I got a new humidor, what next?

I think Barco is on the right track here. You are using an analog gauge as a basis for your actual RH and I have frankly NEVER seen an accurate analog gauge. In 20 years, never seen one be accurate.
Get the digital, salt test it, write down your variances, stick them ON the unit, and relax a little. We have all been there, when the cigar hobby first begins to consume your life (not kidding!), you want to micromanage EVERYTHING. Don't worry, we will help you

beinwalt said:

I am going to have to face the facts though that my humidor simply isn't any good and buy a new one at some point.

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I'm assuming you have a fairly typical wooden desktop-box humidor.

Don't give up on it just yet! You might have a leak at a joint, but more likely you have a leaky seal where the lid meets the body of the box; the sealing lip is probably part of the humidor's Spanish cedar liner, and it shrinks slightly when it gets too dry (very common in most places during winter). There are a couple of possible fixes that I found on the Internet.

The first one is very simple. All you need is a small paintbrush and some of the same 50/50 mixture of propylene glycol and distilled water that's used in florist's-foam humidifiers. "Paint" the lip of the humidor all the way around and let it soak into the wood. The distilled water will cause the Spanish cedar lip to swell slightly, and the propylene glycol will help the wood hold moisture longer than it would by itself. You might try this two or three times over consecutive days if necessary, until the wood swells enough to slow or stop the drop in relative humidity. If this works well enough, you might find that the seal stays good for a few days at a time; when the wood shrinks again, just apply more distilled water to the lip.

The second requires only a little more work. For this you will need a roll of blue painter's tape -- I use the version of Scotch Blue Painter's Tape that has low-medium adhesion and is designed for delicate surfaces -- and a very sharp knife or single edge razor blade. You will need to let the sealing lip dry again, which shouldn't take more than a few hours if your home's air is dry. Cover the entire lip with a layer of tape all the way around, carefully trimming the tape at the corners so there are no gaps and no overlap. You want a single layer of tape covering the entire sealing lip.

If neither of these do the trick and the humidor is still leaking badly, I suggest you find a new use for it. Perhaps it can become a "junk box" for holding odds and ends, or a "treasure chest" for the kids/grandkids.

Hello!

I have a humidor that I seasoned accidentally with filtered water (thinking it was the same as distilled). I have been unimpressed with the quality of my cigars in there.

I use a 69% boveda and have no hygrometer.

I am afraid my seasoning mistake is the cause.

Can I fix it or should i invest in a new one?

Thanks

My first cigar aging humidor and how I seasoned it...



I got this pure cedar cigar humidor two weeks ago. That said it was a cigar aging humidor. To be honest, I don't think much of this humidor while I opened it. Pure cedar container body, removable cover, digital thermo-hygrometer shelf...




What I know is that: Spanish cedar wood is the best material for making a humidor(Spanish cedar wood not from SPAIN, that‘s true), because cedar has some advantages over other wooden materials:

• Protection from tobacco worms
• High humidity absorption capacity
• Supports the cigar aging process
• Positive effect on the flavor of the cigars

So, I try to spend about 90$ to try it.

First, seasoning is easy and quick. it has a front digital thermo-hygrometer, but I put one more Bluetooth digital thermo-hygrometer into the humidor to proofread. Fortunately, both temperature and humidity reading is same.

69% 2-way humidity control pack for seasoning (40 GRAM). About 1 hour, the reading was 69% and keep it for a long time.


About 10 hours later. The humidity reading was 62%, I thought the box was too dry. So I tried to replace a new 69 humidipack to continue. The humidity reading displayed 69% again about 30 minutes later and keep it for 1 day. So that, I thought it may be finished seasoning.

Put one 69% humidity control pack into the humidor, install the shelf for storing cigars. But not try to full your humidor at one time. 50% cigar, and 50% cigar again after some time. (30%-30%-40%, or up to you). Because air and humidity will move around more readily to access all of the cigars you’re storing.

What I found is that: the removable cover is easy to store when I organize cigars. Uhhh, waiting for smoking.

laxjb1 said:

I'm currently seasoning my old humidor. I already need a little more space and I was going to use it for aging. I ordered beads for the first time. Does anyone use the mesh bag they advertise with it? Any Pros/Cons. I don't have the original credo's anymore, and was debating getting one of the mesh bags or just filling a shallow bowl.

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I use boveda humidipaks. they work really good.