Humidor arrived today

[VancouverMark]

Well the humidor I bought off EBay arrived today. Looks like a very nice unit and it is made by Cuban Crafter's. Going to season it over the next week or so before I put my cigars in it. Based on the advice of the members here, I purchased the HF beads and a digital hygrometer to replace the one that comes installed on the humidor. Looks like the one on the humidor is off by about 8% which is pretty good compared to a lot of the ones I have seen.

Had a bit of an issue with the seller (they shipped using the wrong service) which ended up costing me some money in brokerage fees (fucking UPS). However, they acknowledged their mistake and are sending me a cutter of my choice, some humidifier solution, and a partial refund on my shipping as a peace offering. I thought that was a stand up thing to do on their part.

In terms of seasoning, I have read both do's and don’ts with respect to wiping the inside down with distilled water. I have chosen to take my time with the seasoning process and just let the beads do their job on their own with a few pieces of soaked cedar also helping to add a bit of moisture. Once the humidor has stabilized, I will add my cigars a few at a time. Currently my cigars are resting in a different humidor I borrowed from my brother-in-law. I'll post a pic in the other thread.

Cheers,

Mark

[ashauler]

Be sure NOT to use the humidor solution on your beads.....distilled h2o only.

Congrats.

[VancouverMark]

Thanks Ashauler,

I did use just distilled water on the beads. I do have a couple of the "jelly jars" that use the solution so I will save the solution for those.

Is there a concensus on whether to use distilled water or solution on the humidifiers that have the floral foam in them?

Thanks,

Mark

[heftysmokes]

I took my floral foam out as soon as I got beads for my humidors.

[VancouverMark]

Hey heftysmokes,

I wasn't clear in my posts, but I don't plan on using the floral foam in my humidor as I do have the beads. It was more of a curiosity thing. My main humidor will have the RH beads, and my smaller 15 count travel humidor will have the Xikar jelly jar. I don't have plans for the floral foam, but was just wondering what to use in case I have to.

Thanks,

Mark

[badwhale]

Hey heftysmokes,

I wasn't clear in my posts, but I don't plan on using the floral foam in my humidor as I do have the beads. It was more of a curiosity thing. My main humidor will have the RH beads, and my smaller 15 count travel humidor will have the Xikar jelly jar. I don't have plans for the floral foam, but was just wondering what to use in case I have to.

Thanks,

Mark

distilled water.

[ashauler]

Hey heftysmokes,

I wasn't clear in my posts, but I don't plan on using the floral foam in my humidor as I do have the beads. It was more of a curiosity thing. My main humidor will have the RH beads, and my smaller 15 count travel humidor will have the Xikar jelly jar. I don't have plans for the floral foam, but was just wondering what to use in case I have to.

Thanks,

Mark

For the floral foam humdifiers I would use the solution for the anti-microbial properties of PG.......even distilled water will grow mold eventually. You'll have to learn to live with 70 % rh cigars when you travel though, but that maybe good for you.

[JiveTurkey]

The humidor solution (50/50 of distilled H2O and propylene glycol) helps the floral foam maintain 70% RH.

[heftysmokes]

Ah, I'd go with EZ cheez then.

If you have a new humidor now and are using the beads, I don't foresee you moving into the green foam in the near or distant future. You'll probably be like every other poor schmuck on this board sitting on a cooler with more cigars than you'll ever be able to smoke. Use the beads for awhile, and they're so easy I imagine you'd never consider using anything else.

[VancouverMark]

I'm glad I did a bunch of reading before I bought my humidor because I almost bought a 50 count one. It would already be full if I did.

RH here in Vancouver is quite high so keeping the RH down in the humidor may present a challenge. The only thing stopping me from a cooler full of stogies at this point is the cost here in Canada. Bought a Padron 2000 based on advice from some others here and the cost at the local B&M here is $20 CDN per stick.

Going to plan a 48 hour trip to Seattle with the boys for some Mariners baseball in the near future and stock up while down there.

Thanks all.

Mark

[JiveTurkey]

The beads will also absorb excess humidity. If your house is at a higher RH than yo want the cigars to be at then don't completely saturate the beads with water so it can pull excess humidity from the air. HVAC systems tend to de-humidify the air so the inside RH may be lower than you'd think.

Nice thing about a coolidor is that it's cheap and simple to set up if/when you do find you want/need one.

[JiveTurkey]

When I was in downtown Seattle around Christmas I went to a couple shops that sold cigars (they weren't cigar shops per se; both had a wider selection of other things). International Cigar and Tobacco had a nice walk-in humidor though.

[b.read]

Congrats on the purchase. When I first got my 100ct humi, I was thrilled! There were only 6 sticks inside, but I was still thrilled!

[Hannibal]

Congrats on your purchase. Above all have fun with it!!

[CptnBlues63]

I'm glad I did a bunch of reading before I bought my humidor because I almost bought a 50 count one. It would already be full if I did.

RH here in Vancouver is quite high so keeping the RH down in the humidor may present a challenge. The only thing stopping me from a cooler full of stogies at this point is the cost here in Canada. Bought a Padron 2000 based on advice from some others here and the cost at the local B&M here is $20 CDN per stick.

Going to plan a 48 hour trip to Seattle with the boys for some Mariners baseball in the near future and stock up while down there.

Thanks all.

Mark

I filled my 100 count to overflowing and was going to make a coolerador when the wife took it upon herself to buy me a 500 count humi this past x'mas. I love my wife! LOL I'll probably be getting a larger one in another 2 years (the 100 count lasted me 2 years before I overflowed it) but for now, this one will do nicely.

You'll probably find you fill that hundred fairly quickly. Especially if you make a trip to seattle regularly and go with some friends who don't smoke cigars. Don't forget, you can bring back 50 cigars per person (I believe they have to be of legal age to smoke though, I never checked as I'm damn near 50 now.......lol) so if you and 3 friends go spend a long weekend in Seattle, you could bring back 200 cigars.

I've done business a few times with the fellow running the cigar store in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and I'll be in the area for 3 or 4 days on my biannual trip to the Pacific Northwest in June so I've already called him and put in my order for what I want........lol..........I called last Thursday and confirmed he'll have all my cigars there and waiting for me. I'll be bringing back the 100 I'm allowed.

I mention that because once you find a decent store in Seattle, you'll probably want to get to know the owner so you can call him a couple weeks in advance of a trip there and preorder cigars too. It's nice to know what you want will be sitting there waiting for you when you arrive. No hit-or-miss action at the store as you can arrange to have what you want waiting for you when you arrive.

[denver24]

[QUOTE=CptnBlues63;166330]I've already called him and put in my order for what I want........lol..........I called last Thursday and confirmed he'll have all my cigars there and waiting for me. I'll be bringing back the 100 I'm allowed.
QUOTE]

Sweet! What are smokes you picking up?