Member Introduction

[JHarri31]

Hello All,

I'll spare you all the life story, but I did want to do a quick hello to introduce myself.

I recently graduated from Lehigh University, class of '05, and currently live in East Brunswick, NJ. I am a financial analyst by trade, no I don't golf, with Johnson & Johnson. My hobbies involve weekend good times with my friends, the NY Yankees, and enjoying a good cigar during my downtime.

I began the cigar thing about a year ago, but never really got into it unti a few months ago when my girlfriend bought my a humidor for Valentine's Day (she's a keeper huh). I decided that I enjoyed smoking enough to dedicate some time to it and learn a few things about cigars. I recently attended Cigarfest '06, thank you CI, and came home armed with about 50 new sticks. Fortunately, I believe in learning by doing so I hope that my stash will help me along in figuring things out. My hope is to get some new ideas from the forums, help to avoid the "rookie" mistakes, and fill some time at work

That having all been said I would like to start things out with a pair of questions for the pros in the audience:

1. After about thirty minutes of tinkering I've finally gotten my three torch butane lighter working again. Previously it would light instananeously, but then go right out. I could hear the butane flow out, but the flame would not keep. I think I overfilled it and the added pressure was causing the lighter to blow itself out, but I would appreciate a second opinion.

2. I cannot get my humidor over 65% and it's driving me nuts. I have a digital hygrometer that seems to work just fine (I brough it outside during a rainstorm and it hit well over 85%. I've tried glycerol fluid, a cyrstal humidifier, and now I've got two of the glycerol crystal tubes. They have been the most conistent, but I'm still not getting to that 67% threshold. Any ideas?

Thank you all in advance for your help and it's great to be on the forums.

[mauied1101]

Welcome to the board!

About your questions:

1. Did you blow all the air out of your torch before you refilled it? And if you got cheaper quality refill fluid, then that might contribute to the plug.

2. Most guys on the board will tell you 62-65 is optimal. Most of us use something called "Heartfelt Beads" to control it at 65. Especially in the summer months - you don't want it going toward 70 or too far over 70%RH b/c the temperature will probably be above 70.

Stick around, pull up a chair and light a stick.

[brian]

Welcome to the forums.
I have yet to get them, but many others recommend the Heartfelt industry beads for humidification. I beleive those work better than anything to keep the humidity level stable. Also they recommend keeping RH between 62%-65% that 70% is really too high.

Here is a link to the heartfelt page http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/Beads.htm
And again, WELCOME

[JHarri31]

Welcome to the board!

1. Did you blow all the air out of your torch before you refilled it? And if you got cheaper quality refill fluid, then that might contribute to the plug.

No....what do you mean by blowing the air out?

[mauied1101]

No....what do you mean by blowing the air out?

Check out this thread:

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/showthre...=butane+refill

[bigpoppapuff]

you need to bleed the air out of the lighter every time before you refill.......


and as stated...62-65%rh is where you want to be....

[JHarri31]

Excellent, thank you! Now the seemingly easier question. Is there an effective way to know when the lighter is full?

[nhcigarfan]

not really. My torch is pretty good. When it is fill it doesn't spit or spatter so I generally just fill for a while than stop. Some lighters back up on you and do the spit/spatter thing. Then you know it's full. If it doesn't then just go by feel.

65% is where you want to be. Keeping it at 70% is just to high and during a really hot day it could jump up to the point of causing serious problems.

you can balance the RH yourself but the beads are cheap compaired to your investment in cigars so take the easy route and get some beads.

[mauied1101]

Excellent, thank you! Now the seemingly easier question. Is there an effective way to know when the lighter is full?

My extra-sensing ESP is telling me you don't have a see-through gauge. Only way I would tell is when there might be spray-back. But there are guys on this board far more knowledgeable than I...