humidor instability

My humidor has been unstable recently. I am not sure if it is because of my activity or because it was not properly seasoned. It was stable with about 15 cigars in it for about a week at around 65%rh (I have a 20 ct. ccom humidor with drymistat tube and caliber III digital hygrometer). So I smoked a few and fit the rest of a sampler in the mix so now I am almost at 19 cigars (about eight Oliva G maduro, four ccom house blends, and seven Gurkha mixed). Since I added the other cigars the humidity has dropped down to 59%-61% and has been there for the last day.

Is the humidity going to rise or did I lose some humidity somewhere and need to re-season my humi? (FYI I now have since added a second drymistat tube and I have two hygrometers that are about 1-2% off from each other. So I am pretty sure my hygrometers are showing correct readings.)

How long can it take for a small humidor to reach equilibrium after adding cigars or adding more humidification devices?

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Comments

crzydimnd68

You probably lost humidity to your recently introduced sticks.Which is a good thing.Try not to over think it.It will come back up.I try not to monitor on a daily basis.As long as your devices don't dry out and you have a pretty good seal you'll be ok.

jship079

You are going to play hell keeping that thing stable in the winter in DA BURGH

kuzi16

if you are gunna have instability, at least have it a bit higher.
be unstable between 65% and 70%

docbp87

Buy beads. End of instability.

boydmcgowan

I'm no humidor expert, but I would think that a smaller humi, like this 20ct, would typicall have less stability than a larger humidor. that sound right? Would the beads even correct that?

On a side note, I really need to get with the times and get some beads and a digital hygrometer. I've been rocking the built in analog hygro and the old school foam junk for way too many years. Is there a digital hygrometer that you all recomend?

ctremblay187

i know humi-care and xikar both make some pretty affordable items. I know last time i checked depending on the size of your humi,i ccom has a deal with a little blue puck like hydrometer and humidification device for a good deal...

jship079

As far as how long it will take to restable if it is going to it will take 1-3 days with a slow steady rise in Rh. You may wont to check to see if you need to add water to your device the winter and newsticks may have dryed it out a bit. As far as beads go doc is right 99% of the time but I had this same humi as my first several years ago and no matter what in the winter I could not keep the damn thing stable even with 1/4 pounds of beads in it. I got 70% beads for the winter and it would keep it in the low to mid 60's I like 65%. Then in the summer I would put in 65% beads and they worked well. After one season of that and the fact that the humi is way to small I got my first 125 count.

kuzi16

boydmcgowan:
I'm no humidor expert, but I would think that a smaller humi, like this 20ct, would typicall have less stability than a larger humidor. that sound right?

yes. that is correct.
...and its for the same reason that full humidors, generally speaking, are more stable than almost empty ones are.
that reason: Cigars are hygroscopic.
this means they let moisture in and out. of course they are hygroscopic. thats why we have humidors.

in a full humidor there is less air. the cigars are taking the place of the air. air loses RH quickly. cigars dont. when you open your full humidor up you lose some RH. when you then close your full humidor it will recover faster.

boydmcgowan:
Would the beads even correct that?

yes...
but not 100%. recovery time will still be slow but it will be faster than if you didnt have them.
ever since i got my beads (about 4+ years ago) my RH has been very stable.

newbiesmoker24

Thanks Guys. I think jship has a point; Pittsburgh is just crazy this time of year with the weather. Last week we got into the 70's during the day and this week we are around 30 at night!!! I try to keep my humi in a controlled area but I will have to experiment with it.

I can also understand Kuzi's point that the humidifier is taking longer to even out because it is almost full with cigars so there is less air for the hygros to measure humidity from.

It is slowly climbing and I smoked a Gurkha Master's Selection Robusto #4 last night and it was burning extremely even. Only one touch up. It turned out to be one of my favorite Gurkhas I have tried so far (besides the Legend). So, I think my cigars are still in good shape despite the unstable readings the last couple days.

kuzi16

newbiesmoker24:
I can also understand Kuzi's point that the humidifier is taking longer to even out because it is almost full with cigars so there is less air for the hygros to measure humidity from.

you may want to re-read what i posted.
a full humidor will hold humidity better and recover faster because there is less air.
the amount of air in the humidor in comparison to the amount of cigars has no effect on how the hygrometer works. it will read just as accurate if you have 1 cigar in a 3000ct humidor or if you have 30 cigars crammed in a 25ct humidor

boydmcgowan

ctremblay187:
i know humi-care and xikar both make some pretty affordable items. I know last time i checked depending on the size of your humi,i ccom has a deal with a little blue puck like hydrometer and humidification device for a good deal...

Ok good deal, thanks man.

