Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: Digital Hygrometer: Adjustable or with memory option?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Tucson, AZ
    Posts
    2,782
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default Digital Hygrometer: Adjustable or with memory option?

    Hey guys,

    I have been searching and reading posts to try and decide which hygrometer to get and have narrowed it down to these two:

    Western Caliber III
    Pros: Adjustable, accurate to 1 degree and 1% RH
    Cons: No memory, maybe doesn't fit as nicely between cigars?

    Little Havana
    Pros: Minimum and maximum memory, fits nicely between cigars
    Cons: Not adjustable, only accurate to 1.8 degrees and 1.5% RH

    Can anyone offer their advice on which one to go with? I am leaning towards the Western Caliber but I don't know how important the memory option is.

    Thanks,
    Buzz
    Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
    Buzz is smoking our cigars. This probably is his triumphant scam.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Beaufort, SC
    Posts
    2,045
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default

    The memory function isn't all that important. I have a couple Western Caliber II's that have served me just fine, even though I hardly look at them anymore. I'm that confident in my beads, and my cigars are smoking just fine!

    Whatever you chose, just make sure it's properly calibrated every few months. I use the Boveda calibration kit since the Westerns advise against the salt test.
    "We're at NOW now... everything that's hapening now... is happening NOW!"

    ~ Col. Sanders ~


    "I guess all we need to do now is give a shit what you think. I'll work on that."

    ~ ashauler ~

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Tucson, AZ
    Posts
    2,782
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bigwhiteash View Post
    The memory function isn't all that important. I have a couple Western Caliber II's that have served me just fine, even though I hardly look at them anymore. I'm that confident in my beads, and my cigars are smoking just fine!

    Whatever you chose, just make sure it's properly calibrated every few months. I use the Boveda calibration kit since the Westerns advise against the salt test.
    Thanks, it's interesting that they don't want you to do the salt test... I wonder why.

    -Buzz
    Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
    Buzz is smoking our cigars. This probably is his triumphant scam.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Beaufort, SC
    Posts
    2,045
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default

    Salt is highly corrosive, not considered acceptable for testing a precision scientific instrument...

    At least that's what the instructions say!
    "We're at NOW now... everything that's hapening now... is happening NOW!"

    ~ Col. Sanders ~


    "I guess all we need to do now is give a shit what you think. I'll work on that."

    ~ ashauler ~

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    lunatic fringe
    Posts
    2,486

    Default

    I have a Little Havana and it's worked fine. I think the first battery lasted about 3 years. Right now it's in a terrarium with a chameleon though; point being, I know enough about managing the humidity in the humi to not really need a hygrometer any longer.

    Also using another cigar-shaped one in the coolidor that I thought came from Holt's but I'm not seeing it on that website. BestCigarPrices has one that has a remote sensor that looks pretty cool - the part that goes in the humi is also shaped like a cigar. $30 though. Both of mine were around $15.

    The temp and rh accuracy ranges you post are not enough to sweat.
    Equality is not seeing different things equally. It's seeing different things differently.
    - Tom Robbins

    - Like I needed you to tell me I'm a fucking prick . . . Did you think you're posting some front page news? I am a fucking prick . . . - MarineOne

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Tucson, AZ
    Posts
    2,782
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Thanks basil,

    Please correct me if I am wrong guys but it seems that the more important thing would be the consistency of the humidity and temperature levels, not the actual values. So if my hygrometer is 3% RH off and 2 degrees off, I shouldn't worry as long as it is consistent all day long - right? So with that in mind maybe having the memory option would be more beneficial to insure (or ensure?) that my minimum and maximum values don't swing too much?

    Edit: I said the values don't matter as much as the consistency - I should have added that as long as the values fall within the appropriate ranges for a humidor.

    -Buzz
    Last edited by buzz; 10-15-2009 at 08:31 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
    Buzz is smoking our cigars. This probably is his triumphant scam.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    7,539
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default

    Yes, consistency or stability is the critical factor. Once you find your preferred rh's (storage and smoking) the object is to keep it there as much of the time as possible.

    You can compensate for variances in your hygro.....once you know what they are.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    lunatic fringe
    Posts
    2,486

    Default

    I think a tighter consistency is going to be more important for long-term storage/aging. For instance, 70/70 is a good mark to aim for, with as little change as possible. If this is a storage-only box, then opening it regularly for a cigar to smoke, disturbing the ambient conditions therein, won't be a problem.

    If you're talking about a humi you're smoking from most of the time, then some fluctuation won't matter or even be noticed. Conditions in my humi go from probably around 58-65% rh and from 65-78 degrees. Which is cool, because a cigar from a 70% rh box is usually too wet to smoke. I've never noticed the temp to make any difference, unless it's the temp in a car on a hot day. Also, from that same box - an igloo cooler - I've seen cigars develop plume, which is supposed to be a sign of a well-aged cigar, having been left undisturbed for a relatively long period. These were Fuente Anejos, with the fluctuations described above. But they were in a cigar box that I left closed.
    Equality is not seeing different things equally. It's seeing different things differently.
    - Tom Robbins

    - Like I needed you to tell me I'm a fucking prick . . . Did you think you're posting some front page news? I am a fucking prick . . . - MarineOne

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Just south of nowhere.
    Posts
    1,234

    Default

    Just a couple of quick questions, is "plume" the kind of fuzzy coating that develops on the cigar?
    and is this from the oils in the stick?

