America's #1 Online Cigar Auction
first, best, biggest!

I can't assist with the KL, but I can say that I have 70% beads, and they hold steady at 68%.

I'm using the KL in my coolerdor and its holding it right at 68% . I've heard that it can vary with the KL , some will be 70% and some 65% . you don't know what you have till you test it.

I got my 8# jug at petsmart for like $13 . if it didn't work I'd have just mixed it in with some potting soil or something. krogers also has a smaller bag that looks the same but is a different brand.

i use both and they both have their advantages...

KL = low price

Beads = more strict RH

the KL i have keeps stuff around 64-67% RH with recharging it about once every 3 weeks or so... but as was said earlier, you don't know what you will get for sure until you try it... but at 13 bucks for 8 lbs, it isn't like you would be out a lot for trying it first

Been using KL for a year now, and it has worked just fine. My smokes aren't too soggy or too dry, and I haven't gotten any complaints from friends or BOTLs here about sticks arriving in poor condition. I also use them to keep my B.I.L and F.I.L's humidors nice. No complaints from them either, and both their hygrometers measure around 65-70% RH.

Aaron Mac - amac24

So what I am hearing is KL will work but its not as stable as the beads.

May just have to bite the bullet and get the beads.

Thanks guys!!

Randy,

Ed Zachary!

Well after spending sooooo much money on my collection I want the best control on storage and aging.

I have now moved to a HUGE plastic bin for more storage. Using the 65% packet type right now in two of my plastic humi's, credos in 3 wood humi's, and the crytsal jar type in one humi.

WOW!! All that since December, LOL!!

THANKS CBID/CI

My understanding Dave is the RH beads can do the same if you over saturate, heck a credo will too.

=====================================================================
14. Author: RandyB Date: 02/27/2008 02:21 PM Reply
Well after spending sooooo much money on my collection I want the best control on storage and aging.

=====================================================================

Then I ask you:

After spending all that money, is it worth it to try and save a few bucks on beads?

You're going to save maybe $18 by using Kitty Litter. That money might buy you a fiver of cigars if you bid carefully. In the meantime, that Kitty Litter might not yield the results you are looking for.

How much are your cigars worth to you?

TG-

just to be a pain in your rear, you could ask the same thing about using a plastic bin to store cigars

All have spanish ceder in them, I can not offord a huge wood humi right now, I must do what I must do.

randy-

wasn't trying to give you grief... just trying to point out that i find it humorous that it seems that the mob around here loves inexpensive "XXXX-idors" but goes apesh1t when someone says KL and beads work the same way.

And before everyone goes ape on me for pointing that out, all i can say is that if it works for you and you are happy, then it ain't my right (or anyone else's) to tell you that you are wrong.

Ody-

A humidor/cooler/tupperware is designed to maintain a controlled environment. You can easily determine if a plastic box it will hold humidity and maintain this environment or not simply by looking at it or talking to someone.

Cigar beads or kitty litter are used as humidification devices, yet in the instance of cigar beads, you know exactly what humidity they will maintain. Kitty litter, not so much. Cigar beads are known to be stable while kitty litter is known to be inconsistant.

Furthermore, the cost difference in "plastic boxes" for 400-600 cigars versus an equivalent humidor is, at the very least, a few hundred dollars, and can be as much as a few thousand depending on the manufacturer.

The cost difference in cigar beads versus kitty litter wont even buy you 5 decent cigars, but it might buy you lunch at McDonald's, if you order off the $1-Value Menu.

Buddha Daddy is the expert on the kitty beads....he knows all,


Buddha where are you, (probably at eherf)

Charlie

As long as we're on the subject about humidity control....
I don't know if this has been posted on any of the myriad of threads on the beads/humidity subject before but I found it interesting.
C&P from Smoke Shop Magazine:

As an article in Smokeshop ("Fresh Cigars Keep Sales Fresh," April, 1999) pointed out, cigars react indignantly to alternate drying and humidifying. They pout in a sense, at least at the foot, where they swell and split. In that story, Howard Ingber, a chemical engineer and creator of Cigar Oasis electronic humidification devices, contributed much to the knowledge of what happens when a cigar dries down or is rehumidified. Prior to his breakthrough research, the industry knew little about the process. How did moisture escape and enter a cigar? Did moisture pass uniformly through the wrapper, or via the open foot? Why did otherwise intact cigars swell and crack at the foot? Most importantly, how could tobacconists prevent the loss of expensive inventory this caused?

