Hi Everyone,
i'm having some humidity problems with my new humidor. As i mentioned in a previous post, my humidity has been just a bit high at 72%. However, the problem is, my humidor is now full to capacity, and the top row of cigars is just almost touching the humidifier...i mean reaallly reaallly close to the humidifier...probably about the thickness of a piece of paper, that's how close the humidifier is to touching the top row of cigars. So anyway, i noticed that the top row of gars have a kinda moist wrapper now. And they look funny because i assume the humidifier is too close to them. How far from the top of the humidor do i need to keep the cigars?? To solve the problem i added a thin strip of spanish cedar covering that top row of cigars. Is that an OK idea or is all the humidity just going to go straight to the cedar? If i move the top row of cigars to another box (possibly a coolerdor if i have to), how can i get the humidity to come down. I dont want 72%, i want more like 68 or so. I kept the humidor cracked open all day yesterday, and closed it when i went to bed. In the morning the humidity was back up to 72%. So i have a couple of questions in here...i need your help guys!!

Did you do the salt test?

i have a digital hygrometer...so it's accurate (more or less)

take your smokes out of humi for a while and put a fan in and dry it out a little.......i had that same prob and it worked

are my cigars too close to the humidifier? The humidifier is on the lid of the box style humidor, so when i close the lid, the humidifier is almost touching the cigars. Are the gars too close? How much room should i leave?

-George

Ok, i took out a bunch of cigars and checked my humidity now...after several hours...and it is reading 74%!!!! what is going on?!! why is my humidity going up??? Is it possible that i just put way too much water in the humidifier?? It's a prometheus humidor and humidifier...so they are good products. The humidifier claimed to have been charged with 50-50 and so i didn't need to, but should i get 50-50?? Will that control the humidity from getting too high?? I tried to shake water out of the humdifier but nothing came out...so i dunno what i need to do. I double checked the humidity with another digital hygrometer, and they both give the same results...what should i do! I dont want to ruin my cigars...please...help!!

-George

Yes, you definitely should be careful with how close the humidifier is to the gars. To close and they start to build up a lot of moisture and the wrapper will get discolored.

Also, you might want to add a little PG to your humidifier to see if comes down. I have also heard of people putting a small dish of salt in the humi to soak up moisture.

just take the humifier out

OK, I may have your problem identified.
2 questions:
1. Do you live in a humid region (i.e. southern states)?
2. Do you live in an older house (40+ years)?

I live in Louisiana and my house was build in the 30's, so I have quite a time keeping my humidity DOWN! At the moment, I have no solution in my humis and they are between 73-76%. Now, I make sure my house stays cool (64-70 degress), so I limit mold growth. If this is similar to you, DO NOT open your humis and air them out! You just might create more problems.

Also, my sticks are in absolute perfect condition, so I don't complain. But, I have to pay close attention when seasons change.

He is in northern IL. Do what Sherpa suggested. I have to do that in the summer and so do others. What is the humidity in you apt?

This is all so strange because the humidity in my apartment is unbelievably low...it rests at about 40% in the room that I keep the cigars. Why is the humidifier over humidifying? Does 50-50 P/G solution regulate humidity? I guess i'll try and drop some salt in the holes of the humidfier...I left the humidor just barely cracked open over night and the humidity is in the mid 60's just where i like it...but obviously i dont want to have to always do this...so any help you guys can give me to figure out this situation will be great
thanks again,
-George

tonester....if it take the humidifier out, when should i put it back in? And the humidity will go down while it is out, but will this solve the problem? Because when i put it back in, most likely the humidity will just go right back up...
i dunno 😕

Take the credo out.

Add a LITTLE PG to it(not 50/50). Don't add too much. You can add more later, but it's tough to get it out if you add too much.

Like I said before, buy a second digital hygrometer from Radio Shack and see if they jive. If so, they are probably fairly accuruare. Take it back if you don't need it, but you soon will.

Put the credo back in when your hygrometer reaches the level you want.

Now you must experiment with this method until you've attained your goal.


I must reiterate what others have said...
Keep your credo AT LEAST 3/4" (one avg. cigar ring gauge) away from your cigars! Preferable more.

Also...

If you want the humidity to come down faster after you've removed the credo, drop in a small plate or baggie of dry rice of any color.

I dont know if this will help since you have such little room in your humidor, but when i put my tupperdor together the humidity was about 75%, and i added a small 1\4 inch 4 square inch piece of cedar, which leveled it right out, and now it sits on 70% perfectly. Try removing some cigars to get it away from the humidifier (smoke them) and lay a piece of cedar in there to help absorb a bit. You have the right idea with the sheet of cedar, but id go with something thicker. IMO anyway

You say that you were told that the humidifier was charged with 50-50, did you just add distilled water to it when it was new? If you did then the problem may be that you needed to add 50-50 because the PG in the 50-50 does regulate the release of water to maintain 70% humidity. Take out your humidifier. There is plenty of humidity in your humi so just closed it at around 70%. Wash out the material in your humidifier and dry. Start over again with 50-50 solution and no distilled water and you should have no problems.