New to Humidors

[RadZilla]

Just got my first humidor and it doesnt seem to be staying in the "ideal" zone of 65 to 75.
It is in my garage and is currently high 80's in california and getting hotter. Is this my problem?
thank you in advance.

[QuietC]

What kind of hygrometer do you have? Digital or analog?

[RadZilla]

Analog

[QuietC]

i'm not sure if the heat itself would effect the humidity. Did you calibrate it correctly (the hygrometer)

[QuietC]

Personally i found it difficult to calibrate my hygrometer that came with my first humi and wasn't 100% sure if i calibrated it correctly, so wound up buying a digital one. And if the humidity is high there to begin with i've been hearing about some sort of beads that keep the humidity at a certain range. I don't know much about those though.

[RadZilla]

Thank you for the replies. I have no idea if I did it correctly. Hope so.

[Roham]

Go to http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ and check out the humidor section. You can read up on the humidity beads there.

[aaronsaffer]

Hi there, is your humidity staying consistantly high? If so, this is quite normal of new humidors as they can take a while for the wood to stablise. What I'd suggest you do, is leave it open for a door or two, it won't do the cigars any harm so long as they are not exposed to excesive heat or daylight etc. Every day or so, close it up again and test the humidity. It will eventually drop back down again. How many cigars do you have in it? If you have a few, adding more will help to absorb some of the humidity.

With regards to the heat situation in Cali, that would only affect it in the opposite way to the problem you are describing. A hotter climate will actually dry out the humidor slightly, however I know nothing about how humid Cali is, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Just try the first thing I suggested and let me know how you get on - good luck

[Korean&Proud]

Go to http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ and check out the humidor section. You can read up on the humidity beads there.

they have some pretty nice humidors on his site.

K&P

[guenzak]

I had a hard time keeping the humidity down in my humador. It would go up to 78 to 80. Recently I read that some humidifiers have a sliding adjustable front to control the amount exposed so I decided to try putting some clear tape over part of the humidifier. Worked great. Now my humidity is steady at 72. I would like it closer to 70 but that will come.

I was also reading in CA's new book "The Cigar Companion" (great book btw) that they recommend temp and humidity to both be 70. If you are keeping the humidor in a garage and the temp is in the 80's I think that may also be a large part of your problem. I would bring it inside where it can be kept closer to 70 degrees

[RadZilla]

Actually I probably wrote that wrong. The temp outside is high 80's to mid 90's right now.
My hygrometer reads 60. Sorry.

[Island Epicurean]

I recently had a similar problem with one of my humidors. Place a bowl of distilled water in the humidor and close the lid. This will let the wood soak up all the moisture it needs. Leave the bowl of water in there for a few days and the humidity should rise up.