Humidor Seems to be leaking

Joined May 2007
77 Posts | 0+
New Jersey
Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I am pretty new to the cigar world. I have been smoking cigars for a few years...cheap gas station garcia & vegans those would be a treat when i got one.

Just recently got a nice vegas 5 humidor off ebay, its pretty cheap so i know quality isnt great but seems alright. I have been seasoning this for quite a while about 3 weeks with my old credo then found out there was some mold in it and tossed it. As of now i have 13 cigars sitting in my humi with one Drymistat tube which i filled to the line with distilled water and should hold the RH at 70. I put the tube in along with the cigars becuase i got them the same day, knowing that my humi was seasoned and did not have a humifier for a few days but had a shot glass of distilled water in it it should have been fine. I came back the next day to find my RH at 55% which is no big deal it was only a little while no harm was done.

I added these two glasses a bit smaller than a shot glass, with distilled water and the RH went up checked it the next day and it was over 70% so i took the glasses out thinking that it would be fine. Only to find a few hours later the RH dropped to 62 %. This gives me the idea I have a leak. Sorry if that was a bit long, my question is can I put glue or something around insider edges/joints and corrners to keep it from leaking because i believe that is where the problem is since the seal seems pretty tight?

Thanks,
Mike
 
Mike,
I'm thinking 2 things:
1)it just wasn't seasoned enough before you began using it. Using the credo that you had just may not have gotten enough moisture into the wood.
2)the way you are trying to maintain RH isn't sufficient.

Here is a link to the sticky on this topic: http://www.ambackforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=44223
and our banter afterwards. There are a few good tips in that thread!

I have seen guys putting weatherstripping, etc on doors to humis before, and that could be a solution for you. But, I'd recommend tracking down the issue first.

Oh and Welcome aboard!
 
Thanks.
I have read though that other post....still cant seem to find the problem. I thought I seasoned my humi quite a bit. I dont have weatherstripping avail. since im in my dorm. So I resorted to wiping down the humi. A funny thing happend....maybe its just me. I used a cloth that was almost dry. As i wiped the humi down i finished a 1/2 and moved on by the time i was done with the second 1/2 the other was bone dry. So I kept adding a bit more this happened a few times. As of now there are no water stains. Also on the cloth I was using a red dust was coming up off this wood is this bad?
I added 2 shot glasses of DW last night and took them out around 10 am today. The RH was 67% by 12pm it was 64% and stayed there till around 6 when it dropped to 63% i think just from me opening it every few hours. Before it was dropping much faster. (I believe my hyrgometer is off about 5% so 64 sounds about right.)
So I am just gonna let it sit till 11 or so tomorrow and see if it dropped more. Does this sound like my Humi is still not seasoned.

BTW here is a link to the Humi i got if it helps, i found it on ebay for cheaper but its the same thing.
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/prod ... UM1&cat=10

Thanks,
Mike
 
i have the same humi.

if you find that it is still not keepint RH get a big ziplock style bag and put it in there. If it only keeps RH while in the bag you have a gap. If it does not hold humidity then you need to season it more.

if it holds RH in the bag then try the weather strip thing. or some other way to repair it. Otherwise you may need a new humi.

get a good cooler so that you have something to hold your smokes if the worst happens.
 
Thanks, I forgot to metion I did find some gaps and i tried to seal them up with a very fine bead of hot glue. right now my RH is bouncing from being 73% at most to 60% and very least will this destroy my cigars? Im hoping its just not seasoned enough. How long did it take you to season yours Kuzi16?

Also if worst comes to worst, anyone recommed a certain type of weather strip?
 
Its a 20ct humidor. It took me about 4 days during the winter. Now that the air is more moist here in ohio i bet it would only take about 2... maybe 3

i dont think hot glue is squishy enough to make a seal. it may actually make the problem worse. Id go out to the store and get some tupperware or a cooler to put my smokes in while dealing with the humidity issue.

RH fluctuations wont "destroy" your cigars. but it wont exactly help them either.
 
Well today i trasnifered my smokes to a piece of tupperware...... I think i have a major problem on my hands.....

I put the cigars in about 5 hours ago and the RH in there is only 57%, with my hygrometer off by maybe -2 or -5 it should really be 60 to 62 % which has been the lowest in my humi. My humidifcation device is the drymistat cigar savor which should keep the cigars around 70%. I wonder if i got a bad tube, i filled it with a bit more water even though I only filled it a week ago, It could have been drier than I thought. BTW this is a small tupperdor, i just could get the tube and my 10 cigars to all lay flat inside.
Has anyone had any problems with the drymistat tube?
Im pretty lost at this point, either i have a bad seal...my hyrgometer is way off which I dont think it is I have done the salt test a few times, or the drymistat tube is bad.
 
If you dont have alot of money tied up in the humidor I wouldnt worry with "trying" to fix it. Get you a bigger tupperware container or a cooler, they seal great. Some beads or kitty litter for humidification and then filler her up.

Edited to add: hang on to the humi if you go with a cooler, they IMO look great on a coffee table,end table the cooler not so much :D
 
i plan on holding on to it. a good place to store a cutter, lighter, flask etc.. Im still fighting with keeping RH just right i am gonna do another salt test just so i can rule out my hygrometer.

When looking for a humi what is a good price for 20 or 30ct, I dont know what to really name myself I smoke when I have a good reason too, a nice day, maybe a around of golf or out fishing. In short I dont do it all that offen. So I dont need a whole lot, so thats about the size I need.