Humidity problems

handypantz

I am relatively new to cigar smoking and have bought a new humidor cause my old one is too small.  I dont know if my problems are becaues of the area i live in or my house but I cannot get my humidity any higher than about 58% or 60.  I had the same problems in my old humidor as well.  Right now I have 2 water pillows 2 round humidifiers and a shot glass of distilled water (in a the new humidor) and the RH will not rise about 60.  I have not put any cigars in it for fear of them getting too dry to quickly but I recently made a big purchase of 30+ cigars and now am afraid I wont get them to be properly humidified.....any suggestions would be great.  Ive calibrated my hygrometer several times without result in case anyone was going to suggest that.....thanks for the help

Alex Svenson

Id say your problem might be with your hygrometer. What type is it, analog or digital. Analog are infamous for being inaccurate. The best indicators are your fingers. How do the cigars feel. Do they crackly when you squeeze them or do they give? If so, how much do they give? Your first step should be to pick up a digital unit. Some other things to consider: 1. Do you live in a dry part of the country? 2. Did you season your humidor when you bought it? 3. Is it full of cigars or empty? All of the above will effect your humidity.

GaryK

Where is your humidor?  I had the same problem in the winter, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the humidy up.  So I put my humidor in my basement and the problem rectified itself.  Give that a try if you have a basement.

handypantz

The humidor is in the living room right now...ill move it to my basement and hope for the best. I live in missouri so I'm sure that my house is very dry right now.  And ill invest in a digital hygromter as soon as I can.  Thanks for the ideas

CastleCrest

any suggestions would be great. -

You can put everything into a tupperware container if you can't solve your problem.

timb

one thing to remember - if your cigars are burning even, drawing well, and tasting good, then who cares about RH ?  Cigars will be OK imho anywhere between 60 and 75%.  Now don't get me wrong, there is definitely an optimum humidity for particular blends and/or personal tastes - but for the most part there is a wide window of acceptable (smokable if you will) humidity levels.

I stopped obsessing about 2 years ago and my cigars have been... well... great! 

Coolers work very well - as do the Southport brand of humidors (both of which I use exclusively)

highly recommended - check out this site for more information

http://www.cigarnexus.com/counsel/cigarstorage/index.html

ashmaster

Thanks for the link....great info.