns can be discerned only under a microscope), then I know I'm looking at plume, or bloom. I count it lucky and light that baby up.

[mail man]

Basil,
Excellent description, thank you for all of the info, being so new, this might come in handy some day soon. The only problem now, is I am going to be inspecting all my sticks before I smoke them for Plume .
Thanks again for all of the info sharing.

Keith