water or solution?

[bigwhiteash]

Welcome to Cigarsmokers!

One question I'll ask is, how full is your humidor with cigars? Air is a very poor buffer of hunidity, if you have only a couple cigars stored, every time you open the humidor, you let out all the humidity that your solution is providing. When you keep it at least 3/4 full, there is much less empty air. Cigars lose their humidity at a fairly slow rate under normal conditions, and provide a much needed buffer for rh, allowing humidity to recover much faster after opening.

[primus67]

can't do the salt test. the hygrometer is stuck into the lid with double-sided tape. won't come off.

the humidor is practically empty besides the few cigars i have in there now. i'd say it's like 85% empty.

[Silencei2]

From the fellow BOTLs that I have talked to, most of them have said stick with distilled water. Some of the cons with using solution is that it will wear out the medium you put it on. So if you have a sponge it will make it stiff and unusable after a while.

I had a friend who had me take care of his humidor and he used the solution. I'm not sure how long he took care of it for but it looked like the humidity pack he used had a bunch of crystallization on it.

I'll stick with beads and distilled water.

[bigwhiteash]

can't do the salt test. the hygrometer is stuck into the lid with double-sided tape. won't come off.

the humidor is practically empty besides the few cigars i have in there now. i'd say it's like 85% empty.

So, this is the round analog hygrometer? notoriously inaccurate. Try to find a digital one, even a cheap one from wal mart is better.

Is there any way you can take up some of the space inside with something? Maybe blocks of wood from cigar boxes? Or, even a bundle of inexpensive cigars would do.

[primus67]

some comments i've read swear that the madelaine solution is great. and the bottle says to use it EVERY time you fill the humidifier. i wondered if it was really that big a deal.

plus, i have 2 boxes of cigars on the way from JR, 25 coronas and 25 lonsdales. i wanted to make sure my humidor was ready to go before i put them in, but that may be the solution right there.

[bigwhiteash]

adding solution is really only needed avery four or five times you wet the foam, you can use distilled water otherwise.

I think you'll find things stabilize nicely once you get those cigars in there.

[primus67]

adding solution is really only needed avery four or five times you wet the foam, you can use distilled water otherwise.

therein lies my dilemna. the madelaine soultion says to use it every time. if i add distilled water, will this dilute the effects of the soution when i DO use it? i assume it must not be a 50/50 as too much pg will ruin the humidifier. i'm assuming it's mostly distilled water in their solution. it also came with instructions saying NOT to use a 50/50 mixture with this humidifier.

[craig]

Madeline solution is, I believe, 90/10. However, I do not know for sure.

With 50/50, then I'd do just as bigwhiteash says. Just don't go overboard filling the humidifier with solution or water - BTDT.

JR should ship you cigars that have slightly too much humidity, but you never know.

Good luck!