    Thanks
    Keith

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Beaufort, SC
    Posts
    2,045
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default

    If it's fuzzy, it's mold.

    Plume is very tiny crystals that can be wiped of easily.
    "We're at NOW now... everything that's hapening now... is happening NOW!"

    ~ Col. Sanders ~


    "I guess all we need to do now is give a shit what you think. I'll work on that."

    ~ ashauler ~

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Bitterville
    Posts
    7,191
    Blog Entries
    117

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mail man View Post
    Just a couple of quick questions, is "plume" the kind of fuzzy coating that develops on the cigar?
    and is this from the oils in the stick?

    Thanks
    Keith
    That description sounds like mold.

    I've been told that plume is from oils in the cigar "seeping" out of the tobacco, onto the surface of the wrapper. It makes a kind of sparkly look, like if you rolled it in some really fine sand.

    Will
    The powers that be might take it all away
    Together we burn, together we burn away

    Uncle Tupelo

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Just south of nowhere.
    Posts
    1,234

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
    That description sounds like mold.

    I've been told that plume is from oils in the cigar "seeping" out of the tobacco, onto the surface of the wrapper. It makes a kind of sparkly look, like if you rolled it in some really fine sand.

    Will
    I've never seen plume (or mold) myself, but this description is spot on as to what I was trying to describe.

    Thanks guys, for explaining this.

    Keith

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Tucson, AZ
    Posts
    2,782
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by basil View Post
    I think a tighter consistency is going to be more important for long-term storage/aging. For instance, 70/70 is a good mark to aim for, with as little change as possible. If this is a storage-only box, then opening it regularly for a cigar to smoke, disturbing the ambient conditions therein, won't be a problem.

    If you're talking about a humi you're smoking from most of the time, then some fluctuation won't matter or even be noticed. Conditions in my humi go from probably around 58-65% rh and from 65-78 degrees. Which is cool, because a cigar from a 70% rh box is usually too wet to smoke. I've never noticed the temp to make any difference, unless it's the temp in a car on a hot day. Also, from that same box - an igloo cooler - I've seen cigars develop plume, which is supposed to be a sign of a well-aged cigar, having been left undisturbed for a relatively long period. These were Fuente Anejos, with the fluctuations described above. But they were in a cigar box that I left closed.
    Thanks basil, I plan on having a small "pretty" (per my wife's request) humidor to be my go-to humi and a large coolidor in the closet for longer storage. So I will pay closer attention to the consistency of the humidity in the coolidor.

    -Buzz
    Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
    Buzz is smoking our cigars. This probably is his triumphant scam.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    lunatic fringe
    Posts
    2,486

    Default

    Dennis is right - if it's fuzzy it's mold. I find that it wipes off easily too. It forms on the surface first and if there is only a little bit, then wipe the cigar off and smoke it. If it is on thick, or on say over 25% of the surface and/or it can be seen in the filler (at the foot), or maybe has distorted the shape of the cigar, then I'd chunk it. I don't freak when I find mold. It's the same as bread mold and there's no getting around your cigars being exposed to the spores - every cigar in your house is "contaminated" right now. The only control you have is that over the rh and temp. I've gotten more mold in boxes from vendors than I've found in my humis and I've sent some back and kept some where there were only two very lightly affected cigars. These were removed and once the box of cigars was placed in appropriate conditions, the mold did not spread. Granted, I live in an arid climate and mold has just been a negligible issue. (Out of curiosity I checked the rh in a sack of bread once and I don't remember what it was, but it was way high, maybe in the 90s, and much more conducive, as we've all seen, to formation of mold.) IMO, mold doesn't warrant an emergency environmental response action - if they're not in cellophane, they go in a baggie and then maybe in a separate box in the humi. I've never noticed a difference in a cigar that I knew to have had mold on it right before I lit it.

    On the plume, I guess I've seen tiny sparkles on a wrapper before, but when I see very small, bright white, non-fuzzy specks and patches (I understand they're crystals, but I'm pretty sure crystalline patterns can be discerned only under a microscope), then I know I'm looking at plume, or bloom. I count it lucky and light that baby up.
    Equality is not seeing different things equally. It's seeing different things differently.
    - Tom Robbins

    - Like I needed you to tell me I'm a fucking prick . . . Did you think you're posting some front page news? I am a fucking prick . . . - MarineOne

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Just south of nowhere.
    Posts
    1,234

    Default

    Basil,
    Excellent description, thank you for all of the info, being so new, this might come in handy some day soon. The only problem now, is I am going to be inspecting all my sticks before I smoke them for Plume .
    Thanks again for all of the info sharing.

    Keith

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •