This is my first winter with a humidor. From Aug. to mid Nov. My RH was running 68% to 76%. Humidity levels in my home were 60% to75%. From Mid Nov. to today I'm having trouble keeping RH at 68%. The house humidity is 40% to 60%. I seem to be adding 5 to 10 drops of water every other, or every 3rd day. Is this normal? Could my humidifier be bad? Any suggestions would be a great help. Thanks
Either get some humidity controlling media such as beads or crystals or a cigar oasis. You'll wish you had sooner.
There is a lot of information on this forum in regards to humidity levels, and one could read for hours. Personnally I think your humidity levels are kind of high, and that your checking it way too often. The amount of fluctuation you mention is probably due to opening your humidor so often to check the humidity. Are you using a digital or analog hygrometer? What kind of humidification device are you using? Is your humidor full? You will not be able to stabilize the humidity if you don't have a good number of cigars in the box. If you want specific help you will need to give a little more information. Keep in mind though that a happy humidor, needs to be a full humidor. And the high humidity levels, ie 70% is not neccesarily a good thing. I tend to think my cigars smoke better at lower levels, like 63-64%. Moderate fluctuations in a desktop is considered pretty normal. Give the folks here more information and you should get some pretty good advice on how to deal with the situation.
I see you're in Vermont. This comes up every year for us Northeasterners and those who reside in other cold parts of the country. Humidity levels in humidors go WAYYYYYYY down in the winter. As has been said, during the colder months of the year, when furnaces are blasting and drying up the air in your house, adding even more dryness to what the climate has already done, you need supplementation.
I keep a large plastic screw top that came off the container to a powdered food supplement in the humidors that need it, which is three out of my four desk tops. I fold a paper towel until it's small enough to fit into the cap, and pour a bit of distilled water into the cap. It gets absorbed into the paper towel, and I don't use so much that there's any left to spill in case I pick up the top and it slips out of my hand and falls back in. After a while, when the paper towel gets dry, I pour more water on it to wet it again. This goes on all winter. You'll need it. Depending on the humidor, levels can go to as low as 45-50% which will dry up your cigars badly and take them a long time to get back to smokeability.
I keep a large plastic screw top that came off the container to a powdered food supplement in the humidors that need it, which is three out of my four desk tops. I fold a paper towel until it's small enough to fit into the cap, and pour a bit of distilled water into the cap. It gets absorbed into the paper towel, and I don't use so much that there's any left to spill in case I pick up the top and it slips out of my hand and falls back in. After a while, when the paper towel gets dry, I pour more water on it to wet it again. This goes on all winter. You'll need it. Depending on the humidor, levels can go to as low as 45-50% which will dry up your cigars badly and take them a long time to get back to smokeability.
By the way, besides the fact that it's always good to see nmcowboy around, he's right about what he said. Not only have we had many such discussions, which can be found on preceding pages, but many of us agree that 63, 64% humidity levels are actually better. I don't think you'll be able to keep yours even at that level without supplementation, so try searching the forums for some of our discussions. It's all here, and if not, we're here to help.
I'm in the "frigid belt of the south", Richmond Virginia 
My humi's are at steady levels 63-70 (one desktop, 70, doesn't lose a percentage at ALL unless I just leave the lid open for long periods.)
BTW jesse, if you're using an analog hygrometer and want to try a digital, I stumbled across one at Walmart of all places. $9.99, has a RH and temperature reading, C or F. Other digital ones are available on-line for a little more.
My humi's are at steady levels 63-70 (one desktop, 70, doesn't lose a percentage at ALL unless I just leave the lid open for long periods.)BTW jesse, if you're using an analog hygrometer and want to try a digital, I stumbled across one at Walmart of all places. $9.99, has a RH and temperature reading, C or F. Other digital ones are available on-line for a little more.
That's the one! I removed the wire from the housing because I don't need to know what the temp at my desk is. I like the hi/lo feature, nice.
Thank you for the info. I am using a digital and an analog hygrometer. I like my RH at 66 to 68. I'm using the round plastic humidifier that came with my humidor. And my humi is about 2/3rds full. If I don't get it to stabilize, I'll try thr paper towel trick first, then maybe the beads.
I live in a very dry enviroment and this time of year I use a shot glass with some of my wife's cosmetic sponges in it. Fill the shot glass and let the sponges absorb the distilled water. This keeps my 100 count @ 68% for a couple weeks.
iminaquagmire said:
Set & Forget in one humidor - always 63%
My other humidor has Bead Medium - always rock on 65%
hat humidor is 2 feet tall - 1 & 1/2 wide and 1 & 1/2 deep
1/2 pound of beads & I never have a problem with RH.
I do add more water in the winter.
Thanks for all the info. I went to Boston this weekend to do some plumbing work for my brother. I purchased a bead humidifier. I just set it up. Hope it works better than what I had.
Im with quagmire on this one. My cigar oasis is a champion. They just came out witha new model that has a digital read out on the actual unit and will run for 2 months on a 9 vold battery.
Just got one 2 weeks ago for my bigger humidor - works unbelievably well. It's great for a moron like me!
how much are they? im getting tired of monitoring 3 completely full humidors. im going to get a cooler and put an oasis in it. then ill have my big desktop to hold a few of each of my sticks so i dont have to dig through the cooler every time i want to find somthing.
jihiggs said:
The new ones which have a battery backup and a digital display and adjustment controls run about 100 bucks. Best investment I've made for my cigars.
hah! i dont need that fancy stuff. i gotta find an old one. any one got a link to where i could find older model numbers? or older models for sale?
