another humidor question

[Drake]

Climax beads are the best way to go to reduce the rh% - they have 65 and 70% beads. The beads will hold the humidity damn near right at what they're designed to.

As far as why you'd want to go below 70% - 65 is actually more ideal with some cigars. ISOM's seem to smoke better kept on the drier side (60-65%). I've found that keeping cigars at 70% tends to cause burn problems. I try to keep mine at 65% and other than an occasional loose wrapper (which seems to be more related to the manufacturer than humidity), my cigars smoke very nice.

I have a Diamond Crown humidifier in my main humidor. I can close the shutters and reduce the rh - I'm able keep it right around 65% and seems to do very well at that.

i normally place the cigar i'm going to smoke that night in a ziplock bag in the morning to dry it out a bit. they tend to burn better than when i smoke them right out of the humi at 70%. no ISOMs though

[wrath186]

Been playing around with humidity beads and have found the 65% to be ideal. I get a nice even burn on my sticks, less cracking of wrappers and no mold. I do advise against climmax beads since the customer service sucks. You can get them from here:

http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/category.aspx?categoryID=11&startpage=0

or here

http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/beads_1.html

Have been using both for a while now and have had no problems.

[razrbakcrzy]

Just a question, Not to hijack this thread or anything Couldn't you just add a little more Propylene Glycol to the humidified so it would be alittle on the dry side instead of drying out the humidifier. a Mix of 50% pg and 50% distilled water gets you a 70% humidity. Why couldn't you mix 60% pg and 40% distilled water to get a lower rh%.

[Drake]

i just use distilled water. is that bad?

[razrbakcrzy]

only if your humidifier is not already charged with pg. Most are! But i have home made several. (1) travel soap container, a brick of green flower foam cut to fit, distilled water and PG.

Propylene glycol is a humectant - Sucks up water.

So if you mix it with water it will keep it sucked up until the air get so dry that it can no longer hold on to it and thus releases it a little at a time. 1 to 1 ratio = about 70%rh Here in Arkansas. It could differ in other climates.

[MMAB]

The mix ratio of PG to water makes no difference. PG's release/absorbtion point is 70%.

A 50-50 mix is just a good general ratio to go with. You want to have enough PG in the mix to enable it to do it's job and the same with the distilled water.

Here comes Cliff Clavin.....sorry guys.

PG works by forming a layer surrounding the water in the humidifier's element. When the rh in your humidor goes below 70% the PG allows water to migrate to the surface of the PG layer. It evaporates increasing the rh. When the rh reaches 70% the PG cuts of the water going to the surface.

It's just coincidental that PG has a release point of 70% rh. But a nice coincidence!

PG hangs around for about a year. It does evaporate very slowly. So you should recharge your humidifier's element with a fresh solution every few months. In between, just adding plain distilled water is OK.

PG is odorless and tasteless and won't harm your smokes as long as you don't get it on them directly of course!