RH question

I know you guys are tired of answering newbie like questions all of the time, so I will try to keep this one the last one. I have been having some RH issues since seasoning my humidor a couple weeks ago. The beads wouldn't stay at 65 percent so I put them in a container with some distilled water and let them sit for 3 days. I just freshened them up with some distileed water and added them along with the cigars I got from the Devil site tonight.
2 - Montecristo Media Noche
2 - CAO ’VR’
2 - Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas
2 - Blue Label by Gran Habano
2 - 5 Vegas Classic
AF sungrown cuban belisco
6 Cohiba pequenos.

Anyhow, the humidity level wants to stay between 62-63 percent. I am fine with it being a few points off of 65% as long as it is fine for the cigars. They also sat in a UPS truck for a week so maybe they are just really thirsty. Either way, is this a safe RH level?

Thanks in advance for reading my boring kind of dumb post, I promise to make them more interesting in the future.

Good morning.

First off, have you salt tested your hygrometer to make sure the readings are correct? As an example, my Savoy digital reads 3% high at 70 deg F and one of my analogs reads 5% low. SO, before making any changes, check that.

If yours is correct, then proper humidity level is a personal choice. You'll ask 5 people and possible get 5 different opinions. Personally, I like low 60's. Less burn and draw issues there and I like the way they smoke there.

YMMV of course.

Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newfie

Good morning.

First off, have you salt tested your hygrometer to make sure the readings are correct? As an example, my Savoy digital reads 3% high at 70 deg F and one of my analogs reads 5% low. SO, before making any changes, check that.

If yours is correct, then proper humidity level is a personal choice. You'll ask 5 people and possible get 5 different opinions. Personally, I like low 60's. Less burn and draw issues there and I like the way they smoke there.

YMMV of course.

Jim

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Yes I calibrated it using the Boveda calibration kit. Thanks for the tips!

As a contractor in Iraq, I have the same problem when I get a new batch of cigars sent to me.

I have my main humidor sitting a little high at 72%, and another I keep around 62 - 65%. I've seen the second humidor drop as much as 7% when I throw in a new batch of sticks because they're so dry, but once the RH stabilizes and I get it back up into the mid 60's then I transfer them to my primary humidor.

When I want a couple to smoke, I set them back into the second humidor for a day so they don't dry out too quickly from the lack of humidity while I smoke them ..... although the flavor does change once you go over 105 degrees.



Kris