just bought one...came in last night.....i did wipe it down with distilled water and filled the humidifiers with the distilled h2o let it stand for 24 hours.....now .....it said break in the hydrometer by wrapping in hot damp towel for 30mins and then adjust needle to 95% and insert in humidor......well its been in there for an hour and its still at 95% is this normal?

The analog hygrometers stick sometimes. Take it out and see if it comes down. Lightly tap it.

I can tell where you got your humidor by the calibration instructions; I bought mine from the same place. Which model did you get? Mine has worked perfectly (only 2-3 days to stabilize) for about 1 1/2 yrs., so far. Hope you didn't get sucked into buying any of their "house" cigars.

BTW, I've spent a lot of time "admiring" Patty McGuire. You're a lucky man.

the "executive"

nice piece but still nothing yet on the gauge

Are you saying the guage does not move? Take that piece of junk apart(carefully) and see why not. Some have a little hole into which you can insert a screwdriver. You basically rotate the the guts until the needle points at the right number. Others you take the back off and do the same. Just don't put too much trauma on the coil. If you break it, they cost 4 or 5 bucks.

Some of them are crap. I have one that I adjusted in a bag of damp salt and stuck it in my humidor and it read 90% while another reads 70%. I re-adjusted it and it now reads 60%. We both should trash em.

If you add up the $$ that you have invested in your cigars, then you probably want to protect that investment (not to mention enjoy)...I suggest getting a digital model. They are far more accurate than anything else. Ask yourself, if it got stuck before will it get stuck again ?

what happens when there is too much humidity in a humidor with gars in it?

Be sure you have a scuba tank around before you smoke em. Seriously, look at the thread "Keeping up the RH in the humidor". I have a problem with high humidity and received a lot of good advise, especially from Rick, that seems to be working.

With too much humidity you'll get mold. Some may disagree but I prefer to err on the dry side. A dry cigar can be salvaged by re-humidifying, a moldy one is trashed.