I got mine and right away I wiped the inside with a cloth damped with distilled water. I then filled the humidifier with distilled water and let the humidor sit over night. The next day when I got home from work, I filled the humidifier again and wiped the inside down one more time. By the next morning my humidity was up to 67% so then I put my smokes in there. I could seem to get it to 70%, but, 67% is plenty worthy. I have had that humidor for a little over a month and just last week it started reading at a constant 70%.