Noobie Questions

Hello... I'm fairly new to cigars i have smoked about 5 -6 since i started smoking cigars so i finally decided to make the jump and get my own humidor... I have a few question though


1) What is the optimal temperature of the room that you can store a humidor at.. I check my room and its a constant 80 degrees (probably too hott) I check the Living room and it fluctuates between 77 and 80 (probably too hot as well) Now my Basement is pretty much a steady 65 degree and I'm thinking this is the best place to store it...

2) I understand how to stage a humidor and how to calibrate the hygrometer.. But in some of the How to Sites that i have read they say nothing about rotating the cigars.. is it true that you have to rotate them ? If so how often ?

3) What is the optimal humidity for the humidor ? I read between 71 and 79% i understand that this is preference and you set it the way you like your cigars but i was thinking that 73 was a good starting point and then i could work from there

4) I was looking at some pictures of humidors on this site and i see that the majority of them have gel tubes or tubs in them.. So i did a little research and there additional humidification devices right ? I'm getting myself a 300count humidor would i need a few of these as well ?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advanced.. :smiley37:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mister_bin

Hello... I'm fairly new to cigars i have smoked about 5 -6 since i started smoking cigars so i finally decided to make the jump and get my own humidor... I have a few question though


1) What is the optimal temperature of the room that you can store a humidor at.. I check my room and its a constant 80 degrees (probably too hott) I check the Living room and it fluctuates between 77 and 80 (probably too hot as well) Now my Basement is pretty much a steady 65 degree and I'm thinking this is the best place to store it...


You're right, stick them in the basement.

2) I understand how to stage a humidor and how to calibrate the hygrometer.. But in some of the How to Sites that i have read they say nothing about rotating the cigars.. is it true that you have to rotate them ? If so how often ?


I don't rotate mine, but sometimes when I'm playing with them I find a forgotten treasure.

3) What is the optimal humidity for the humidor ? I read between 71 and 79% i understand that this is preference and you set it the way you like your cigars but i was thinking that 73 was a good starting point and then i could work from there


Between 60 and 70. I started with 70 but now prefer 65. Most people end up at 65.

4) I was looking at some pictures of humidors on this site and i see that the majority of them have gel tubes or tubs in them.. So i did a little research and there additional humidification devices right ? I'm getting myself a 300count humidor would i need a few of these as well ?


I use the 65% beads from cigarmony.com

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advanced.. :smiley37:

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No worries and welcom to the forum. There are many people here with lots more knowlege than I. Check this bloody useful link for setting up your humidor...

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/showthre...idor+seasoning

Cheers

1) What is the optimal temperature of the room that you can store a humidor at.. I check my room and its a constant 80 degrees (probably too hott) I check the Living room and it fluctuates between 77 and 80 (probably too hot as well) Now my Basement is pretty much a steady 65 degree and I'm thinking this is the best place to store it...
----Try to keep it between 60-70 degrees. Basement would be a great idea!

2) I understand how to stage a humidor and how to calibrate the hygrometer.. But in some of the How to Sites that i have read they say nothing about rotating the cigars.. is it true that you have to rotate them ? If so how often ?
----You don't really have to rotate cigars, if the humidity and temperature is consistent, PLUS you have a little fan circulating the air (coolidor).

3) What is the optimal humidity for the humidor ? I read between 71 and 79% i understand that this is preference and you set it the way you like your cigars but i was thinking that 73 was a good starting point and then i could work from there
----I prefer 65% (get beads to regulate your humidor). To each his own. Anything above 70% seems a bit too much. Smoke a cigar once it's been sitting in your humi for a week or two with that much humidity and then decifer if you want to lower it.

4) I was looking at some pictures of humidors on this site and i see that the majority of them have gel tubes or tubs in them.. So i did a little research and there additional humidification devices right ? I'm getting myself a 300count humidor would i need a few of these as well ?
----Get humidity beads. They work better than anything out there.

Welcome to the boards. Hope this helps.

if you keep your box at 80 degrees and a 79 rh, you're likely to end up with beetles... my house stays at 74-75ish, and i'd like to store cooler than, 65 degrees should be great.... like they FunkyCold5 said, get beads for extra rh... www.heartfeltindustries.com they have different size bead tubes and a calculator to figure out how much you need there...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mister_bin

Hello... I'm fairly new to cigars i have smoked about 5 -6 since i started smoking cigars so i finally decided to make the jump and get my own humidor... I have a few question though

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As a fellow newbie I can say that these guys are great about answering questions. Friendly and very knowledgable.

