Hello all. I'm from Columbus, Ohio and am fairly new to the cigar world. I've smoked cigars for a few years but never really have taken much interest in them until lately. I usually smoked on the golf course or such, always smoking my cigar the day I bought it so I've never stocked any. Well the other day I bought my first humidor (Yeah!) and I have a few questions about it. I did the salt test with the analog hygrometer, adjusted it, and then bought a cheap digital at WalMart. After a few weeks I've noticed that my humidity rating is right around 60-65 on the analog and like 54 on the digital. I went to my local shop and bought a 2 oz (as I have a 50-60 cigar humidor) Xikar crystal humidifier jar. In combination with the standard puck and the Xikar, the humidity rose to roughly 68-70 on the analog and 56-58 on the digital. I feel like the humidity is well over 70% though, because one of my cigars has actually cracked at the end. Would I be better off leaving the Xikar in the humidor alone and trust it's putting out roughly 65% humidity or should I just go spend the $30 to buy an accurate hygrometer?

Also, besides the Newbie Sampler, what samplers would be recommended from certain companies? I'm looking to try a few different sticks but think the Newb Sampler is a little too big for what I'm wanting.

Thanks for all the help!