Dr. RH Humidification Jars Question - Distilled Water?

Benno123

Good evening,

I'm a new member here, and a fairly new cigar smoker. Though I have enjoyed one on occassion for awhile I have started to keep some in a humidor now. My local cogar shop has available Dr. RH's humidification jars and my question is do I need to purchase the solutions to add to these gel jars or will adding distilled water be fine? I would like to know, my friend has one that he adds just distilled water to but he cannot get his humidor over about 65% humidity when the jar says it should be 70%.

Also, what is the thought on Boneva humidification packets? Just curious. Thank you in advance for all your help!!

Lee.mcglynn

I would say use only distilled water... Putting to much pg solution can clog the gel up plus pg solution evaporates slower so rh would most likely go down. As for boveda... I like them, they can get pricey depending on how many and how big your humi or humis are. But they work fine. I'm sure a lot of people will tell you to use heartfelt beads! They are great as well. But in some cases 65rh is good! Unless you plan on aging your sticks for a bit then you want a higher rh. Hope this helps

Vision

Benno123:

Good evening, I'm a new member here, and a fairly new cigar smoker. Though I have enjoyed one on occassion for awhile I have started to keep some in a humidor now. My local cogar shop has available Dr. RH's humidification jars and my question is do I need to purchase the solutions to add to these gel jars or will adding distilled water be fine? I would like to know, my friend has one that he adds just distilled water to but he cannot get his humidor over about 65% humidity when the jar says it should be 70%. Also, what is the thought on Boneva humidification packets? Just curious. Thank you in advance for all your help!!

I would guess that he may have a seal issue or it was not seasoned long enough. I would try to fit a dollar bill between the seal and go from there. I have DR RH and, even tho it says 70RH on the jar, mine sits at 72 in both humi (I KNOW GUYS!! IM GETTING LOWER BEADS LOL). My Hygros are both calibrated and I know them to be accurate. Do you know if your friend seasoned it? If so, how?

The Sniper

First off, welcome to the forums!

Now then, down to business - here's what Ive got for ya...

Short form answer - no, you dont need the solution. Distilled water will work just fine.

The long winded answer - I dont know what area of the country (or even WHICH country) you live in, but here in Missouri the humidity swings pretty severely with the seasons. Spring and especially summer have very high humidity, with fall and winter being very dry humidity wise.

To offset that, I use distilled water in the dry months (as it tends to keep the RH in my humidors a little higher) and run the solution in the humidors in the wetter months (the glycol in the solution tends to keep the RH in the humidors a little lower).

Hope this helped, and hope to see lots more posts from you in the future. :-)

Benno123

Thank you everyone for your great answers, and thank you The Sniper for the warm welcome!

I'm a newbie in the cigar world so I figured asking questions will be the best way to learn. If I can use distilled water in the hydro-gel jars then I will, I'll just monitor to be assure that I get the proper humidity.

As for my friend I am not sure if he seasoned his humidor or not. I will see him this weekend and will ask, possibly a seal problem like what was mentioned.

This may sound strange but I am really enjoying going to a cigar store and shopping around, looking at the different brands and buying different ones to try. I really have not had a bad one yet, I am keeping a journal with the bands and my rating system so I know what I like and do not like!

Thanks again for all your help!

Oh ... and I'm in Ohio where the weather changes about every 10 minutes or so!

marineatbn03

Where in Ohio??

Benno123

Northwest Ohio ... just south of Toledo.

marineatbn03

Ok, just checking to see how close you were to my family, they all live in the Columbus/Dayton/Cincy area

aeon_spiral@yahoo.com

marineatbn03:

Ok, just checking to see how close you were to my family, they all live in the Columbus/Dayton/Cincy area

another ohio boy!? More for the herf

marineatbn03

Very true

Benno123

Yup Marineatbn03, just up Rt. 23 and I-75 from your family about 2 hours away!

marineatbn03

There is going to be an Ohio/Tri-state herf in August down by dayton, you should try to attend.

Benno123

If it works with my schedule I will try to go. Sounds like a great time!