Learn to love the search function though. You can find just about anything with a little patient searching, plus some great information you never knew you needed. Also, you sometimes come across some fairly ammusing conversations during your search so its a win-win!!:smiley20:

Oh...and I use the beads as well, they solve a whole bunch of problems.

spiffy

So I'm definatly going to get the beads just have to figure out what size i need... I have been checking the Temperature and Humidy in my Basement and The High is 68 Degree 50% Humidty and the Low is 62 Degree 47% Humidity... Im not shure but i think that should be ok...

Thanks for the help guys i cant wait to get this this seasoned... and ready to roll....

Edit

So i went to Heartfelt industires website and i entered in my caclulations and my humi's volum is 1534.5 Inches cubed... now they have bead to deal with 1080 and 1620 do i get the bigger one or do i get the Smaller one ?? So basically it comes down to 2 oz or 4 oz... Im thinking 2 oz because its an assistant to the the main humidification device.. Correct me if I'm wrong if i would put a 4 oz it would raise the rh too high... BUt i may be wrong...

Go with 4 oz, and chuck the other humi puck. You won't need it. The beads actually give off moisture when the RH falls below 65% and absorb moisture when the RH is above 65%.

You're on the right track. I keep mine in the basement also, it stays around 65 degrees and around 65% RH. But don't freak out if it fluctuates, 5 degrees and 5 RH either way, it doesn't really matter much over the short run. Also, RH is controlled by both so a spike in Temp will bring the RH up and vice versa. If anything, I'd prefer my RH below 65 than above.

The worst thing everyone goes through when you start up your first humi and start collecting cigars is freaking out over the RH. I'm pretty sure everyone on this board did it in the beginning, I know I did. I'd check the RH, add a couple of drops of distilled water, check it again, and leave it open for a few mins. and on and on trying to keep it exact. Then I realized I was just torturing myself and it didn't make a dam bit of difference.

enjoy.

you can never i have too many beads... go with bigger... and basically, your main humidifier will be assisting the beads... they pretty much lock your rh in a +/- 2 % zone from what kind of bead they are...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nhcigarfan

The worst thing everyone goes through when you start up your first humi and start collecting cigars is freaking out over the RH. I'm pretty sure everyone on this board did it in the beginning, I know I did. I'd check the RH, add a couple of drops of distilled water, check it again, and leave it open for a few mins. and on and on trying to keep it exact. Then I realized I was just torturing myself and it didn't make a dam bit of difference.

enjoy.

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this is true... the owner of my B&M got fed up with hyrdometers all together, at this point he just feels his sticks to tell if they're too dry or too wet... in his personal humi that is, they use a hydrostat system in the walk ins...

Sounds good.. So i will go with the 4oz...And go more by feel of the sticks then reading on the Hygrometer(Well at first ill go with Hygrometer to make shure RH isnt too high or too low i m going to keep it around 65% give or take a %)

Okay i got another question for you guys... When would be the best time to put the beads in During the Staging Process or After Staging is complete ??

And if i buy 2 tubes of beads what the best way to store the second tube ??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mister_bin

So I'm definatly going to get the beads just have to figure out what size i need... I have been checking the Temperature and Humidy in my Basement and The High is 68 Degree 50% Humidty and the Low is 62 Degree 47% Humidity... Im not shure but i think that should be ok...

Thanks for the help guys i cant wait to get this this seasoned... and ready to roll....

Edit

So i went to Heartfelt industires website and i entered in my caclulations and my humi's volum is 1534.5 Inches cubed... now they have bead to deal with 1080 and 1620 do i get the bigger one or do i get the Smaller one ?? So basically it comes down to 2 oz or 4 oz... Im thinking 2 oz because its an assistant to the the main humidification device.. Correct me if I'm wrong if i would put a 4 oz it would raise the rh too high... BUt i may be wrong...

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Go with the bigger size, that lets you recover quicker from opening your humi, plus you'll have a little extra if you upgrade. And it won't raise your humidity, that's the great thing about the beads, they maintain it whether you're environment is high or low.

So the beads only realease humidty when the Humi starts to get dry... well thats perfect then...

Sounds awsome.. Thanks for all the help guys... Happy Smoking :smiley41: