Silica gel absorbs moisture where moisture is the catalyst for odor, so some of that odor will ultimately end up attached to your silica.

So KL absorbs the moisture which contains odor, and so do your HF beads.

Smell them if you don't believe me;)

Yes, beads and KL are the exact same thing, just in a different shape... and apparently HF beads are treated with other chemicals to have an equilibrium point at a certain point. I'm not certain how effective this is though, because if I over water my HF beads, my RH is going to be higher than 65 and the same goes for the KL.

So in a nutshell, I'm not convinced that there's anything really special about HF beads except that they are shaped like little balls instead of random shaped chunks.

A couple of sprays with distilled water every couple months and they both perform exactly the same.

So to change up your analogy a little...

I can either park my car in my garage (cheaper), or I can rent someone else's garage that has climate control technology marketed to rich guys that buy their cars from Barrett Jackson.

Really "smart guys" realize that these bead merchants are just doing this:

Step 1: Buy the beads from an undisclosed supplier for super-cheap

Step 2: Repackage them with their arbitrary brand name slapped on them.

Step 3: Resell them for ENORMOUS markup, while adding no real value.

Hats off to the "smart guys" for looking for ways around this scheme!

(And yes, I know, the bead guys are SOOOO NICE and GREAT GUYS and have GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! I would be like that too, if I were making huge markups for basically no real work! I'd be amazingly friendly and helpful!)

Peasants have it rough.

I get 2 pounds every month and throw the old ones at homeless people just in case they can't hold it until they get to Victors telephone pole.

Is that you, Monty? Monty Burns?

Seriously, read that again in Mr. Burns' voice in your head, and it's WAY funnier! 🇨🇮

So the rumor I heard IS true!

HF beads are made from crushed Unicorn horns.........and that's why they work so much better than plain old silica!

And he just dropped the mic.

Some shoot mil-spec because it's cheap, while others that are serious shoot match-grade.

Any info someone can provide to help get me started will be appreciated (meaning what to do, start to finish). I have seen that some people say to not add water directly but rather put them in a plastic bag with a shot glass of distilled water and let them absorb it naturally. However, their website makes it sound like you can add water directly to them...considering they sell the infant syringes to use with them.

What is the best way to store them in the humidor? I have seen people say to use a nylon sock or the bags they sell. Could this potentially cause water leakage? Can you just put them in a small bowl?

Just want to make sure I fully understand before I put them in my humidors (and hopefully a cooler in the near future as I am running out of room in my two humidors).

Thanks!

The more exposed surface area the better. Dry hop bags from your local home brew supply or online (MoreBeer.com) work well. I recall some people have talked about using the rice bags from a wedding supply store.

You might also be able to search around for perforated tubes that can be capped - plumbing or pet supply maybe?

Or even pick up a few of the cheap foam filled humidifiers here for a buck or two each, break them open, throw out the foam and refill with the HF beads and super-glue them shut.

ha...nice...