Humidity Trouble

I have a 150 qt cooler that's pretty full. My hygrometer is calibrated and recalibrated correctly as of last night. I have 1 lb of hearrtfelt 60% Rh beads. I was using 70% but my Rh kept about 71-74%. When I bought the 60% beads a couple weeks ago I put them in the humi without adding any distilled water thinking the Rh would settle better that way since all the sticks were too moist anyway. The hygrometer continues to read 70%. The Rh in the house is aroun 75% so opening the door more often doesn't seem to be the best way to drop the Rh. I can't find anything with search about a similar problem. I also have a desk top humi with 65% beads and it stays aroun 68%. Could the new beads have been mislabled? Am I destined for an active system? I though a pound of beads was a bit more than needed but did I just do the math wrong? I'm tired of slow draws and split wrappers! I can't even dry box with the high humidty. The Fonseca I left out of the cooler for a week still split last night :smiley7:

I know when I contacted Heartfelt they said it could take a few weeks for the beads to settle.

The following quote is from the email I got from them.

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It takes a while for all of the cigars and the boxes to give of the excess moisture that is stored in them. It can take many weeks for the moisture to come out of the contents of the cooler.

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Are you sure you have a good seal on your cooler? I have a small coolidor but I used adhesive rubber weather sealing around the lid to ensure an airtight seal and no problems but like I said, it is a much smaller cooler.

I'm confident of the seal. It seems like a bit more patience is in order though it's definitely not my strong suit!

I've only had my humidor a couple weeks. I have one of those "pucks" with 65% RH beads inside and my humidity stays between 67-68% so either the labeling of the beads is only a rough estimate of what RH you get or it will take awhile for the RH to drop. Either way I can live with 68%, it doesn't seem too bad and there is not much I can do about it. The humidity where I live is 47% so at least I can let me cigars sit a bit before smoking them.

I think that a problem with the coolidors, is that there is no spanish cedar lining in them. The main reason Spanish Cedar is used in humidors is that it helps control the RH. Spanish Cedar likes 70% humidity and will draw from or put back in to it's surroundings to keep it there. It provides more of a stabilization effect than anything.

Your coolidor already provides a good seal - so, making sure the spanish cedar has a tight seal is uneccessary.

However, you may want to find a piece to lay on the bottom or even come up the sides with it.

It can only help the situation.

Keep the lid shut and let things settle. Cigars don't dry out overnight. In fact you don't want them to. Rapid changes in humidity will hurt them. It will take about a month or so for the cigars to equalize. Until the cigars get to about 65% the wrappers will remain less porous so most of the moisture will leave through the foot of the cigar. Once the RH drops to about 65% or so they should dry out a bit quicker and more evenly. Remember that they need time to equalize throughout the entire length of the cigar.

Patience is the key.

I have mostly boxes and but also a few spanish cedar trays so I'm set on the cedar. Since the Rh was around 70-72% for a few months it's going to take a while to get it back down again.

Well, Its been about a month since I prepped my humi and put some sticks in there. I was out for 2 weeks on a business trip and was eager to get back home yesterday and see how my stogies are doing. I found the humidity to be at 80% in the humi and I am a little afraid of having too much moisture. I currently have one of the bead pucks that is supposed to hold humidity at 70%. It has started drying out a bit but I do not want to refill it for obvious reasons. Any advice?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by ndv21

Well, Its been about a month since I prepped my humi and put some sticks in there. I was out for 2 weeks on a business trip and was eager to get back home yesterday and see how my stogies are doing. I found the humidity to be at 80% in the humi and I am a little afraid of having too much moisture. I currently have one of the bead pucks that is supposed to hold humidity at 70%. It has started drying out a bit but I do not want to refill it for obvious reasons. Any advice?

Thanks!

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Did you calibrate your hydrometer? Does your humi seal correctly? Did you do a search for setting up your humidor or a search for excess humidity etc.?

Will

I have the Caliber III Hygrometer which the instructions say thet the salt test "is not to be performed on this device". Do you think I should go ahead and test it out anyway? I searched for the humidification problem and thats when i went ahead and decided to get the puck beads. I am also thinking if maybe my humi needs some more time but not too sure.

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Originally Posted by ndv21

I have the Caliber III Hygrometer which the instructions say thet the salt test "is not to be performed on this device". Do you think I should go ahead and test it out anyway? I searched for the humidification problem and thats when i went ahead and decided to get the puck beads. I am also thinking if maybe my humi needs some more time but not too sure.

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I too have the caliber III and it states not to do the salt test, and if any of my friends tell me to do the salt test to RUN AWAY FAST. well I did the salt test, and guess what...it didn't spark, or blow up, but I did find it was off by 2%.

Keith

I have 2 of the Western Caliber hygros, both are right on the money compared to a known calibrated unit.

I've had nothing but trouble with foam humidifiers using solution and water... They always seem to run high. The puck and beads should take care of your problem.

How do your cigars smoke?

It is odd that rh is 80%, but 70 % beads are "drying out". I would suspect your hygro is off some.

You could take the puck out and dry the beads completely then put it back in and watch what your hygro does vs what the beads do if you're not willing to salt-test the hygro.