So, after finding out what a seriously hotly and fiercely divided camp this can be bringing up the beads vs silica litter topic which was initially just sharing an anecdote about the experiment of what happened when I doused a tied nylon full of dry silica litter with distilled water and the resulting WHOOSH of a vapor cloud it generated the journey continues.
I decided on an Oasis Magna for my large tower. I used the predecessor to the new generation of these units that used the blocks of foam trouble free so long I decided to stay with an Oasis humidifier.
The "beads" they come with are a trip! They are this tiny tiny plastic bag of BB sized dry, salmon egg size when they fully absorb water, and man do they hold an unbelievable amount of water.
The reservoir on this unit won't be needing water for a loooong time. So many boxes in my tower that I have to set the humidity on the unit way down to keep it @ 70. Still finding the balance there. A full humidor is easier to maintain RH than one with less stored in it.
Those beads are recommended to be replaced every year, no biggie, the circulation fans take some experimenting to place them best inside.
Tried silica kitty litter in an Oasis active unit, works ok like that ( easy cacman ) to just keep moisture supply better than the floral foam and not worry about watching the foam for odor or mold and replace it regularly.
I wanted to try getting away from active RH control on my small cabinets and stand humidor's so I ordered a few pounds of hartfelt beads, they take a little tinkering to get them maintaining perfectly. Got one bunch too wet, just put them on the top of an air cleaner on low where cool air blew over them and they discharged in a few hours.
They are maintaining solidly with the right amount of distilled water on them and the recovery time after the humidor being opened is pretty decent for passive humidification.
My plan is to move my rare cigars and unicorns to their own humidor with the hartfelt beads along with all my 5 pack and single cigars in a smaller cabinet, keep the tower for my smoking supply. So far I have a small cabinet and standing humidor on passive humidification with the hartfelt beads, and my tower on active with the Oasis Magna, two still on active humidification small Oasis units.
With all that said, the thing I'm happiest with where I'm using the Magna and the hartfelt beads us the air quality inside those humidors. The smell is all fresh cedar and tobacco, I love it.
