I am not sure what is meant by "season the wood". Please explain. If this is the act of wiping it down with distilled water, then yes I did. Otherwise, I am not sure.

Also, I got home again at 1700 tonight and guess what. Yup, the dial was STILL reading 62%. So, I took the hygrometer out and found that there is no screw in the back so just on the odd chance that the needle was stuck, I tapped it a couple of times into the palm of my hand. Well, the needle did move. So (mainly to plug up the awful-looking whole in the from of my humi) I put the hygrometer back in. Oddly enough, when I looked at the dial after putting it back in, the needle was back very near where it has been all along. So, I put the water and the humidifier back into the humi. This was about 45 minutes ago from the time I am typing this. Already the hygrometer reading is climbing quickly. So much in fact that it is already reading 75%. So I have taken the water out (left the humidifier in) and have the lid open for a while to see if the dial is going to go down.

I am getting a digital hygrometer/thermometer as soon as I can so I am not even going to bother with testing the analog. I am just hoping it will settle and be safe to use till the beads and digital hygro gets here. Btw, anyone know where I can get them both from the same supplier? (especially one that takes PayPal).

My smokes did come today but I am storing them in a temporary state until I can tell if this humi is safe.

You all have been really helpful. I thank you so much. I really didn't know what to do with this thing and that is not a good place to be in when I knew I had 100+ cigars that would soon be looking for their new home.