Humidor Seasoning help/guidence

As you guys know, I just got my humidor in. I am seasoning it as we speak. I have calibrated the hydrometer and placed the sponge with distilled water (on a plate) inside.

Well it keeps reading about 82% humidity, so I put the 65% dry heartfelt beads in there after 24 hours. (according to the sesoning guide I am going by) I let it air out a bit and it dropped to about 73%. This was about 8pm last night.

This morning, right before I left, around 8 am, it was reading again at 82%. So I took the plate and sponge out, wet the beads with distilled water now.

Is this normal and am I on the right track?

I'm really thinkin this 100 count is too big for me. I told my wife (who was opposed to this before) last night and she said..."WHY?" Sometimes, I just dont know if its a good thing or bad thing...lol.

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Sounds like you may be able to put your cigars in there (just don't be surprised when they begin absorbing humidity and the RH plummets). Just remember that there are RH swings in almost any humidor that isn't more than half-full; so if you don't have the sticks to fill it now, just be aware that your RH may move around a bit.

And no, your humidor is not too large - start saving for a 300-count

It is normal and you're on the right track. Be patient, though. Think of it like this:

How thick is the wood in your humidor? 1/2"? 5/8"? And it's kiln dried to probably 20% humidity or so. Your hygro is reading moisture out of the air and that moist air is slow to penetrate into the wood. Just because it says 82% for a day or two doesn't mean that all the wood in your humidor for it's entire thickness is at that moisture level or anywhere near it.

It takes a long time to get your humi fully and completely humidified to the point where you are just maintaining the humidity. In the meantime you'll need to keep a close eye on the hygro and keep making adjustments until it finally settles which, for me, usually takes several weeks.

Xmacro

So I am doing this right then? When should I put my cigars in there, after it reads closer to 65% humidity right? Which should be another day I'm guessing.

About the RH swings...I counted my sticks last night and I have a grand total of....drumroll please........23 sticks. What should/will my RH be around when I put them in so I'm not giong crazy with all the number changes?

Thanks bro, you have been very quick to answer a lot of my noob questions.

Bigharpoon,

Humidor is 5/8" thick. Patience is the key I guess here.

But I should not put any sticks in until its closer to what my bead % are right, which is 65%, and it should read that for at least a day on a consistent basis right. Then I know it will move a bit since I am adding some sticks in there and it will settle in right?

Oh, so I should have taken the distilled sponge out right and just left the beads in?

zeebra:
Xmacro

So I am doing this right then? When should I put my cigars in there, after it reads closer to 65% humidity right? Which should be another day I'm guessing.

About the RH swings...I counted my sticks last night and I have a grand total of....drumroll please........23 sticks. What should/will my RH be around when I put them in so I'm not giong crazy with all the number changes?

Thanks bro, you have been very quick to answer a lot of my noob questions.

Zeebra, you have a PM
Also, when to put them in is a bit of a judgment call, since you don't know exactly what the wood's absorption is; I like to put mine in when the humidity is around 70% or higher with my beads in there, but then again, I probably jump the gun by a day or two.
As for what to expect with a less than half the humi filled, that depends on the humi. If it's one of WaxingMoons, the RH isn't gonna budge if you have 1 or 100 cigars in there due to the tight seal his humi's have on them; if it's a store-bought humidor, my experience has been that the RH can jump up and down 5-10% from one day to the next (but then again, the humidity in my room varies a lot, so your mileage may vary).

You gotta remember that the spanish cedar and the cigars are the primary humidifiers - the beads are only a back-up secondary humidification. If the wood isn't fully seasoned or there's not enough cigars, then the RH isn't being maintained as much as it would be with a full humi.

Lastly, I gotta disagree a bit with bigharpoon - I only disagree with it taking several weeks (several days IMO is about right); other than that, he's correct - it takes time for the humidity to penetrate the wood. My experience is it takes anywhere from 3 days to a week.

Got your PM. Thats the link that Rob sent me as well and thats the steps I'm using for seasoning.

I wish it was a Waxingmoon humi, but its a store/online bought humi. Its the 100 ct, 5 Vegas one with tray.

I get what you are saying. So when I get home tonight after work, I will see what the % is at and go from there.

Like most ppl said here, it looks like you're doing it right, just aren't being patient enough. How many ounces of beads did you put in there?

Right now, I have only the heartfelt large tube in there. I just got some more in this morning to keep some extra, which I will probably put in there.

Large 65% Rh (BLUE Cap) Heartfelt Humidity Tube

The new tube allows for much better transfer of humidity to your cigars. We now offer a Large Humi-Tube of Heartfelt Beads. This tube will control the humidity in a humidor up to 1080 cubic inches.

I have their small aluminum bead setup laying in the bottom, and yesterday I threw a large tube (like yours) in the tray. The RH dropped 2% over a period of maybe 15hrs. I put about 2ML of water on the large tube this morning. I probably didn't need to do that, but I felt it might rob more humidity than I want it to since I was having RH drop issues with only the aluminum bead setup as you saw in my post last week.

Ok so I started this process on Sunday morning.

I checked this morning and these are the readings, it has beads inside and a shot of distilled water...

71 temp and 73% humidity on the digital but on the analog one, its shows 70% ...

The beads are 65%..

still ok or do I need to be doing somthing different?