Dumb question time, so bear with me. I've only calibrated the analog ones a few times a while back, but I remember that for those you had to pop the back out and adjust it with a screw driver so that it read the right %. For the digital ones are you able to adjust the % so that it reads what it shoudl when you calibrate it? or do you just have to remember that this unit is say, 7% high all the time and just to subtract 7% everytime I look at it. Like I said a dumb question, but I've seen some weird descriptions of some of these and definitely want to get one that once calibrated correctly will read 70% when its 70%.

So my dumb question is, are they all adjustable or are some really cheap ones not adjustable and I'll need to remember how off my specific hygro is?

boydmcgowan

kuzi16:
boydmcgowan:
Would the beads even correct that?

yes...
but not 100%. recovery time will still be slow but it will be faster than if you didnt have them.
ever since i got my beads (about 4+ years ago) my RH has been very stable.

This just sounds cool. I really need to get some beads. I searched in the forum and read up on an old thread about the heartfelt beads. Are they still the best? I have a 125 ct humi and it looks like I'll need anywhere from 2 to 4 ounces of beads, which is pretty cheap, so I'm looking to do that after christmas.

I really need to stop winging it on humidity. I haven't had any serious issues in about 5 or 6 years with this humi, but I'm sure my smokes would appreciate a more stable environment, and a more accurate hygro reading.

thanks for all the info guys.

laker1963

boydmcgowan:
kuzi16:
boydmcgowan:
Would the beads even correct that?

yes...
but not 100%. recovery time will still be slow but it will be faster than if you didnt have them.
ever since i got my beads (about 4+ years ago) my RH has been very stable.

This just sounds cool. I really need to get some beads. I searched in the forum and read up on an old thread about the heartfelt beads. Are they still the best? I have a 125 ct humi and it looks like I'll need anywhere from 2 to 4 ounces of beads, which is pretty cheap, so I'm looking to do that after christmas.

I really need to stop winging it on humidity. I haven't had any serious issues in about 5 or 6 years with this humi, but I'm sure my smokes would appreciate a more stable environment, and a more accurate hygro reading.

thanks for all the info guys.

The Heartfelt beads work great, but there are others out there that many of us here use. They are called Conservagel Beads, and they are half the price of the Heartfelt beads and they come with mesh bags to put your beads into. Here is a link...

http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-CONSERVAGEL

newbiesmoker24

kuzi16:
newbiesmoker24:
I can also understand Kuzi's point that the humidifier is taking longer to even out because it is almost full with cigars so there is less air for the hygros to measure humidity from.

you may want to re-read what i posted.
a full humidor will hold humidity better and recover faster because there is less air.
the amount of air in the humidor in comparison to the amount of cigars has no effect on how the hygrometer works. it will read just as accurate if you have 1 cigar in a 3000ct humidor or if you have 30 cigars crammed in a 25ct humidor

I think I misspoke. I should have said less water vapor for the hygro to measure. You are right the hygro will measure air the same whether there is 1cc or 1000cc of air in the humidor. But, having a higher cigar/air ratio (assuming constant water vapor released from the humidifier) will mean the water vapor is going to try to cling to the cigars instead of building up in the air. So, when putting new cigars into a humidor, I think it makes sense that you will have a higher chance of seeing a lower air humidity that will eventually creep back to a normal level when the cigars have absorbed enough water vapor. So, in a sense, I think I just logiced through my own original question. LOL. Anyone follow that or agree/disagree with it? The only reason it wouldn't work like that is if your cigars were originally over humidified; then you would see a slow rise in humidity over time as the cigars released it into the humidor atmosphere.

boydmcgowan

laker1963:
boydmcgowan:
kuzi16:
boydmcgowan:
Would the beads even correct that?

yes...
but not 100%. recovery time will still be slow but it will be faster than if you didnt have them.
ever since i got my beads (about 4+ years ago) my RH has been very stable.

This just sounds cool. I really need to get some beads. I searched in the forum and read up on an old thread about the heartfelt beads. Are they still the best? I have a 125 ct humi and it looks like I'll need anywhere from 2 to 4 ounces of beads, which is pretty cheap, so I'm looking to do that after christmas.

I really need to stop winging it on humidity. I haven't had any serious issues in about 5 or 6 years with this humi, but I'm sure my smokes would appreciate a more stable environment, and a more accurate hygro reading.

thanks for all the info guys.
The Heartfelt beads work great, but there are others out there that many of us here use. They are called Conservagel Beads, and they are half the price of the Heartfelt beads and they come with mesh bags to put your beads into. Here is a link...

http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ACC-CONSERVAGEL

Right on man, thanks. I'm going to check them out.