Ingber, whose work benefited the industry, experimented with drying down cigars from 70% relative humidity to 55% RH, and humidifying them from 55% to 70%. The results settled the debate as to whether the moisture entered or exited through the wrapper from head to foot, or only from the open foot. Well, sort of. Both occur, depending on the relative humidity in the room and inside the cigar itself, if the two differ. During dry-down from 70% RH to about 65% RH, moisture exits the open foot exclusively, and the wrapper is impervious to the transfer of the moisture in this humidity range. It does so in a matter of minutes, to boot. As the cigar's humidity drops below 65%, the wrapper leaf becomes porous, allowing moisture to escape right through the leaf. The cigar then dries down more slowly, until it reaches the relative humidity level of the surrounding air - 55% in Ingber's experiments.

The problem was much worse when Ingber humidified a dry cigar from 55% RH to 70% RH. Up to 65% RH, the process is reversed, with moisture entering the cigar uniformly along its wrapper's length. But above 65%, the wrapper loses its permeability and acts as a barrier to the transfer of more moisture. Only the open foot allows the entry of humidity, and a severe humidity gradient between moist foot and dry head occurs. Disaster! The humidified foot swells more than the rest of the cigar ... as the foot swells, the wrapper splits in that area.

Do we really need another one of these threads?

Randy, you have the right approach. If you've spent a lot of money on your cigars, why NOT spend a little more to ensure they're at the RH YOU want them at.

I'm beads, and cello on.

My cat likes Kitty Litter...

What brand of cat litter do you good folks use?

#1 The kitty litter and the high price 65% cigar beads are the same stuff. The KL keeps RH between 63-68%, just like the expensive 65% cigar beads. If you need 70% beads you are stuck with the high priced stuff.

#2 TW and TG buy relabeled KL for $28 per lb because they can not bear the thought that their elitist cigars are resting in cat litter. If it gives you piece of mind, go ahead and pay more for the same stuff. Its your money.

#3 You should look for Equisicat Pearl Fresh KL. It runs about $14 for 7.2 pounds of beads.

#4 After two years of running both KL and 65% museum quality cigar beads, I have dumped the cigar beads because they were not holding RH any longer. The KL however, is still working great.

#5 If you are spraying water directly on your beads it will greatly shorten their life. Direct spraying will fracture the beads and they will lose the ability to hold steady RH.

#6 All advice is worth what you pay for it.

RE #37-

Actually, in my experience, most cigars will give more flavor and burn better at 65%RH than 70%RH. For some cigars, dropping them down to an even lower point than 65% is beneficial to the flavor & burn.

Now, can someone tell the difference between 66%RH and 65%RH? Beats me. Maybe someone can, I won't claim to.

But with a cigar I know, I can tell the differnece between 65% and 70%+/-2%-ish. It's not a tallent, it's just a matter of experience, when you smoke the same cigar for years, you know when something is amiss. I'm sure you could make that distinction too with a cigar you know too.

Does anybody use the kind that clumps or the kind that turns blue?

I skip the beads, and just stick the cat inside the humidor.

36. Author: GreenWolf70

Point #5--How do you moisten them?

Further, what is your favored containment?
Could you use former credos, w/o the plant foam, for containers? -maybe add some screen?

tks.

Use the KL...cheaper and effective....

for those of you that think that beads (of any kind)last forever, you are wrong.

Was looking into ones used for art/historical documents and one company that makes them (ARTsorb) claims that they will raise by 1-2% per year as absorbtion rates decrease so that they only have a life span of 10 years.... again this is according to the company that makes them.

I don't know about you guys, but that type of increase would make them less than a viable solution in just three to five years for me... assuming that HF beads are the same as the art beads (HF claims such)it has made me look at active humidification devices such as the new humi-care one. CI will have them in two weeks for 70 bucks and humidify up to 8 cubic feet (they are on backorder at the moment but i still ordered two for the TOP)

50