New humidor

New Boots

I threw my digital hydrometer in my new humidor, which (should be) near the end of the seeding process. First off, I hope I did the seeding properly. 1: Wiped down interior (lightly) with distilled water 2: Filled and installed humidifier 3: Filled a shot glass with distilled water and placed inside I let this sit for 3 days Yesterday I removed the shot glass, and again let it sit. I threw the digital in today, and its at 78% There are no cigars in it as of yet. Do I just need to wait it out some more? Or did I miss-step some where?

ehehat

Did you calibrate the hygrometer? Assuming you did I'd say 78% isn't horrible to start but i'd let it sit for 2-3 more days to make sure it's stable. It really depends on how your cigars are stored now. If they've been in a stable environment and are well humidified then you might want to bring the humidity in your humidor down a little before adding sticks. I'm really not a fan of wiping down. Catfishbluezz has a thread in the 101 forum about seasoning, I went this route and would never go back.

New Boots

Yes, it's calibrated. I moved the one from my larger humidor, over to the smaller one. I'll check out the thread, thanks.

New Boots

Read and will be restarted

ehehat

Well here's the thing though, if you're already at 78% I'm still not sure you need to start over. I'd just leave it empty for a couple days and see what it does. If it stays at 78% for 3 days you might want to add a little media (I use silica beads) to bring it down a little. If it drops on its own it probably wasnt seasoned properly.

New Boots

well, ill keep an eye on it for a bit.

dr_frankenstein56

you may find it hard to keep stable if it is a small desktop unit of 20-100. mine was real unstable at first constantly bouncing between 65 and 78% rh but as soon as it started to fill up with cigars and was near capacity it really leveled off. I think a tupperware container with some bovedas to hold the cigars you have now until they themselves stablize will be a very helpful so your not pulling a ton of rh out of the humi for the cigars.

edelrionyc

I say throw some cigars in right now. Even though the hygrometer reads 78% once you put cigars in, it will drop because the cigars do absorb the humidity. Fill it up with cigars leave it closed for a day then read the hygrometer. You might be at 70% by then.

New Boots

It's really just going to be an overflow...which I'm no where close to right now. It will also serve to hold one's I'd like to age longer. I use my 150 as my mail, and this little 50 will be backup as I said. I have plenty of time to get it up and running properly. I still need to order some beads for both of them. Even if I do end up having to open it up, and let it dry out for a few days to start over...it's no big deal.

90+ Irishman

You're always welcome to do what you'd like but I would tend to agree to let it sit for a few days to finish letting it absorb and level off. The rH is still leeching into the deeper parts of the cedar inside as well as giving off and absorbing the humidity inside still. Any and all humis are much much much more stable at maintaining their rH if they are over 50-60% to capacity with cigars! the tobacco acts as a natural stabilization to help maintain the current rH. Letting it drop down to 70% or so and sticking some smokes in there will help to get it to where you want it to be at.

New Boots

I thew some sticks in it, and it's dropped to 71%. See, this is why I listen to you guys!