Urgent. humidor issues!!!

J

JacFlash

Joined Jul 2007
16 Posts | 0+
I have $700.00 worth of cigars sitting in a humidor and coolidor. The problem is that I live in Minnesota and the air is very dry. I have wiped down my humidor 2x's a week for the last month and have put three Humi-pillows in it, and the RH only gets as high as 60%. I have done the salt test so I know its not my gauge. I keep my humidor in my closet which is the most humid place besides my basement which is an average 40 degrees. I don't know what else to do. My coolidor is another issue the RH in there is only around 55%. I have wiped down the ceder panels, tryed removing some, added more floral foam and nothing seems to change. My humidor is a 50 count and the coolidor is a 10 or 15 gal. This summer I had not an issue with either. Especially my coolidor. I had to let it air out because it got up to 80%. I have no more Idea's and I need some help. Any suggestions would be awesome.

Thanks Jac
 
What are you using for humidity? PG solution, Distilled H2O? Is it just floral foam? How long are you waiting before checking to see if the humidity has gone up? If you added more sources of humidity the level should rise gradually. Maybe some more info would help.
 
Well, I am using just floral for and distilled water in my coolidor. In my 50 count I am using a credo and three humi pillows with distilled water. I check my RH once or twice a day generally in the morning and in the evening. In the Collidor the only sorce is the foam, it's a saturated 6x4x1.5 peice.
 
The humidifiers could be over saturated? If you can, purchase some of those 72% humidity packs they are only a few bucks a pop and remove all the foam. If that seems to solve the problem continue to use the packs or may I suggest an Oasis humidifier which would keep your coolidor at 70 all the time. Also heartfelt has some nice crystal humidifiers that are 65% and 72% which would keep your desktop running right if the foam is the issue?

Before buying anything, have you seasoned both of your units? Also have you used 50/50 in any of your humidifiers? To my knowledge Distilled water will not maintain the proper RH in any foam humidifier. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

Mike
 
I have seasoned btu not with 50/50, just distilled water. the only thing i have a question about is why if it's over saturated would the humidity be low. I would have thought it would be high if anything.

Jac
 
Well, if you havent put 50/50 in the humidifiers they might not be holding enough, if they came to you with 50/50 in them and you added to much distilled water they will not take in the moisture or release enough. They same if you added too much 50/50 which I dont think is the case. What did you do to season your humidor, just put some humidifiers in and water pillows? For how long?
 
Well I wiped it down with a less then damp cloth. Just enought to change the color of the grain. It is my first humidor and I did some research before seasoning it. and in the end I called cigar.com and asked them and they gave me the go ahead to wipe her down.
 
The cedar can be still be dry in your desktop, I have used the Boveda seasoning pack which worked great for my 50ct. Try taking all the cedar out of your cooler and see if that helps? Also how many cigars are we talking about in both humi is your desktop filled? and is your cooler filled? You might not have a big enough humidifier or not enough.
 
Well my desktop is full, but more than 40 sticks. In my cooler I have 2 boxes, and i have already taken all the ceder out. For my desk top if i get the 50/50 solution do I just squirt it into my credo? Or would it be easier to get a jar of Humi-Care jell? I think that I have room. Also would you advise re-wiping my desktop again?
 
First see if your cooler levels out, maybe work on getting that up the best you can. Because then you can put all your cigars from your desktop in to your cooler, the other than you can do is if you have two water pillows sitting around dip them in distilled water for 20 seconds, and then make sure they are not dripping and put 20 cigars in one piece of tupperware that has a good seal and another set of 20 in another. Just to keep them stable for a while. If Anything I would order a Boveda Seasoning Kit, Calibration Kit, and a Digital Hygrometer is the price range of 15 to 20 bucks, maybe a large brick humidifier. This way you can season your desktop, check your hygrometer you have and a digital one. All in all it can come down to you had issues with the salt test....For some reason it has never worked for me. I would also wait to see what the other guys say, Im just taking you through what I have done and learned.
 
Thanks for the help. I have another 6 hours to keep looking into it. But thanks again. I guess the only other question is how long after I get everything straitend out should i wait to smoke from my humi?
 
I live in a very cold and dry climate as well and I find in the winter I have to put a shot glass of distilled water in my fridgador and my humidor to keep the RH at the proper level. In the spring and summer everything works fine without the shotglass.
 
Remeber when using the 50/50 the glycol does not evaporate. so you could have to much glycol in a credo. I feel it is best to use just Distilled water and forget about those mixes.
 
JacFlash said:
Well, I am using just floral for and distilled water in my coolidor. In my 50 count I am using a credo and three humi pillows with distilled water. I check my RH once or twice a day generally in the morning and in the evening. In the Collidor the only sorce is the foam, it's a saturated 6x4x1.5 peice.[/quote

It seems to me that in the cooler you are not using enough of a source to adequately hydrate the environment. I think the Oasis XL for the cooler would give you much more controlled relative humidity.

Also, I may be wrong on this, but I don't think that water pillows are designed for humidor use. Aren't they just used for shipping? I use humipaks in my smaller humidors. Either in 64% or 72%, depending on if I am smoking or ageing the cigar.

Just my .02
Click to expand...
 
I used to use the 50/50 all the time and my rh was low. I then began going back and forth between distilled h20 and the mix. The mix helps with mold and keeping the rh from getting high, and the distilled h2o keeps from having too much pg clogging the credo. I do have a tube of the the gel crystals that I used in a small 10-15 ct and it worked well with little maintenance.
 
I was having similar problems with my desktop (50 ct.) about 3 months ago. The humidity would actually go up when I opened the lid. I kind of freaked out a bit, so I had the floral foam humi disk + 2 pillows + a gel tube and couldn't get more than 52%.

I talked to my guy at my local B&M and got a Madeline disk. I pulled everything else out and put the disk in (with 50/50 solution in it) and after about 9 hours it was sitting at 63%. After 48 hours it was sitting at 70% and hasn't budged since.

All of that to say, you may have too many things in there. Try pulling everything out and putting a gel device or the beads or an oasis unit and letting it sit for a couple of days and see what happens.

--Scott
 
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