Bead Issues

[drew_goring]

So I decided to man-up and by some 65% beads from Heartfelt. According to their site, I need .1 pounds for my humidor. I easily put that many in. The RH was pretty low before I put in the beads, so I think I may have over compensated by oversaturating the beads. However, the RH in a week and a half, has failed to climb above 59% according to my digital hygrometer. I would think if I had oversaturated the beads, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 70%. Anybody have any idea why this could be happening? Maybe my cigars were just real dry before and are soaking up the moisture? Maybe I need to re-season my humidor? Maybe my humidor sucks? Thanks for any help.

Have you done the salt test on your hygrometer?

I am thinking that is your problem. The beads are fairly foolproof.

[Bkcloud114]

Drew seems to have hit it right on the head.... I would do some type of test on your hygrometer... lots of people do the salt test.... the newest thing seems to be using a Boveda bag and calibrating you hygrometer.

http://www.cigarmony.com/store/produ...7061cd10fccaaf

[JRas224]

I did do the salt test when I got it about 4 months ago. I also salt tested the analog hygrometer which is mounted on the front of the humidor. They are both reading the same right now.

[drew_goring]

Hmmm...I still trust my beads over my hygrometer. I heard somewhere that they will start reading low when the batteries get low. Try changing them.

You are using distilled water with your beads, right?

[JRas224]

I am using distilled water. I guess I will salt test the hygrometers again. I'm thinking I might also need to season my humidor again. I took it easy on it the first time and I'm thinking it might not have been enough.

[godfather]

Another thing you can try that I've heard is taking a shotglass full of distilled water and leaving it in your humidor for a day. This should provide enough moisture for the humidor's wood to absorb as well as the beads.

[Monk]

Another thing you can try that I've heard is taking a shotglass full of distilled water and leaving it in your humidor for a day. This should provide enough moisture for the humidor's wood to absorb as well as the beads.

That would be a better way if it was seasoned once and you think the humidor needs to absorb more water, but remember you don't want the beads to absorb all the moisture, you want them to keep a consistent humidity, so don't do this for long. The important thing right now JRas224 is what colour are the beads at that humidity? are they all completely white, or clear?

-W.

[JRas224]

They're probably 80% clear.