humidor problem

[jayrob33]

hey everyone, newbie to the site here.

heres' my situation.... my humidor is currently reading about 62%. however, i currently have the sponge that comes with the humidor and an additional small kitchen sponge that is soaking in distilled water inside the humidor. should my reading be a little higher? are my cigars okay at this %? i usually smoke one per week and i have not noticed them being dried out or falling apart whenever i smoke them.

what else can i do to add humidity if necessary ?

[Drake]

your cigars are fine at that %. it a matter of preference. and your hydrometer may need calibrating.

[Kenyth]

Calibrating cheap mechanical hygromitors is a pain. I calibrated mine using the salt test and it reads a constant 80% instead of 70%. If I leave the lid open, the reading drops, so I know the ambient humidity is lower than the humidor and the Prop. Glycol isn't saturated.

[jayrob33]

i was thinking of calibrating my hygrometer tonite using the salt test.
i never have calibrated it before so we'll see what happens.

if after the calibration is over and it reads say, 80%, does this mean that my hygrometer will always read 10% below what the humidity really is?

what does the final figure mean after calibrating?

pls help!!

[hex1848]

A perfectly calibrated hygrometer will read 75% RH when using the salt test. Most non digital hygrometers let you adjust the dial using a flat head screw driver...

take a look at this thread for more info: http://www.cigarsmokers.com/t297-tes...altamph20.html

[jayrob33]

did the salt test last night, woke up this morning and my hygrometer was showing 60%. should i just assume that my hygrometer reads 15% below what it is really supposed to, or is this a junk hygrometer?

[Bkcloud114]

I would assume it is reading -15% lower than the actual RH. I have 4 different hygrometers and they all read differently. Just make a little notation so you remember.

[Johnny]

I have 4 dial hygrometers and they all read differently, so I got two digi hygrometers and they both read different!!!!!!!! I got a calibration bag and put both the digis in it. They both were reading the right temp and in the bag both came close to the 75.5 of the bag but when out of the bag and put in the same humidor one read 70% and the other 63%!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate hygrometers. Now I'm just going with if not to dry and I fill up my humidifiers once every 3 weeks or so I should be OK.

[jayrob33]

i have decided that the sponge in my humidor is junk and now i just have a shot glass filled with distilled water in the humidor. here's my question though, does it hurt to open the humidor just for a second or two each day to check the reading on my hygrometer?