I'm working on seasoning my humi right now, too, a CCOM 20 count. I actually put my sticks in a few weeks ago after I'd seasoned for a couple of days when the hygro read a good count but I figure maybe the wood didn't fully absorb the moisture, some of the sticks that were on the bottom seemed a bit dry and the humidity was lower on the bottom than the top. So if the hygro is reading the humidity in the air, how can you tell when the moisture is well absorbed?

Don't mean to threadjack but going to throw my 2 cents in. I bought a 50ct humidor a little less tha na month ago (never owned a humidor before and would just go the the local shop and get a couple sticks a week). After I got the thing I was thinking to myself...WOW, this is way to big for me! I've got the thing half full and just placed an order for 12 sticks. This weekend I'm buying a box of CCom Corojos and Man O War sampler and PRAYING this all fits. I wish I had a 100ct at this point! You made a wise decision. Patience is the key to seasoning. I was all nervous at first watching the RH go up and down and thinking WTF did I do wrong? It will level out, don't worry. About a week ago I purchased a digital hygrometer, best investment besides the humidor.

zeebra:
Ok so I started this process on Sunday morning.

I checked this morning and these are the readings, it has beads inside and a shot of distilled water...

71 temp and 73% humidity on the digital but on the analog one, its shows 70% ...

The beads are 65%..

still ok or do I need to be doing somthing different?

I have digital and analog hygrometers and they can differ by up to a few percent. As long as both have been calibrated and they're reading within a few percent of each other I just take the average of the two.

I'm not familiar with using beads but if your beads are charged you could probably take out the shotglass and see how your humi holds humidity at this point. If after ~24hours with just beads in there your getting 65%+ then you should be good.

I will check tonight and see how its holding up. I have wrote everything down so I know how its been changing, I've been keeping a log.

Thank you for the info.

If you want it at 65%, I say open it up and fan out the humid air inside and then let it stay open til your hygrometer shows mid 50's. Then shut the lid and see where it's goes after 24hrs.

Ok I'm sorry to ask, but I dont think I am doing it correctly.

I think I opened the box too many times, once at 8am then at 8pm when I had the sponge in there. The humidity on my hydrometer kept reading around 77%.

So should I just put a sponge (soaked in distilled water on a small plate) in the humidor and just leave it alone for 2-3 days and dont even open it?

Yes, put the sponge in it and let it set for at least 3 days without touching it.

So no beads right, just soaked sponge on a plate and the digital hydrometer right? Does it matter what size of sponge? The one I have is pretty good size, like a 3.5"x5.5"

Do I leave the tray inside as well that the humidor came with or leave the tray out?

You can charge the beads and put them in there as well if youd like. The size of the sponge is not really important. Leave the tray in, it has to be seasoned as well.

thanks. I'm just so daymn impatient! Will start tonight when I get home from work

ok. I put the sponge in on Thursday night around 11pm and I just opened it this morning at 8 am.

My readings on the digital hydrometer was 71 and 88%, I let it air out a bit and I put some heartfelt beads in tubes in (dry). So when I closed it, it read 71 and 81%.

So when I go home tonight around 8pm, am I suppose to open it again and check the % and if the rh has dropped in the 70s, I should just take out the sponge and leave the beads in? Do I have to spray some more distilled water on the beads though?

Charge the beads to about 1/3 clear, take out the sponge, and put the beads in. Give it a day or so to stabilize and see where you're at.

ok I just got home and ate dinner and checked the %....

It read 73 and 91% !!! I was shocked to see. So I took out the sponge and left the beads in there after spraying them with distilled water. Should I keep a shot glass of distilled water in the humidor along with it? how long should this take for it to go down to about 70%?

I'm curious why it was at 91%...I thought that was really high. Is that normal?

I dont know about other folks, but my analog and digital are off by 9. I always go by the digital...

I'm reading my digital, and I just keep an eye on the analong one. I'm just curious why the rh% is sooo high all the time and never in the low 70's? Every time I have checked, its always in the 80's.

the humidity is important, but the humidity is the humidity of the air, not your cigars, so don't freak. If its that high, take all of your humidification out of there for a day, and keep opening it to let some moisture out and checking it every 2 hours or so and make sure its lowering consistently with control. Then when it gets to an acceptable level around 65%, probably by the middle of the next day, you can add the humidification products back in slowly, and then leave her alone for 24 hours and see if its holding. Smoke carefully. If they've been put through the ringer, it may take a 2 weeks or so for the stogies to balance out from core to wrapper.

I see. So the humidity of the air is high inside the box. Like this morning, it was around 83% so I opened it up and let it drop to 73% and closed it again, but I left my beads inside. I will have to remove them when I get home tonight and maybe let it sit overnight of your recommendation.

Yeah, just take the humidifiers out for overnight tonight and see where its at in the morning. If it's at 65% or so, then put the beads back in and try not to check it for a whole day. And if its too low, don't get anxious and over humidify. Just put the beads back in and leave it alone for 24 hours or so. When you have a new humidor, its soooooo tempting to keep checking and reacting, but try to relax and check it just once a day. Its should be nice a steady once you balance it out a little. The most helpful reaction is usually no reaction. A humidor is like an infant. Not every single crying session means somethings wrong. Just make sure its still breathing and pooping and eating and it's probably a healthy baby.

Thanks, makes sense now, just hope my humi does not throw up or take a dump...lol

There is nothing giong on in the humi right, like when I open it, steam comes out, or has a certain smell...its just a box and the temp on the hydrometer needs to read around 65%-70% right?

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