The Humi Blues

Good morning everyone.
I just purchased my first humidor. It's a medium size Savoy, Spanish Cedar lined with a good size humidification device. I brought it home and immediately conditioned it with distilled water and left the rag in it with a half full humi device over night. The following morning everything looked good, humidity hovering around 71. Upon returning home that evening I checked it again and the humidity had fallen to about 60. I proceed to recondition the interior and let it sit overnight again. The following morning the same is true. Humidity around 62. I am singing the Humi Blues over here as I am expecting a large shipment from cigar.com today. Any help from the forums would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

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Comments

dutyje

First - take a deep breath and relax

Your shipment from cigar.com should come with some pillows. You can keep the cigars in the bag (or move to a tupperware with a pillow or two) until you get your humi straightened out.

The best advice for conditioning a humidor is to stick a dish of water in it for a week. Just leave it closed. This will activate the cedar gradually (if you go too fast, you'll warp the wood and ruin your seal). Once it's well-activated, you need to get your humidification device running. You can use PG solution in your humidification device. Many people here use beads in lieu of the built-in device.

Make sure your hygrometer is properly calibrated, and that your humidor is properly conditioned, then slowly add cigars to the humidor over a few days, then let everything settle and rest a bit until you've gotten it all under control. Don't worry too much about your cigars for right now. They'll be fine.

kuzi16

this is a very common issue with a first humidor. you buy it and you wanna stock that puppie up. slow down. take the time to season it right. there is a good amount of wood in there and it needs to be seasoned. this takes time. its worth the wait.

Okemah

Thank You both for you replies. I will definitely take the time to properly season the humidor. I think i'll take the open dish approach from this point on. I've also been reading up on hygrometer calibration thinking that perhaps this could be a part of my problem. Specifically the salt test. However, i have also read that Humipacks can be used in place of the salt test to accomplish the same thing. Am I correct in assuming that the "pillows" mentioned by dutyje are in fact humipacks?
Thanks

dutyje

They are different. Boveda makes a humi-pack that is guaranteed to produce an environment of a specific rH, and you use that to calibrate your hygrometer. The salt test is easy and reliable.. just don't over-moisten the salt (your target is a damp salt solution)

kuzi16

Okemah:
Am I correct in assuming that the "pillows" mentioned by dutyje are in fact humipacks?

nope. completely different things. water pillows look like pillows... and they are full of water. humi packs look like white flat (ish) squares with the words "humi-pac" on them ... or does that have a k on it?

Okemah

Good to know. Thanks again!
I think I might end up investing in some Humidity Beads.

Markbb

Okemah:
Good to know. Thanks again!
I think I might end up investing in some Humidity Beads.

That would be a wise choice, I have beads and its a set and forget type thing....

Okemah

So I performed a salt test to no avail. Perhaps I got the salt to wet or didn't use enough. /shrug
I decided, however, to change the parameters a bit and used one of the Humi-Care packs sent with shipments from cigar.com. It boasts a RH of 68% for 15-20 cigars. I placed it in a gallon ziplock bag with my hygrometer and lo-and-behold it worked. spot on 68% reading.
I have also placed a shot glass full of distilled water inside my Humi and have not seen it's interior in a couple days and do not plan to for a couple more. /crosses fingers.
I have been researching Humidity Beads and have found Heartfelt Industries. But oh the choices. 60%-65%-70%, dish, tube, aluminum plate. My gut reaction is to go for the 70% plate and replace the humidification device on the lid.
Thoughts?

Thanks.

kuzi16

Okemah:
I have also placed a shot glass full of distilled water inside my Humi and have not seen it's interior in a couple days and do not plan to for a couple more. /crosses fingers

check on the shot glass. you may need more water. the humi may have soaked it all up. make sure trhere is a hygromiter in there too.