Hi,

The humidity level in my new humidor keeps dropping below 70% at an unprecedented rate.. I took the time out to cure it and create a humid environment before I placed my cigars in there so am just wondering why this may be happening.

The cigars placed in it initially had spent a few days in my refrigerator to get rid of any tobacco beetles that may be in the sticks. The only way I can maintain constant humidity is if I place some water in a small cap or container and leave it in the humidor. Could the solution be as simple as getting another humidifier to supplement the present one? I know the humidor has no leaks and the seal is solid so there's no question of moisture leaking out.

Cheers,

Daniyal

Hi Daniyal,

Tobacco beetle eggs won't be killed off by being placed in your refrigerator. You have to freeze them for several days and then transition them to the frig for a few days.

Secondly, the cigars may have dried while in the frig and is now drawing moisture from your humidifier to point where it is dropping below 70% RH.

Personally, I prefer an RH level around 65%. I find that you get fewer draw and burn issues.

Hope this helps,

Mark

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Hi Mark,

I started off by putting them in the freezer for a week and then transferring them to the fridge. The humidor maintained itself around 70% for a week and then dropped to around 65%. At 65%RH the smokes were a bit dry and harsh I guess its probably the high heat and low humidity in my area that requires higher levels of humidity to maintain the smokes. Anyway I'm currently using a shot glass to help my humidifier do its job and it seems to be working I think the problem may be as simple as having an under-sized humidifier.

Cheers,

Daniyal

A couple of ideas (and maybe a question or two):

1) When you open your humidor, do you feel resistance from a vacuum seal,or does it open without any resistance? If no resistance, your seal is most likely bad and allowing humidity to escape.

2) How large is your humidor capacity and how many sticks do you have? It is harder to regulate and maintain humidity if you do not have very many sticks in a large humidor.

3) Buy Heartfelt Industries 70% RH beads. These are pretty much revered as the best in the industry. If you go to their site Heartfelt Industries, Cigar Humidor Humidity Beads, Humidors, and Quality Cigar Accessories, they have a page where you can enter the dimensions of your humidor. From those results, order the amount of RH beads necessary for your size humidor. DO NOT BE EXACT. Order more than you need. They will still regulate and maintain your RH, but the overage will allow your humidor to recover from opening and closing quicker. The extras will also help regulate should you have a poor seal on the humidor.

These are just a couple for you. I hope you can fix the issue. I am not a fan of the shot glasses (except for a temporary fix). Granted, I have three very young kids running around, who always manage to bump the table that my humidor calls home. I am paranoid about splash-over onto my precious humi residents.

Take care!

Jim

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"If at first you don't succeed, kick 'em in the nuts until they submit"

Hey Jim,

Thanks for the reply some useful information there... I agree with you the shot glass isn't much of a solution and I much like yourself am constantly worrying about some one moving the humi and causing the shot glass to tip over.

There are no problems with the seal on the humidor as it is quite a tight fit so my guess is the problem lies with the humidification system. Its a medium sized humidor that can hold around 75-100 sticks at the moment I have around 50 in it. I don't know if this may be true but I was recently reading some where on the net that over doing the PG solution can lead to all kinds of humidity issues in a new humidor. Does any one here subscribe to this theory? According to that site all you need is a few squirts of PG and using too much or rather soaking the humidifier in it (as I did) can cause the sponge based humidfiers to clog up and not be as effective.

I have heard that as well.

I used PG solution initially and was surprised to see fluctuations...large fluctuations. I also noticed that the stock humidifiers were constantly molding, which I thought was not going to be an issue with the PG.

Once I moved on to distilled water for everything, I have never had a problem.

In my opinion, PG is a gimmick and not all that it is said to be.

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"If at first you don't succeed, kick 'em in the nuts until they submit"

This is pretty much where I am. I live in a desert climate and the humidity in the air is practically nil to begin with. I bought a humidor which I thought was a good one. Apparently not. I seasoned the humidor twice, and the humidity has never been above 55 percent in this humidor - and I only reached that with a bowl of distilled water inside the humidor. Once I removed the bowl and went to as jar of crystals, the humidity dropped to 45 percent. Putting a jigger of distilled water inside beside the jar only raised the humidity 2-3 points.

How do I re-seal this thing - or do I just need to junk it? The lid opens without resistance, so that is probably where my moisture is going.

You may want to try using some weather strips to line the lid of the humidor to give it a tighter seal.. other than that if you have a cooledor or a vinotemp you're using to store your cigars you could always toss it in there.

Talk about feeling like an idiot...I went to a cigar shop/lounge with a friend of mine last Friday after work. I talked with the owner about my humidor problem. He asked me if my sticks were drying out, and I told him they weren't - but that I left them in the plastic bags I got from the cigar shop because I wasn't sure how well my humidor was working. He suggested starting with a digital hygrometer to make sure my humidity was as low as I believed it was. Upon completing my smokes in a very comfortable lounge, I bought a high quality digital hygrometer. When I got home my analog hygrometer was showing a humidity of 35 percent. I was soon to find out how far off this thing was.

I put the digital hygrometer in and let it sit overnight. In the morning I checked it: Temperature 70.4 degrees, humidity 69 percent - pretty much ideal conditions for cigars. At the time my analog was showing 30 percent. This also means that when my analog hygrometer earlier showed 55 percent my actual humidity was probably 90+ percent - explaining why I started to get some mold growth inside the humidor (fortunately not on my sticks). I checked it just now while I was posting this: digital says 68 percent, analog says 36-37 percent.

I learned a vital lesson: Never do anything based solely upon the reading of an analog hygrometer.

I Recently Had The Exact Sme Problem. I Bought A New Humidor With A Analog Hygrometer. After A Week Of Repeated Seasoning And Frustration I Removed The Hygrometer And Used The Salt Calabration Method. To My Suprise The Hygrometer Still Read 55%. At The Same Time I Also Tested Another Hygrometer I Knew Was Correct From My Other Humidor. To My Relief I Found The New Hygrometer To Be Around 15% off. i am thinking of pickin up a digital hygrometer to finally settle my nerves as i have around $400 of sticks in the new humidor alone and would really HATE to lose them!